S Windsor: Jameson Williams doesn't have to be perfect. But he does need to grow up

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# Jameson Williams doesn’t have to be perfect. But he does need to grow up.
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It’s time for Jameson Williams to grow up.

Not to be perfect. Or mistake-free. But to stop hurting the Detroit Lions and handle his duties as a professional.

The Lions receiver could’ve cost his team the game Thursday against Chicago. Lose to the Bears and homefield advantage would’ve gotten much tougher to secure.

As for the NFC North?

They’d have been just half a game up on the Vikings, with Minnesota playing the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday and getting another crack at the Lions in the season finale.

The Lions have places to get to, and they won’t if their electric-but-immature young receiver doesn’t start thinking about the team. Of which he is capable, and has shown, both in play — he’s an ardent blocker, for example — and in the locker room: He addressed the team Thursday to say, my bad.

That’s a step. But funny thing about apologies — while they keep social order and help human beings forgive, they grow stale when the same person keeps leaning on them for, more or less, the same mistakes.

This is where Williams is, and where he was Thursday afternoon, standing before his team in the locker room at Ford Field, telling his teammates it won’t happen again.

Again.

Hey, good for him for owning his worst mistake on a football field since he got to Detroit. But the apologies can’t keep happening, because the mistakes that force them can’t keep happening, because he’s hurting his team, and if he doesn’t stop, well, it’s going to cost the Lions.

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I do agree with much of this article and thought this was well said; bolded done by frm and agree with it.

When asked about cleaning that up, Campbell was emphatic.

“Look, I’ll be honest with you,” he said, “that’s already cleaned up … So, we’re good. And as a matter of fact, Jamo got right in front of the team a minute ago, unsolicited, and wanted to apologize to his teammates. That’s big, that’s growth. So, all good.”

All good?

For now, sure.

As for Williams’ gesture proving growth? Yeah, in a vacuum, it does. It’s not easy to stand before your peers and apologize.
But this isn’t going to work in the long run if he keeps standing before them,

Because there can’t be a next time like Thursday. Or another league rules violation like earlier this fall. Or like last fall, both of which cost him games.

Or anything that will hurt his team in a game or keep him from his team as it plays games, because his absence hurts his team, too. And not just his speed.

Yes, his explosive plays are crowd-pleasing and inspiring, and the threat of his wheels changes this team’s offense. But Campbell and Brad Holmes didn’t just draft him because he can run. They drafted him because he can run, and they thought he had the temperament of their kind of football player.

He doesn’t just hurdle defenders, as he did against the Bears on a critical second-half drive that led to a touchdown. He happily hurdles himself into them when a teammate has the ball. He is unselfish that way, and fearless despite his relatively slight football frame.

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Article pretty much sums it up well.

Sidenotes:

  1. ARSB has been trying to get JW on his podcast for 2 years now.

At first I thought that him not showing up was perhaps due to maturity by wanting to stay off social media because he needed to be “focusing on more important things”. But I’m starting to think though that he might be a bit of a flake that is just too busy dicking around in his spare time and can’t keep an honest schedule.

I literally heard him say in a post game interview earlier this year that he was up on social media at 4AM the night before that day’s game. He’s laughing about never eating breakfast in a lockerroom interview two days ago but the guy is thin as a twig. You’re an NFL player. Get your shat together.

  1. I think this is the first time Dan has started to show some weakness in the knee caps credo or he is putting on a better public spin than he is behind closed doors or in his own brain.

By all accounts he knows Jamo is important to winning this year especially with the defense overperforming at this point with all their injuries. So I think he’s giving the guy more rope then he otherwise would to “keep things fluid”.

Put another way, if this is anybody else not named Jamo, I think Dan is publicly less complimentary for as long as he has been.

Jamo is a bit maddening. As the article does state, he has been and is a very willing and good blocker which is not a sign of selfishness. But he’s also one of those kids that you just wonder if he will be able to put it all together to be what he’s capable of truly being

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Yesterday, I was more forgiving in the moment—mostly because I sort of found the flick of the football funny, but in hindsight, it was incredibly stupid.

As the article says, you can’t look at any of his actions in a vacuum because they’re not. He simply needs to grow up.

I know it sounds stupid, but him not appearing on the ARSB podcast is one of those indicators that something isn’t quite right. If it’s anxiety related? OK, fine. I can accept that—sort of, but it’s not like he’s interview resistant. But this seems like more than that. Being on social media at 4 AM before a game is deeply concerning on a team that is reliant on you for its first Super Bowl.

Remember his drop against San Francisco?

At what point do we blame miscues in a game — especially a game that matters — on social behavior?

That is what concerns me.

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Yeah, it could be anxiety related. Or maybe not. He seems comfortable enough doing interviews as you say.

But regardless, the fact that ARSB has to keep bringing up that they tried to have him on and the guy never comes on for one reason or another is a bad look.

  1. Either Jamo keeps promising he’s going to do it and therefore ARSB has to keep making excuses for him NOT showing up when he bails.
  2. Or ARSB is trying to generate buzz for Jamo and the podcast by always trying to get him on when Jamo is not actually very serious about it.

I could care less one way or the other if the guy comes on or not. But I’d be willing to bet it’s probably more number 1 above then 2.

How do I know that? Because they’ve had tons of other Lion (and non-Lion) players just show up! :slight_smile:

I’ve literally heard them say “we’re trying to get so and so on the podcast” or “we SHOULD get so and so on the podcast” and next week they simply just show up. Normal people plan things like that together and make it happen. It just works. No drama.

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But funny thing about apologies — while they keep social order and help human beings forgive, they grow stale when the same person keeps leaning on them for, more or less, the same mistakes.

This is where I’m at…he’s rapidly running out of free apology passes…at some point it’s “nah, dont want to hear it anymore, just stfu and gtfo”.

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anyone have a video of this?

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Keenan Allen lays on the field throwing a football at the ref and we’re lambasting Wamo.

It’s an interesting standard we’re holding him to. DJ dropped passes he should have caught. Allen put a scoring drive in peril. DJ took himself off the field while the play was still going.

I’d rather have a young player with a ton of cares given than a veteran player with none left to give.

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We’re not the Bears. But personally I wouldn’t be too worried about Keenan Allen, that’s just a guy that was upset lashing out. I don’t think he has any issues. Now, DJ, I think he hates his QB. And I can’t blame him. But that’s not a good situation. But it’s the Bears problem. Maybe trade him back to Carolina, I’m sure Bryce would love to have him.

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We’re seriously talking about Jamo not going on a podcast now?
Not eating breakfast?
Being up late?

We’re reaching peak levels of Jamo Derangement Syndrome.

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Not sure why it’s an either or?
I mean, I want Jamo to keep playing and giving his all on the field. I also want Jamo to stop doing things like this.

As far as Allen goes, start a thread complain about it as I agree with you on him.

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I think the “things like this” have to be separated. When you have a guy who loves Loves LOVES ball like Jamo, you’re going to have certain things crop up. When you have a guy that embraces Detroit and makes it his home (not Bloomfield), certain things will crop up. 4:00 AM social media? Better than clubbing like CeeDee.

There are fringes things that are occurring here. I have zero interest in being an enabler, but I also refuse to put everything in the same bucket and say you’re running out of chips. We have a young, teachable, moldable “football” player with a ton of passion for the game. I love it.

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@stephenboyd57

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If only he bought a smaller TV, he could have afforded a couch with less urine on it :joy::joy:

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Do you guys think Jahmyr wouldn’t have fumbled the ball or got a taunting penalty last game if he wasn’t so busy playing up this Sonic and Knuckles thing?

Time spent on cutting S&K promos, getting matching coats made, wearing silly shoes to games to match video game characters, having mascots follow him and DMo into the game?

Wish the kid would just focus on football and not jeopardize his team by pretending to be a videogame character.

/s

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I’d cut him… We only gave him 1 touch in the 2nd half anyways. Wasted draft pick. Plus he’s older than he’s ever been.

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Maybe that fumble made him lose all his rings and he didn’t have any extra lives.

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Yes and No. Go watch his vidoes from his first 18 months in Detroit versus the last year or so. Braids in his face, not smiling, not looking at the camera, agitated. He has ADHD. A symptom of ADHD can be anxiety (we all have anxiety, but we are talking on a dx level anxiety). He got on meds when the change occurred. Look at the draft day video…guys he was nervous as fu ck being up there…out of his element. People took it as he was not happy about being taken as a lion. He was scared. Weird some may think given what he does for a living, but it wasn’t a comfortable setting for him…off the field with no helmet on as protection.

You know what ADHD accentuates? Trouble sleeping. You know what is like crack cocaine to people with ADHD? Electronics. Social Media. Let’s keep it real. This is a 23 year old kid who is saying he is on social media till 4 am saturday night.

Ya know what a great many of the players on other teams do? Go to the club and hang out with strippers night before game. There were a lot of lions players who did this very thing during past regimes heyday.

Literally everything that is going with JAMO can be correlated to ADHD.

  1. Anxiety
  2. Absent mindedness/ Forgetfulness (forgetting about the Gambling rules, or only HEARING PART of the messaging. Gun permit but not CC, Forgetting to let trainers know about the meds switch led to suspension this year)
  3. Staying up to late scrolling through social media.
  4. Sleeping at work (team meetings)
  5. Highly emotional
  6. Impulsive behavior.

If anyone has ADHD they get it. If you do not have ADHD then this all looks like a lazy, dumb kid. It is a lot more complicated then that. Why do you think the coaches are so in his corner and patient? Bc unlike a lot of people here who are making a lot of assumptions, they actually know the kid and know what’s actually going on with him. Doesn’t excuse what he did yesterday.

How many here would ignore a guy intentionally tripping you and then standing over you and telling you to “get the fu ck up b#tch!”

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The flip of the ball is not what bothers me. He got caught. Probably 50% of players do something worth drawing a personal foul in every game. They just are not spotted so easily or called. Players react - it happens. I am more concerned about the antics when he makes plays. It has to be difficult for Dan and staff. You like the enthusiasm and don’t want to squash it. But you also need him to learn when its appropriate and when it is not and how much is too much. As many have said - he is not a thug, I don’t think he is a bad teammate. He is just too emotional and it is just going to take longer with him than some others. He is improving. That is all Dan ask. Just keep getting better. When the learning stops then it is time to revisit. But until that time he is a Lion and I fully support him.

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I wanna criticize Jamo. But when I think of the ignorant shit I’ve done. Especially being young, married and in the Marine Corps…I’m glad I didn’t continue my playing career.
He’s just young, gifted and 'hood. It takes a little longer to grow into manhood. Too many negative situations growing up to just shake it off because he’s getting a check. It takes some longer than others. No one has seen his dad. No one knows his mom. We only know about his brother. Who, may not be much older than him.

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