After Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers violated the football code by criticizing receiver Mike Williams for taking the wrong route in a loss to the Bills, Williams took the high road.
After Williams made a stellar debut with more yards and touchdowns on one target for the Steelers than Davante Adams generated on 13 Rodgers targets against the Cardinals, Williams stuck his toe under the main road.
In an Instagram post celebrating his first game with the team that acquired him last Tuesday, Williams added three hashtags: (1) #WholeLotta; (2) #Wereback; and (3) #RedLine.
The last was a direct reference to Rodgers’ criticism; He told reporters after Monday night’s loss to Buffalo that Williams was supposed to be at the “red line” on the practice field, five yards from the sideline.
That contributed to the trust issue between Rodgers and Williams. Which isn’t a surprise, because Rodgers has a history of not trusting receivers unless they completely and completely earn it and keep it.
So when I spoke with Williams on the phone after Pittsburgh’s 28-27 win over the Commanders, I asked Williams what he did to quickly earn the trust of quarterback Russell Wilson, who trusted Williams enough to throw the ball in his direction with the game on the line. .
“I tried to gain that confidence during practice this week, on any ball that came my way,” Williams said. “I just tried to make a play so he knows that if he throws me the ball, he can trust me to catch it, so the main thing for me was just building that trust.”
On the play that generated the game-winning 32-yard score, Williams didn’t know it would come until the final moment.
“I knew I had a chance just by being on the field, knowing it could be a one-on-one opportunity, just being prepared for anything,” Williams said. “I actually saw it at the last second to be honest with you. I just looked up at the sky, saw it was there and, yeah, I made a play.”
In fact he did. And it shows the value of prioritizing touchdowns and wins over completion percentage and touchdown/interception ratio.
But if Williams ever took the wrong route for Wilson, here’s one thing that’s a million percent true: Wilson will never, ever publicly criticize Williams for doing so.