Prepare yourselves, friends: Yet another football player is pretending to play the role of a looming, heroic robot.
With the Detroit Lions on tap for Sunday, Green Bay Packers cornerback Tramon Williams has a message for receiver Calvin "Megatron" Johnson:
"I'm definitely Optimus Prime," Williams told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "I'm the leader of the Autobots. I'm the leader of the young guys right now, and when it comes down to the tough battles, I'll lead those guys out there."
That's not likely to sit well with Richard Sherman, the Seattle Seahawks cornerback who went through the trouble of changing his Twitter handle to "Optimus Prime" before facing Megatron in Week 8. The Lions won 28-24, but Johnson was held in check with three receptions for 46 yards.
Williams and Johnson faced each other twice last season. Williams took the first encounter, holding Megatron to 46 yards on four catches, but Johnson was outrageous in the second battle, with 11 catches for 244 yards and a touchdown. Nonetheless, Williams fancies himself a "Transformers" junkie and dismissed Sherman's claim on the role:
"Guys like (Seahawks corner) Brandon Browner and Richard Sherman -- they talk about how physical they are -- but Calvin was pushing those guys around the field like it was nothing," Williams said. "And those are some big guys. You definitely have to be careful with how you play a big guy like that."
Sherman appeared on "NFL AM" on Thursday and fired back at Williams.
"Last time I checked, we've never given up 250 yards to anybody," Sherman said.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
