DANDY DEBUT FOR EX-CFLER
On Saturday, former Edmonton Eskimos wide receiver Duke
Johnson was signed to his first active NFL roster, with the Buffalo Bills.
On Sunday he caught the winning touchdown pass for the Bills, in their 14-7 win at Tennessee. Another one for the storybook. “It ain’t sunk in yet. I don’t know why,” said Williams, who caught 134 passes for 2,294 yards and 15 touchdowns from 2017-18 with the CFL’s Eskimos. “Man, this is an amazing feeling.”
With 9:49 left and the score tied 7-7 in a defensive slamfest, the Bills faced a 3rd-and-7 from the Titans’ seven-yard line. Bills quarterback
Josh Allen faked a handoff, pulled the ball out quickly and hit Williams slanting from the right.
Williams caught four passes for 29 yards, second on the team only to John Brown’s five grabs for 75.
The 26-year-old from Reserve, La., seems a lock now to remain on the Bills’ active roster.
Williams left the Eskimos in January and signed with the Bills. He impressed at times in summer camp as a bigbodied, sure-handed pass catcher. Although the
Bills cut him early last month, they signed him to their 10-man practice squad. There, he kept his head down and earned his way onto the main roster.
“He did a good job,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said of Williams afterward. “I loved his juice. I loved the toughness he brings. “He makes plays. When you can make plays in practice, consistently … I thought he gave us something today.”
Yeah. A win. To improve to 4-1. “It was along journey,” Williams said of finally playing in an NFL game, let alone scoring the winning points. “I had my ups and downs.”