The Los Angeles Chargers came away with a blowout win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, by a final score of 38-14. They raised their record to 4-2 in the process, trying to keep pace with the AFC West division-leading Kansas City Chiefs. While it was a pretty good team win all around, one key player had an outstanding performance: wide receiver Tyrell Williams.
Tyrell Williams Helps Los Angeles Chargers Defeat Cleveland Browns
Recap of Williams’ Career Thus Far
Just to recap somewhat quickly, Williams broke out in late 2015 and 2016. First, he caught an 80-yard touchdown pass for his first career catch in 2015 in the final game of the season versus the eventual Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. Then in 2016, he had a breakout season overall in the wake of Keenan Allen tearing his ACL in the first game of the year. He ended up having over 1,000 yards, and while he wasn’t as reliable as Allen even then, it sure looked like the Chargers could have a pretty deadly duo at wide receiver in the future.
By the end of 2017, Williams didn’t seem quite as promising; despite getting over 700 yards, his season was pretty unremarkable beyond three long touchdown catches. While that was due in part to Allen absorbing most of the targets, it just seemed like Williams was not as useful for much besides being a deep threat. Still, it seemed like he could be a great role player as a speedy deep pass threat for whenever the defense had Allen or Hunter Henry locked up. But then in 2018, things only got worse. In the first game, Williams had some critical drops, and his usage seemed to go down dramatically in the following weeks, even with Henry being out for the season.
Fast Forward to the Browns Game…
Williams only had three catches on Sunday’s game against the Browns. But he definitely made the most of them, in part with the help of his quarterback Philip Rivers. After a successful first drive, the Chargers offense had stalled and remained up only 7-3 into the second quarter. And then Rivers decided he’d just about had enough of that.
The first catch was an absolute dime for 44 yards. That one was nice enough, but then he had the play of the game when he brought down a 45-yard touchdown pass on the very next play – despite having triple coverage. And also despite having to wrestle with a Browns defender for the ball and having to depend upon the “tie goes to the receiver” rule to get the touchdown. Oh yeah, and then he caught a second touchdown later for 31 yards (although the referees missed a blatant false start on that play). He finished the day with three catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns.
The Speedy Guy Is Back?
It may be a bit unfair to say that Williams’ career truly needed resurrecting, but it was definitely trending downward. He had been essentially downgraded to resident “deep pass threat and not much else,” and then after his drops in Week One, even that was in doubt. Before Sunday’s game against the Browns, he was on pace for just over 600 yards receiving, which would have been another fall in receiving yardage for him.
However, he re-established himself as a threat on Sunday. He made a few great catches, particularly on that first touchdown where he had to deal with triple coverage and having to wrestle a defender for the ball. He’s still not going to be mistaken for being the top receiver by any means; that honor will belong to Allen probably as long as he’s there. But Williams may have just re-established himself as a decent second option. And what with the rising threat of Mike Williams, he did kind of need a day like this to keep himself from falling down the depth chart.
Last Word
Obviously, Williams was not the only factor in Sunday’s win for the Chargers. There was also Desmond King having two interceptions, the team having almost 250 yards rushing, or just the overall performance of the defense in general, which seems to have resurrected itself too after a rough first few weeks. But this was a game that Williams needed, and it certainly helped the Chargers take a stronger lead in the game. We’ll see whether Williams will be able to keep this up over the course of the season.
