For Jameson Williams, last Sunday was just "one of those days," Lions wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery said Wednesday. But Montgomery doesn't use that as an excuse or an explanation for Williams' frustrating day at the office in the Lions' win over the Browns.
"There’s things that I chalk it up to that we’re going to have to clean up," said Montgomery. "You can’t just act like nothing happened. You gotta go out and see what the problem was, the issue was."
Williams caught just two of seven targets against the Browns, and dropped a couple passes that hit him in the hands. The first should have gone for a big gain down the sideline. The second eliminated a first-down conversion one play before the Lions turned it over on downs. He slammed a padded wall on the sideline after the latter drop.
Williams and Goff just weren't on the same page for most of the day. When they were, Goff was pressured into sub-par throws. It wasn't all that costly in a 24-point win for the Lions, but it's still a point of emphasis for Williams and the coaching staff this week.
In years past, said Montgomery, Williams might have carried his disappointing day into the building on Monday, or to practice on Wednesday. Not anymore. This maturing version of the 24-year-old receiver is already getting down to fixing what went wrong.
"I think that was probably the biggest growth we saw, is when he came in on Monday," Montgomery said. "You gotta come in ready to be coached, especially in our room where the coaching is going to be direct, it’s going to hit the point, but it’s also going to make sure that we know the standard is set and we don’t walk past that standard. Because the moment you walk past the standard and it’s dropped, then that’s the new standard. He understands that part of it. And then today in the walk-through, just his attention to detail."
Williams and Goff were close to hitting on a couple big plays last Sunday, which would have changed this conversation. On Williams' first drop on a go ball down the sideline, Montgomery commended him for "running a great route," only to initially look over his right shoulder when Goff threw it over his left. By the time Williams adjusted, he couldn't reel it in.
"He thinks the ball is going to be on the red line, JG is trying to take care of him from the middle-field safety, gets it over his left shoulder, one of the toughest catches, but we have to make it. And he knows that," Montgomery said.
One of the corrections, said Montgomery, is having "higher hands" to where Williams is can receive the pass closer to eye-level and "not let it track over our shoulder down below our vision base."
"And that’s what he’s been focused on today, just trying to find out the way to do that," said Montgomery, who joined the Lions' coaching staff in Williams' second season. "Now, when I first got here, I don’t know if on Monday that would have been possible or today that would have been possible, because it would have been more about, 'Did I perform at the level that I wanted to perform at?' Now it’s gotten to the point where it’s, 'OK, did I perform at the level that I wanted to perform at? OK, why not? How do I get it fixed?' That’s the maturation process that we hoped (for) and we saw it."