Packers looking to help Williams return to 2010 playmaking form

In 2010, Tramon Williams blossomed into one of the NFL’s premier cornerbacks.

He had a career year with nine interceptions (regular season and playoffs), including his game-turning 70-yard return for a touchdown in the playoffs at Atlanta that was one of the most spectacular plays of the Green Bay Packers’ Super Bowl title season. The Packers rewarded him in November of that year with a five-year contract that averages $7.6 million a season.

Since then, though, Williams has sustained a nerve injury in his shoulder that diminished him in 2011 and then had a better season last year that still wasn’t up to the 2010 standards and was marred by tackling issues in the run game.

Now the Packers are looking to help the 30-year-old return to his 2010 playmaking form by playing to his strengths as a cover man, which means lining him up several yards off the line of scrimmage more than last year, when the Packers played primarily bump-and-run coverage.

“Did he play as good (last year) as he did in 2010? No,” cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt said. “I’m going to take some of that (responsibility,) for the fact that we asked those guys (last) year for as much as possible to get up and press, which he can press.

“(But) he gets the ball better when he’s off. He makes more impactful plays from playing off. Sam (Shields) makes more impactful plays being pressed. So (Williams) played better because he can see the ball and go get it. Well if you go back to 2010, most of his impact plays came from being off.”

Whitt’s comment last week was part of an impassioned five-minute endorsement of Williams’ performance last season, a year removed from the shoulder injury. Williams was healthier and better than in ’11 but had only OK numbers (two interceptions and 24 passes defended, which was second on the team) and a couple of glaringly bad-looking plays as a tackler. Most notably there was a long screen pass against the New York Giants and a run by Minnesota halfback Adrian Peterson on which Williams appeared passive.
Butt Whitt said that Williams’ tackling last season was significantly improved from 2011 – had Williams for 16 missed tackles in ’11 and six last year. Cornerback probably is the Packers’ deepest position for quality talent with Shields, Casey Hayward and Davon House potential starters, and after last season Whitt said that all the starting jobs were open this year. But it’s hard to see Williams being anything but a full-time player again this season.

“When (Williams) is allowed to do what he does best, he’s pretty good, and that’s just what it is,” Whitt said. “And so I know some people are going to say, ‘(Whitt) is protecting his player.’ No, that’s just what it is because after the season I went back and watched every play, over 1,200 plays. The guy can play, and he played physical, too. Let me clear that up too.

“You go back and watch the games. Now, did he miss the tackle on (Peterson) from Minnesota? Yeah, but he went up there and hit it. We’re going to miss some tackles. We’re not going to be 100 percent on (running) backs. I’m not going to get into every single play, but he’s going to play fine this year.”

Williams remains one of the most respected and liked players in the Packers’ locker room, as evidenced when his teammates late last year voted him the club’s Ed Block Courage Award winner.

The Ed Block foundation website defines the award as recognition of the player who best exemplifies each team’s “commitments to the principles of sportsmanship and courage.” It’s usually given to a player who that season overcame some kind of adversity, but Williams was already a year removed from his shoulder injury, so that isn’t why he won for the Packers. Several players interviewed said they voted for Williams based on his positive influence in the locker room and the work of his charitable foundation in Green Bay and Houston, his offseason home.

“(The award was for) something ‘T’ just gives off to the team,” safety Jerron McMillian said.

Williams, in the meantime, said the nerve in his right shoulder has regenerated about as much as it’s going to now that he’s 1? years removed from the injury. Last summer doctors measured the electrical signals in his shoulders, and the signal in his right (injured) shoulder still was noticeably weaker than the left. But the difference in the strength in each arm while weightlifting wasn’t as great and has diminished from last year.

“I can be the guy in 2010, I can be a guy past that,” Williams said. “Every year doesn’t go the same. I won’t blame it on the shoulder. I was able to go out there and play. I had to do what I had to do. It’s not really an issue to me.

“You can watch and see obviously 2010 was a special year for everybody, we won the Super Bowl. At the same time, I played solid last year, the only thing people say is I only had two interceptions. I think I played really solid last year, did a lot of things good, just didn’t come up with the statistics.”