Mike Valenti Rips Lions WR Jameson Williams ‘He’s Not Bright’ and suggested the Lions can’t rely on him as a long-term offensive weapon
On Sunday Night Football, with the eyes of the NFL world looking on, Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams provided his team one of their most explosive plays on offense, hauling in a reception and scoring, outrunning Eagles defensive back Adoree Jackson to the end zone.
However, instead of his play on the bright stage, where he finished with 97 yards from scrimmage, the main topic of discussion for Williams has been his penalty immediately after the touchdown.
The former Lions’ first-round selection ran to the goalpost and jumped to embrace it with his arms and legs, which has been done before and been penalized, notably with former Steelers receiver Antonio Brown.
Mike Valenti, the host of the "Mike Valenti Show with Rico" on 97.1 The Ticket, was critical of Williams on Monday, and received considerable backlash. The host was brutal, ripping the receiver to shreds verbally.
“Jamo is an idiot,” Valenti stated in his viral clip. “Grow up.”
Valenti was sarcastically called a hater by co-host Rico Beard, and the former instantly rejected the notion.
“I’m not being a hater,” Valenti responded. “You can do anything you want in the endzone, short of produce a baby in the grass, don’t touch the goalposts. It’s the one no-no. Don’t go ‘Oh, the rule is stupid!’ So is speeding. But we have to abide.”
Beard expanded on Valenti’s metaphor, before taking some exception to Williams’ reaction to the penalty. Beard then expanded on his frustrations with how Williams acted, and asked what the end goal of that celebration was.
“You blow by a cop going 65, and he has to do his job,” Beard noted. “And then afterwards, you kinda got that look like ‘yeah, you know,’ laughing and giggling. Like, no, dude, you cost us a point that we may need in this game. You never had the lead because of that. Maybe, at 7-6, you force Philly into a different mindset. But now, it’s tied 6-6. You wanted all the smoke, you wanted all the attention. Congratulations, Jamo, did you get what you seek? At that point, what are you? An Instagram model? What were you doing? You cost your team a point, a valuable point that they needed. Come on, man, you got to be better than that.”
Valenti indicated he was not a fan of a player that hurt the team due to his poor decision-making.
“He’s just not bright,” Valenti expressed, “Flow chart. Not bright, you can just say it. Not everybody’s meant to build rockets, okay? He’s not a smart guy. It is what it is, there’s a behavioral pattern, and it sucks, because that very play is every reason why I wanted his role increased, but it is also the part where I go ‘damn it, you hurt us.’ This was not some 38-35 Big 12 shootout. You knew early on how this game was going to go.”
On Tuesday, after some backlash, the 97.1 host was back to defend his words and expand on his comments. After talking about the initial backlash, he posed a question to his listeners and Detroit sports fans, speaking on the differences in treatment that Williams gets compared to Tigers’ ace pitcher Tarik Skubal and Pistons’ star Cade Cunningham. Valenti dove into an objective view of what the play did to hurt the Lions’ hopes, and what could have been different in the Sunday Night Football game.
“I want to ask a question to people: ‘why do you react this way, with this player?’ Jamo has been afforded a protected status that Cade Cunningham doesn’t have, Tarik Skubal doesn’t have… Meanwhile, Jamo, these are facts, that I am about to give you, factually. He made a great play. Facts. He had a stupid celebration. Fact. He drew a totally legitimate penalty. Fact. That penalty moved the extra point from a 33-yarder to a 48-yarder in 30-to-40 mile an hour winds. Fact. This penalty made that extra point more difficult. Fact. That extra point being missed matters, game script. Because when you’re up 7-6, and the Eagles score to go up, they’re sitting on 12, maybe they go for two, to get to 14-7. If you get that stop (on the two-point attempt), maybe field goals look different,” Valenti pointed out.
Valenti then ended his analysis to re-iterate his most inflammatory comment, his questions on Williams’ intelligence. The radio host also addressed the criticism of the show, and re-posed his question about Williams’ special treatment.
“It’s an idiotic penalty, and I am sorry, I just do not think Jamo is that bright of a guy,” Valenti said. “Made a ton of bad decisions, he continues to make bad decisions, and he continues to do the whole late-night thing, and it’s like ‘okay, no big deal, I just thought it was very simple.’ The reaction is ‘these two again, it didn’t cost us anything, you’re haters,’” Valenti said of the criticism to his takes on the Alabama product. “By the way, the segment and Youtube video, I said that I want his role to be bigger, that that play is everything right about Jamo and wrong all in one? What is it about this player and any commentary of him that triggers you?”
Does Sean Tucker Become The Bucs’ Starting RB This Week?
Bucs RB Sean Tucker – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR
Bucs running back Sean Tucker had his best game of the season on Sunday with 106 rushing yards on 19 attempts and two rushing two touchdowns along with two catches for 34 yards and a receiving touchdown. Coincidentally, it’s the most playing time and rushing attempts that Tucker has had all season.
With 202 total yards on the ground, it was the best rushing performance by the Buccaneers all season. It’s an area that the team has struggled with a little more this season due to injuries on the offensive line and the absence of starting running back Bucky Irving. Tucker became the first back this season for Tampa Bay to eclipse 100 yards rushing.
It’s been all Rachaad White and Tucker at running back with Irving out since Week 5. It was White who has been the starter, but Tucker has been more impactful. Sunday’s game was also the first time that Tucker had more attempts than White at 19 to 10, even though White played more snaps.
“He got started off hot early,” Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles said after the game. “We went with the hot hand and once you get a hot hand we kind of leave you in there regardless of who the back is and today it was him. He did a great job.”
It isn’t even as if White played poorly. He averaged 5.1 yards per rush against the Bills, going for 51 yards on the 10 attempts. What separates these two is the explosiveness of Tucker, who had a scintillating 43-yard touchdown run, a rush of 14 yards and a 28-yard catch and run for a touchdown. White’s longest play was a 12-yard run.
Will Bucs Commit To Sean Tucker As The Starter?
Does this become the time that Sean Tucker usurps White as the lead running back? Todd Bowles didn’t necessarily feel that way, giving a vague response. It sounds like it’ll be status quo as he once again brought up that the player with the momentum will continue to go.
“That’s hard to say,” Bowles said. “We go with the hot hand. We’ve got three good backs – we play them all, rotate them all, and whichever one gets hot usually gets the most touches.”
There’s uncertainty on when Bucky Irving is going to play, although he started practicing last week. Rookie undrafted free agent Josh Williams was suspended for six games last week, so he still has five more games before he can return. Owen Wright is there in case anything happens to White and Tucker, so it’s those two that’ll lead the group in the running game.
Ultimately it doesn’t matter if White gets the start if Tucker is going to have more attempts. The gap was moved closer in terms of playing time as Rachaad White out-snapped Tucker 60% to 40% on Sunday compared to 70% and 30% two weeks ago. The Bucs still don’t totally trust Tucker in pass blocking on third downs, so White will still have that role if Tucker continues to tote the football on rushing plays.
Bucs Need More Of Sean Tucker In Next Game At The Rams
But with a huge matchup coming up against the Rams, the Buccaneers are looking to avoid having a three-game losing streak. Tampa Bay is going to need as many explosive plays as possible and Sean Tucker gives them that element that others on this team can’t. It would be in the best interest of the offense to keep Tucker on more if they want to pull off the upset.
