Ben Johnson seeing only leadership and the right stuff from his QB

"So, I am grateful for the guys in the locker room. They all embrace that mindset. Everybody in this building, certainly when I see them, they're dialed in, they're locked in. I can't say enough good things about our whole roster top to bottom. I have been thoroughly impressed from the springtime through training camp here into Week 1 how locked in they've been."

One of the revelations of the book by Seth Wickersham on QBs was how Williams was said to not know how to watch video, and the coaching staff last year didn't help him.

Apparently it isn't happening that way now, as it appears there is focus on developing younger talent with this staff.

"For all young players in this league you try to show the runway of what a professional looks like and you detail, 'This is what we need. This is where we stand,' " Johnson said. "Early this week I kind of highlighted on a normal game week, you know, day after the game, this is what we should be looking at. Going into a Wednesday, this is what (film) cut-ups we should be looking at, the Thursday, Friday, bap, bap, bap.

"It's helpful for young players, I think, to see what that looks like and more than anything when you have a group of veterans like we do, they show us the way more so than the coaches having to lead, the players, the teammates, if they can show us the right way, the better off we'll be in a hurry."

Johnson pointed out how Williams is among the players voted  captain by his teammates.

Questions about his conduct don't seem to jibe with someone who has problems being a good teammate in the way the article had described. Then again, things can look different after an actual game is played.

"Certainly, the guys that our locker room voted as captains, that certainly sent a message at least to me, who they are looking at the most (as leaders)," Johnson said. "Guys like (Joe) Thuney and Grady (Jarrett) and (Kevin) Byard, Caleb, Cairo (Santos)—all five of those guys are great examples of guys that are doing the right thing, not just since we started the season, but throughout the offseason, the whole time.

"To have that respect of your peers  is a huge deal. We have a number of guys that are committed to doing it the right way. That was the vision of bringing in some of the veteran leadership that we did, that we acquired, whether through free agency or trades. I could go down the road, but Jonah Jackson, Drew Dalman on offense. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the guys that have been here like Cole Kmet and DJ Moore. On the defensive side of the ball, Montez Sweat has been absolutely crushing it from the time I stepped into the building until now. Dayo is a true pro. It’s on and on. I could list the entire locker room almost, because it’s just been really impressive how these guys go about their business.”

Could it have simply been the coaching staff and not the players last year, or  maybe players on that team who've left and the former staff that caused issues?

The entire situation reached a peak last yar, or actually a low, when Eberflus didn't use his last timeout against Detroit and was then fired.

Some questioned why Williams didn't call timeout. But coaches last year on that staff and Williams himself said he wasn't allowed to call timeouts according to how they approached games.

At least with the opener approaching, all looks about 180 degrees "differrent than the turmoil surrounding last year's staff.

"Listen, I feel comfortable going into this thing," Johnson said. "I’m surrounded by a lot of really good people. I cannot stress that enough. I really can’t. This coaching staff is top notch."