Mike Williams is already rewarding the Pittsburgh Steelers for acquiring him. In his debut with the Steelers after getting traded there from the New York Jets last week, Williams caught a touchdown pass in Pittsburgh's 28-27 victory over the Washington Commanders.
Not only did the Steelers wideout catch a touchdown pass, but the game-winning touchdown pass from Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson (Williams caught a 32-yard touchdown to put the Steelers ahead for good with 2:22 left).
A day after his heroics, Williams posted on Instagram a picture of his touchdown catch with the word 'Thankful." There were three hashtags under the caption, with the last one being "Red Line."
The "Red Line" hashtag was a jab at Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who called out his wide receivers after a Jets loss in October.
"There's two verticals, Allen's [Jets receiver Allan Lazard] down the seam and Mike's down the redline," Rodgers said after a Monday night loss to the Buffalo Bills. "So I'm throwing a no look to the redline. When I peak my eyes back there Mike's running an 'in-breaker' gotta be down the redline."
What is the red line? The line is painted (red obviously) on practice fields five yards from the sideline as a boundary for receivers to hit in order to give quarterbacks space on vertical routes. Williams caught his touchdown -- on a vertical route.
The 32-yard touchdown catch was the only target Williams had on the day. His time with the Jets is in the past, but even Williams didn't publicly call out Rodgers when asked about him last week.
"It was cool," Williams said of playing alongside Rodgers last week. "Going there after the ACL (injury), not having OTAs or training camp to get the chemistry right. ... He's real detailed. He likes what he likes. Me not being able to transition in as quick is probably what went wrong."
Surely it felt good for Williams to get his first touchdown on a day the Jets couldn't score one themselves.