Back in camp, Taylor Decker could feel this building for Jameson Williams. And Williams had the building feeling it after his long touchdown in the Lions' win over the Seahawks on Monday Night Football at Ford Field.
"I give him a lot of credit," said Decker, one of the most respected players in Detroit's locker room. "He matured a lot, put a lot of accountability on himself to be able to get himself to the level that he’s at now. And I’m not a receiver expert, but I still think there’s even more there. He’s just done a really good job coming to work as a professional, and it’s shown. It’s paying dividends."
Williams leveled up his offseason training, and doubled down on his desire to be the best. He flew to California multiple times for throwing sessions with Jared Goff. He committed to weight-lifting for really the first time in his career. The result, through four games of his third season in Detroit, is a player living up to his draft pedigree. Williams ranks 10th among NFL receivers in yards (289), third in yards per catch (22.2).
At the same time, Williams is still full of boyish joy. He remains a little kid in a long, lanky body. The 23-year-old has not matured to the point of taking anything too seriously. As Decker put it, "You can see how much he loves football. That’s contagious for guys." When Jared Goff hit Williams in stride 55 yards from the end zone with Seattle's defense in cover zero for one of the only times of the night, Williams smiled and said his first thought was, "Touchdown."
"He's a stud," said Goff.
"I kind of knew as soon as I broke that it was gonna be there, and it was, and just knew I had to finish," Williams said. "Just opened up and got to the end zone."
Before he even got there, the Jamo in Williams came out. He started by high-stepping some 30 yards down the sideline. Then, on the night that Calvin Johnson was inducted into the Pride of the Lions, Williams dunked on the uprights like Megatron and -- unlike Megatron -- tumbled to the turf. Then he jumped into a section of fans behind the end zone, and hit the turf again on his dismount. He eventually rolled back to his feet with the Lions leading 35-20.
"I was already on the sideline, helmet off, sitting down, and he was still celebrating," Decker said with a laugh. "I was like, he's still going? Are we gonna get a delay of game?"
Williams, who did incur a personal foul for unsportsmanlike conduct, said the dunk "was for Calvin, he used to do that back in the day. And some people in the facility thought I couldn’t make the dunk, so I had to get up there and show 'em. I had that one planned."
Amon-Ra St. Brown, the Lions' authority on celebrations, confirmed he was one of the doubters. And he still critiqued Williams for throwing the ball through the uprights rather than flushing it and for falling on the landing: "I’m like, 'Yeah, bro, you failed that dunk.' But it looked cool. At least he tried it, and to pay homage to Calvin was dope." St. Brown also docked Williams points for, well, excessive celebration.
"He wants to get all 30 of his celebrations off after one touchdown. I’m like, 'Bro, you’re gonna score again.' He’s like, 'I know, I know, I just have so much stuff in my head!' I’m like, 'Bro, I know you do,'" St. Brown laughed. "But that’s Jamo, man."
Later in an offensive huddle, St. Brown said he and David Montgomery told Williams, "If you do that again and you leave us hanging, you're just running around and we’re staring at you celebrating, bro, that's a fine."
St. Brown smiled and added, "So he said he’s gonna do better next time."
The Lions have to like how Williams has done so far. He's been the deep threat their offense was missing. Already, Williams has touchdowns of 70 yards and 52 yards, plus catches of 50, 36 and 27 yards. He's made tons of plays with his speed, and opposing teams are starting to take notice. Both the Seahawks and the Cardinals committed extra help over the top the last two games, which the Lions turned into productive days on the ground. Last week, coordinator Ben Johnson called this "the Jameson effect."
"Defenses now gotta watch out for a guy who can run past you in one second, so they're playing deeper, and hopefully they will start playing a lot deeper," said St. Brown. "They know he’s fast, but the more plays he makes, the more stress he’s gonna put on defenses."
Goff put it similarly: "He’s a one-play touchdown guy and I know he strikes fear in every team we play. They’re going to see (the touchdown Monday night) and it’s going to strike even more fear."
The Lions hadn't played up to their offensive standard through three games, even while piling up yards. Monday felt more like the offense as we've come to know it. Everybody ate, from the running backs to the receivers to the tight ends. Goff went 18-for-18, setting the NFL record for most throws in a game without an incompletion. After failing to score over 20 points in regulation the first three weeks, the Lions hung 42 on the Seahawks.
"I was talking to some people on the team and we wanted to score 40 points, and we were short early," said Williams. "Our offense, we know what we can do, we got a lot of weapons. We just gotta put it in play, man. Everyone got a piece of the pie today."
Williams only made two catches, after making one last week. But he doesn't have to touch the ball often to leave an imprint on the game. The professional has grown up, the player has stayed young. The Lions, said Goff, are "lucky to have him.”