Jameson Williams gets his first match ball; Lions get glimpse of his promise

Detroit — It was just after midnight when Dan Campbell left his post-game press conference following the Lions’ grueling 26-20 overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams.

Campbell’s voice was a little hoarse after spending more than three hours in the noise of a sold-out Ford Field for Sunday’s home game. But the coach found enough for one more shout in the hallway outside the locker room as he greeted the first Lions player to take the stage: Jameson Williams.

“Waymo!” Campbell shouted, giving the recipient in his third year a celebratory hug.

Williams held the match ball after his incredible season, his smile as bright as the jewelry around his neck, and he reacted exactly as a coach would want him to.

“Just the beginning,” he told Campbell. “Just the beginning.”

If so, it could be the start of something special, as Williams followed through on an offseason full of promise with a thrilling debut against the Rams, finishing with five catches for a game-high 121 receiving yards, including a 52-yard bomb that threatened to blow the roof off the stadium on Sunday night.

That explained the game ball, and Williams, the former first-round pick out of Alabama, laughed when asked about it afterward.

“I’ve never gotten a game ball — not in ‘Bama, not anywhere,” he said. “I’m not even going to lie: This right here, it might not leave my hands. I might just sleep like this.”

But we can no longer sleep on this talent, something that has been talked about ad nauseam ever since the Lions traded up in the 2022 draft — using one of the first-round picks they acquired from the Rams in the Matthew Stafford trade — to select the SEC speed demon coming back from a torn ACL.

Even though this is his third NFL season, it’s easy to forget that this was Williams’ first chance to play in a season opener. He missed most of his rookie year rehabbing knee surgery, then was forced to sit out the first month of last season because of a suspension for violating the league’s gambling policy. And while fans had gotten a glimpse of his game-breaking ability, most notably in a two-touchdown effort in last year’s NFC title game, everyone, including his coaches and teammates, wanted more.

Still, there were encouraging signs this spring and summer, and Campbell wasn’t the only one at Allen Park pointing to Williams developing and maturing this season.

“Yeah, listen, we expected him to play pretty good, to play better,” Campbell said after Sunday’s dramatic win. “And man, he showed up. I mean, that was a big game, you know? And the best part about it was he didn’t even play his best ball. There’s so much cleaning up to do.”

That goes for the entire team, really. And especially the high-powered Lions offense, which nearly lost this game to Stafford, and an injury-plagued Rams team that simply refused to give up on Sunday.

Yet it was Williams’ move that ultimately proved decisive for the Lions in this match.

After the Lions took possession on a fourth-down stop midway through the second quarter, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson devised a play that would give Williams a mismatch. And it worked perfectly, as Kalif Raymond made a gesture and pulled a cornerback — the Rams’ Cobie Durant — with him. That left safety Quentin Lake to cover Williams, and it was clear from the start that this was going to be a no-contest.

Jared Goff hit Williams full speed as he broke free over the middle of the field, and, as NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth put it on the broadcast, marveling at the receiver’s easy acceleration, “This is just a problem for everybody this year.” The Rams eventually ran Williams out of bounds at the Rams’ 41 after gaining 36 yards.

Goff went at him again on the next play, taking a deep shot to Williams in the end zone that was incomplete. Then, after another chunk play on a screen to Jahmyr Gibbs, it was Williams’ turn again, this time on what appeared to be the same reverse on which he scored a long touchdown against San Francisco in the NFC championship game.

This time he didn’t make it into the end zone, but Williams picked up 13 yards and another first down to push the Lions into the red zone. He also suffered a sprained ankle late in the run, however, and after being treated on the field by team doctors, Williams had his left ankle splinted on the sideline, returning two plays later, just in time for Jahmyr Gibbs to drive the ball over the goal line for the game’s first touchdown.

Williams would get the second early in the third quarter, when the Lions hit a play they had practiced earlier in the week and were waiting to hit the Rams. On third-and-3 from midfield, Johnson decided the moment was right. Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown were split on opposite sides of the field — St. Brown received plenty of extra attention from the Rams’ secondary on Sunday — and they both ran a double move on their routes.

Williams pulled Rams cornerback Tre’Davious White into coverage on his side of the field, “and he just blindsided him with it,” Goff said. “I just laid it out and he made a great catch.”

It went 52 yards, and after a brief celebration in the end zone, Williams was mobbed by his teammates — and a few Lions assistant coaches — on the sideline. They saw the work he put in, and now we’re all seeing the first results.

“He wants it, man, and he just keeps working at it, and he just keeps taking these steps,” Campbell said. “So, as long as he keeps doing that and keeps playing … he’s just going to get better. I’m proud of him. I’m proud of where he’s at. But he’s got so much room to keep growing.”

Williams won’t argue with him on this one. Asked about his big night under the bright lights on Sunday, the man holding the ball shrugged and smiled again.

“I just think it’s big for the world because it’s my first one,” Williams said. “But I plan on having a lot more, you know? I don’t expect this to be the best game of my career. I expect this to just be the beginning of me.”

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@JohnNiyo