After suppressing them all season, the emotions finally spilled out of Jamaal Williams. The grief of losing his father and great grandfather in the last year welled up in his eyes and then gushed from his heart. Clutching a game ball after scoring two second-half touchdowns in the Lions' thrilling win over the Packers Sunday night at Lambeau Field, Williams sobbed and said, "My great grandfather died and I just dedicate this to him."
"He was 92," Williams said, "but I’m just grateful for him to be in my life. It’s a lot of memories, a lot of emotions happening right now, but I’m just grateful. I’m grateful to be able to play this game for my great grandfather and I’m glad that he’s looking down on me, and I know I’m making him proud."
Then Williams dried his eyes and put the NFL on notice.
"Another thing is, stop playing us, man!" Williams said. "We the Detroit Lions! We the Detroit Lions, stop playing with us. I don’t even watch TV, but I heard everybody already picked the Packers over us. Stop playing with us, that’s all I gotta say, man. Don’t let these tears fool you. It’s all dog around this mug."
The duality of man. The duality of Jamaal Williams, so fearless he's not afraid to cry. He poured himself into this season from the moment it began, rallying his teammates after a lackluster practice in training camp with a speech that left him in tears, imploring them to give more and to be better because "last year wasn't it! That ain't us!"
"We can make it!!" Williams told them.
They made it Sunday night. They made it on the national stage as a force to be reckoned with moving forward. They made it sting for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, who are used to making it sting for Detroit. Williams made it into the end zone for the 16th and 17th times this season, tying and breaking Barry Sanders' single-season franchise record, and he made it to 1,000 yards for the first time in his career. No, the Lions didn't make it to the playoffs, but they made an unmistakable statement that they are here, before dropping the mic and walking off the field.
No one in Detroit's locker room smiles more freely than Williams. No one bounces among his teammates with such bliss. He is so lighthearted that it was almost impossible to believe when he admitted after Sunday's win, "My heart has been heavy for a little bit." And it was perfectly representative of what he means to the Lions when he added, "I’ve always tried to just smile."
"I’ve been trying to be a warrior and be there for my team, do my job and try not to let my outside life affect my work job," Williams said. "But when I got a game ball, I got two touchdowns, I got 1,000 yards my first time, my emotions finally just fell out just because I knew I was doing it for my dad and my great grandfather and that they're proud of me right now."
At the beginning of each season, Williams writes down personal goals. One of them this year was to rush for eight touchdowns. He checked that one back in Week 8, and then kept on rumbling for more. He played in every game for the Lions and became their first 1,000-yard rusher in 10 years. When Williams looks at his goal list now, each check is validation of "all the years, all the offseasons, all the running hills, throwing up, OTA's, games, even last year, just fighting through adversity," he said.
"The (touchdown) record is a check that I didn’t even have on my goal list. It makes me even more hungry," he said. "I’m not satisfied."
Williams has been everything the Lions wanted and more. They signed a durable, downhill runner at the outset of this rebuild and got a leader on top of it. He has earned a raise with his two-year, $6 million deal set to expire, and GM Brad Holmes will almost certainly give it to him. Williams, 27, spoke Sunday night like a man who plans to be back, referring frequently to the Lions' future and specifically to "how much potential and how much greatness we have in us for next year." He called Sunday's victory and this season at large, which ended with Detroit's first winning record in five years, "a great building block."
With a smile he didn't have to force, Williams professed his love for Dan Campbell, for offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, for running backs coach Duce Staley, for "all the coaches."
"They’re just a great bunch of guys who get sh*t — oh, my bad — who get stuff done. I’m sorry," Williams said. "But I would love to be back on this team."
Detroit would love to have him.