Mike Williams and Aaron Rodgers never quite got on the same page.
Recovering from a torn ACL, the Clemson product didn’t get the necessary offseason reps with his now-former quarterback to grasp the intricacies of his process and what have you. For one reason or another, syncing up with the soon-to-be 41-year-old Rodgers proved far more difficult than expected.
And that’s what happened during Williams’ brief stint with Gang Green.
Last month, Rodgers took the podium after throwing a game-losing interception to the Buffalo Bills and promptly blamed Williams for running the wrong route on the play. According to Rodgers, Williams was supposed to be running down the “red line,” a marker five yards from the sideline that the New York paint on its practice field.
The fallout was swift.
In the wake of the public spat, the Jets quickly acted, sending Williams to the Pittsburgh Steelers and bringing in Davante Adams, seemingly to patch things up with Rodgers. Yet, as the Jets stumbled to a 31-6 loss against the Arizona Cardinals this past Sunday, Williams was busy making headlines for the Steelers. He hauled in a game-winning touchdown from Russell Wilson, prompting Chris Berman to take a not-so-subtle jab at Rodgers.
It also led to Williams making a note of the “#RedLine” in an Instagram post Sunday.
And while many thought he was subtly taking a shot at his former quarterback, Williams interpreted it differently.
“Nah. Nah, That wasn’t at all,” Williams said when asked on the GoJo and Golic show Monday if his Instagram caption was a subtle reference to something else. “I mean, I feel like I made a name on the red line; that’s what I’m good at. Playing on the red line, I feel like that’s how people know me; that’s what my game is made of. I mean, you can check the tape, check whatever; you can see a lot of catches on the red line.
“That was just a caption that was needed at the time. That’s where the ball was caught at — and we won.”
Sometimes, a change of scenery is all it takes to find the right connection on the “red line.”
For Williams, it seems Pittsburgh may be just where he finds that success.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.