The Oakland Raiders have had their ups and downs across the 2019 season. Injuries have derailed much of the momentum the team has picked up during the year, but finally, the Raiders are becoming healthy.
A number of key players have missed time with injury, with one being the team’s top wide receiver, Tyrell Williams.
Williams got off to a good start to the year, scoring four touchdowns in his first four games with his new team after signing as a free agent in the offseason. He then dealt with a foot injury that forced him to miss a pair of games though, putting a halt to the chemistry he was building with Derek Carr.
Having since returned for two games now, Williams finally feels that he is healthy and back to being his normal self, via Scott Blair of NBC Sports Bay Area:
“It hasn’t gone exactly how I wanted, especially with everything with my feet,” Williams said Tuesday. “I have started feeling a lot better and I’m ready to take off and play like I know I can play.”
Williams caught his fifth touchdown in his first game back against the Houston Texans but failed to record one for the first time all year last week against the Detroit Lions.
One thing that Williams is trying to embrace to finish out the season is being a true No. 1 receiver, which is something he has done before with the Los Angeles Chargers:
“[That title] is something I’ve wanted, something I’ve always worked for,” Williams said. “Being with the Chargers, we had a lot of good receivers. I think that helped to see how those guys did it. My second year, I kind of had that opportunity and I feel like I was able to do well. Getting here, I’ve been fighting through injury and now I’m ready to get back to how I was playing at the start of the season.”
Williams will have no better place to prove his worth than this Thursday night when he faces his former team for the first time.
Although a generally calm person, Williams is excited to face the Chargers after signing a four-year contract with the division-rival Raiders in the offseason:
“I stay pretty even-keeled, but I’m going to have a little more juice this week,” Williams said. “… It’s going to be a lot of fun. I know a lot of guys on the team still. I’m excited to play them. I went against those guys for four years, so it’s going to weird going against them on a game day. It’ll be cool, though. I’m excited about it.”
With both the Raiders and Chargers in the mix for playoff spots, this game is a big one if Oakland wants to remain in contention in the AFC West.
