A little over a year after sustaining a devastating knee injury, Javonte Williams finally resembled the Denver Broncos running back of old, turning in his best performance of the season amid Sunday’s victory against the Green Bay Packers.
The outing may prove to be a jumping-off point for Williams, whom head coach Sean Payton believes will continue “getting better and better” as the 2023 campaign wears on.
“I wasn’t here—he was a little bit of an enigma for me,” Payton said Monday. “I don’t mean this in a negative way but having not worked with him or [RB Samaje] Perine or some of these guys. Until you get into the games, you’re not sure what kind of runner. You know they’re good runners, but you don’t know what kind of runners they’re going to be. I think Javonte heading into the preseason and the regular season—we limited the reps he had, and then he finally played some in San Francisco—a little bit more. It’s only in the last three weeks, four weeks, where I’m really getting a good feeling and a good handle on his strengths. I think you’re going to continue to see that trend of him just getting better and better.
“I’ve said this before. Medically speaking, they’ll tell you the recovery stops after two years. They’ll tell you players can begin playing as early as seven, eight months, depending on their condition. He obviously is in great shape. He rehabbed extremely well. The confidence he’s running with right now—he’s close. He had a few big runs yesterday. [RB Samaje] Perine had a big catch and breaks out of a tackle. Those plays were significant for us. To your point, I think that confidence, stability, recovery—all these things factor into a player who’s playing better and better each week and playing with more confidence. It was good to see yesterday.”
Emerging from a crowded backfield, and in his second game back since a hip injury, Williams punished Packers defenders en route to a team-high 82 rushing yards across 15 carries, averaging a healthy 5.5 yards per tote. He added three catches for 14 yards in the 19-17 win — Denver’s first at home this season.
The Broncos also received contributions from RBs Jaleel McLaughlin (five carries, 45 yards) and Samaje Perine (41 scrimmage yards), outgaining Green Bay, 339-331, despite losing the time-of-possession battle.
“We felt like we were going to be able to [run the ball],” Payton said in his post-game press conference. “We thought that was going to be important. It’s a really good front, rushing the passer—we just did not want to get in that game. I was pleased that—I thought the runners did a good job with it, and I thought when we look at the tape, we were in base—when I say their ‘base defense’ we wanted. We had a few nickel runs, but I thought that was important relative to what we were doing on third down.”
