Spurred by Memories of Winning Touchdown, Watkins Returning to Buffalo

The Buffalo Bills used the fourth pick of the 2014 NFL Draft on Sammy Watkins for moments like the one they faced on Oct. 19 of his rookie season.

With 5 seconds to go, they trailed 16-10 against the Minnesota Vikings. It was second-and-goal at the 3. Kyle Orton looked left all the way, where it was Watkins against Xavier Rhodes. Watkins beat Rhodes on the out, got both feet inbounds and scored the winning touchdown.

On Sunday, Watkins will go back to Buffalo for the first time when the Green Bay Packers (3-4) meet the powerhouse Bills (5-1). In anticipation of Watkins’ return, receivers coach Jason Vrable fired up a clip of that touchdown in the meeting room this week.

“It just took me back to that old time,” Watkins said of watching the play with his new teammates. “The game was on me. It was the last play of the game and this is where we win or lose it, and I made one of the biggest plays of the game against, around that time, he was one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL. That kind of pushed me to the next level of being a great wide receiver.”

Eight years ago, Watkins seemed well on his way to greatness. He caught nine passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns in that game against the Vikings and finished his rookie season with 65 receptions for 982 yards and six scores. A year later, even while missing three games, he caught 60 passes for 1,047 yards and nine touchdowns.

Watkins was the man against the Vikings that day. The Packers could use a blast-from-the-past return to Buffalo under the primetime lights. Allen Lazard is out with a shoulder injury. Randall Cobb is on injured reserve with an ankle injury. Buffalo’s current star, Stefon Diggs, has more receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns than the rest of Green Bay’s receiver corps combined.

Watkins, though, just wants to do his part.

“Sammy Watkins can’t just beat this team by himself,” he said. “It’s going to take the line blocking, Aaron (Rodgers) throwing, collectively the wideouts doing what we’re doing, the running backs doing what they’re doing. Yeah, it’s going to take this group – the wide receiver group – to make the biggest plays. Not just myself but Romeo (Doubs), Christian (Watson), whoever’s out there, Samori (Toure).

“It’s going to take all of us to make the biggest plays of the game. We’re going to have to have 300, 400 yards passing. That’s what we’re going to have to have. If we don’t do that, we don’t win this game. The Bills’ offense is great. Hopefully, they don’t score as many points as us but they’re going to score points. We’ll have to match that.”

Watkins said it’s going to be “weird” to enter the visitor’s locker room at the stadium he called home for his first three NFL seasons. He said the stadium is going to be “rocking,” and he compared the environment to that of a college game.

“I had some of my best times there,” Watkins said on Wednesday. “If people don’t know, that was my childhood team and still is my team. To play for an organization I loved growing up was definitely a blessing. I had some of the best memories. My first child was (born) there. It’s going to be a lot of great memories when I get there, replaying back all the great times I had with coaches and team. I just can’t wait to get there and go out to eat with a couple friends and then get prepared for Sunday night.”

The best of those memories was that winning touchdown against the Vikings. He’d love to do it again – not just because it would come against his old team but because his new team desperately needs a win. Without the “13 or 14” mental errors per game the offense has been guilty of, Watkins figured the team would be 7-0 instead of 3-4.

A win on Sunday night, and a big game by Watkins, could change the season for the team and the story for Watkins, who signed with the Packers in hopes of resurrecting what had been such a promising career.

“That was one of my best plays,” he said. “Everything was on me and I was highlighted. To the organization, this is what they drafted the guys first round, top five, that’s what they drafted us for – to go make those type of plays. I would love to be in that situation again, to go do that. That would be a big win. I think winning that way, to end the game that way, with anybody catching that ball, we’ll get hot and hopefully we stay hot for the remainder of the season.”