Jameson Williams: 'You Just Gotta Grow Up'
On Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, the Detroit Lions have a chance to do something they haven’t done in 30 years: win their division.
Yes, it’s truly been three decades since the organization last won its division. And, back in 1993, it wasn’t called the NFC North yet. At the time, it was still known as the NFC Central.
Also, many of the team’s present players weren’t even born the last time Detroit captured the division crown, including 22-year-old Jameson Williams.
Despite the significant ramifications surrounding the Lions’ contest with the Vikings this weekend, Williams expressed Thursday that he and his teammates are most worried about simply winning the game.
“Honestly, I would say, nobody’s really talking about winning the division,” the second-year receiver said. “We just really focused on winning the game, as a game. We’re not worried about the hats and what we get after the game. We’re just worried about what we gotta do to come out on top in the last 60 minutes of the game.
“That’s the good part of it, though. If we win, we get the hats and stuff, we win the division, for the first time in forever. But, we just looking forward to getting a win, mainly.”
Headed into this pivotal Week 16 matchup in Minnesota, Detroit’s offense is looking good. It’s coming off a 42-point, 448-yard performance against the Denver Broncos. Additionally, in the aforementioned contest, Jared Goff tied a career-high with five touchdown passes, and played turnover-free football.
Goff also connected with eight different receivers in the Week 15 tilt, including Williams. The Alabama product logged his most catches of the season in the winning effort (four).
“When everybody’s involved, I feel like we can be like that every game,” Williams said of last week’s offensive performance. “I still feel like we could have did more in that game. We left some opportunities on the field. But, this offense is a great offense. We’ve got great players, great playmakers and great coaches. So, everything’s just going good when we’re rolling.”
Williams has experienced his fair share of struggles since entering the professional ranks.
Off the field, he most notably sat out the first four games of the 2023 campaign due to violating the NFL's gambling policy.
Since then, though, he's displayed an increased level of maturity. And, he seemingly reaped the benefits of it against Denver, when he received a career-high seven targets.
“I feel like it’s just a part of life. You just gotta grow up," Williams said about maturing. "So, I feel like that’s just what had to be done. I grew up and just had to do some things differently, from what I was doing, and just had to change a lot of things."
Williams and the Lions' offense have a tall task ahead of them Sunday. They’ll be squaring off with a Minnesota defense that has allowed the seventh-fewest points per game (19.2) and has permitted more than 30 points in a contest just once this season. This said performance came all the way back in Week 2, when the Vikings allowed 34 points to Jalen Hurts and the reigning NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles.
And, since that Week 2 contest, Minnesota has allowed a shade under 18 points a game (17.9).
Williams expects the Brian Flores-led defense to provide him and his offensive counterparts with multiple looks.
“(I) see a lot of things from this defense,” Williams expressed. “The pre-snap read might be wrong, so just got to focus on the post-snap read sometimes. They might show you something and be in something else, disguise it. It’s just, I feel like they’re real good with disguises. So, we’ve gotta be on top of what we see post-snap.”
