Mike Williams Expected to Have Bigger Role vs. Ravens
PITTSBURGH – When the Pittsburgh Steelers needed a big play on Sunday against the Washington Commanders, newly acquired wide receiver Mike Williams delivered. Williams caught a Russell Wilson moon ball over his shoulder for a 32-yard game-winning touchdown. It was Williams only catch of the game, but it came at the most important time.
Williams’ reps were limited against the Commanders since he doesn’t know the playbook in depth yet, but the Steelers knew he’d be ready in certain situations.
“He’s a veteran guy. He’s a quick study,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said after the game. “We didn’t throw everything at him but we threw enough, particularly, the one-dimensional ball in passing circumstances. We didn’t want him over there standing with us at the weightiest of moments.”
Tomlin said on Tuesday during his weekly press conference that it’s reasonable to expect the workload for Williams to increase this week, but by how much remains to be seen. Williams played only nine snaps against Washington.
“I think that’ll be continual, and I think it’s reasonable to expect his workload to increase. The rate in which it increases, and all of those things, are determined by factors I don’t really know the answer to,” Tomlin explained. “I’m still getting to know him and how he learns and specifically the detailed component of his skill set in terms of how to best utilize it and position him to help us. And so we’ll be evolving in that way. He’ll be evolving in that way not only this week, but in the upcoming weeks. And I think it’s safe to say the same for a guy like Preston Smith. Less so with a guy like Cam Sutton because we have shared experience with him in the past.”
Williams said Russell Wilson told him to just run a go route on his game-winning touchdown catch. It was a play that they’ve never practiced with each other before.
“I kinda had an idea. It wasn’t aligned for me to be over there, (Wilson) told me to go over there so I kinda had an idea that the ball was going to be up so I ran the route and just checked the air and caught the ball,” Williams said after the game.
Steelers running back Najee Harris gave Williams props for coming up big with limited time to prepare.
“I mean, I never knew how that worked, but for a guy to come onto the team and make one catch for one touchdown. That’s probably the biggest play. I’m surprised how the hell he even knew the play,” Harris said. “But for a guy to come in here, a guy like Mike Williams who has a record of 1,000 yard seasons. His resume, you know, he’s a baller. For him to come in there and make probably the biggest play of the game and help us win. That just shows us what type of player he is. He’s a playmaker. He’s a baller. He’s been doing that for all of his career. Was it surprising? No. But was it good to see? Yeah. Big Play Mike.”
Alan Saunders provided reporting from Pittsburgh.
