Chiefs’ Damien Williams had no doubt his go-ahead touchdown in Super Bowl would stand
There was no agreement in the pressbox at Hard Rock Stadium as officials took a closer look at Damien Williams’ 5-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LIV.
Some reporters believed the play would be overturned because Williams had stepped out of bounds before the ball crossed the plane of the end zone. Others thought the play would stand, and it ultimately was upheld.
Last week, Williams was on ESPN’s “NFL Live” and said he had no doubt that he scored on the play as the Chiefs took the lead for good en route to a 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
Williams praised coach Andy Reid’s play call, which had receiver Tyreek Hill in the backfield.
“Man, Andy has a great mind as far as how he wants to twist the defense up,” Williams said. “As you can see here, Tyreek goes one way and I go one way in the backfield. I almost ran into him, but it was like the concern of what’s Tyreek doing, but not really know what I’m doing. Everybody’s focus is gonna be on Tyreek or Pat (Mahomes). ...
“I had seen (the 49ers’) Richard Sherman coming. All I could do is try to reach the ball out as much as possible. I had the ball in my hand, so I really couldn’t get more of the ball out, but I didn’t want him to knock the ball out as he was hitting me. And looking at the replay and me knowing I was in the whole time — whether or not my foot was on the line, it looked like it was out, any of that. And they know it was touchdown and it was on to victory.”
Here is the play:
Williams put Super Bowl LIV out of reach with a game-clinching 38-yard touchdown run. He was asked on ESPN what he was thinking on the play.
“Well the first thing first is, don’t go out of bounds,” Williams said. “So that run was not designed to go outside like that. It was meant to go between the tackles. My guy Sherm (Anthony Sherman) did a great job of noticing what was going on, and bounced outside and hooked them. All I could do is stay in bounds and once I seen green grass, I was gone.”
Here is that play:
Williams also was asked about Mahomes’ state of mind in the fourth quarter. Williams said Mahomes wasn’t bothered by his two interceptions or his first-quarter fumble, which went out of bounds.
“Oh man, whether or not he felt like he was playing at the level of The Pat Mahomes the whole game, that last 15 minutes, I’d seen the MVP Pat. He was on point,” Williams said. “The fumble, the interceptions, you can tell none of it was on his mind. He had a mission and he had a goal and he wanted to make sure every single last one of us in that huddle had that mission and had that goal. We’re gonna finish and we’re gonna win this game.”
Williams also talked about keeping focused after a strange offseason in which NFL teams haven’t been able to meet because of the coronavirus pandemic.
You can here what he had to say about that and the rest of the conversation here:
