Tramon Williams suffered nerve damage in his shoulder in Green Bay's season opener against the Saints in 2011, but he kept playing. He believes - at some point - he can be the shutdown corner of 2010 again. Credit: File

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Green Bay - His low point came in the weight room. Tramon Williams is no bodybuilder. But he is the Green Bay Packers' No. 1 cornerback, a pro athlete with a shredded physique. On the bench press - today - he can put up two 80-pound dumbbells.

Midway through last season? He was your common high school athlete.

"I couldn't even lift a bench press of 30-, 35-pound dumbbells," Williams said. "It was bad. I kind of tuned it out at some point because I knew I had to play regardless. I knew I could still play but, obviously, it affected me."

His entire career, the 29-year-old Williams never missed a game, never missed a practice. So after a nasty collision with teammate Nick Collins in Green Bay's season opener a year ago, he played on. His shoulder was torn, strained, bruised - and worst of all - Williams suffered nerve damage. That nerve damage zapped Williams' aggressiveness and his play suffered. Off a career season and a four-year, $33 million contract extension, Williams struggled on Green Bay's last-ranked defense.

Williams, a die-hard boxing fan, only missed one game. He refused to leave the ring. Doing so may have set him back. Doctors tell Williams it can take up to a year for the nerve to regenerate.

Either way, he feels stronger. And Williams believes - at some point - he can be the shutdown corner of 2010 again.

"I'll be able to get to that point," Williams said. "I don't know if I'll get to that point before we start playing. But I believe I can get back to 100%. Once the nerve gets back, I have no doubt that I'll be back to 100%. . . . It's one of those things you have to go through. You don't want to sit on the sideline. If you can play, you play."

So he played. The Packers defense allowed more passing yards than any other team in NFL history. Williams, taking on the opposition's No. 1 wide receiver, was one culprit. He shied away from piles, gave generous cushions to receivers and allowed 16½ plays of 20 yards or more, according to Journal Sentinel statistics.

The injury didn't seem serious at first. The first MRI revealed damage, Williams said, but nothing with long-term implications.

"So I just went along with that," Williams said. "Obviously there was more to it. They may sugarcoat it here or there to keep you positive about the situation."

Eventually, everyone realized the nerve damage was a different monster, a very rare injury he couldn't fully shake. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers tried to keep Williams out of compromising positions and he wore a harness for six weeks. He steered clear of piles. Tackling - a team-wide problem - was a challenge. Williams admits that if there were other defenders near a ball carrier, he pulled up.

"If you have to truly go in there to make the tackle, yeah, you go in and do it," he said. "But if you have two or three guys and you're going to make the tackle at the same time, you let the two guys make the tackle and you watch."

Worst of all, he couldn't press. When Williams jolted his arms out, there was too much pain. That bothered him more than anything. After Detroit Lions wideout Calvin Johnson rolled up 155 of his 244 receiving yards on Williams in the regular-season finale, the corner was in visible pain in the locker room.

More mental pain than physical pain. He wanted to battle wide receivers head-up but couldn't do it.

"That's my game. I like to mix it up a lot, but I like to press," he said. "I just wasn't able to really do it much at all. And when you just sit off the whole time, you're going to give up a lot of catches. You may make some plays, too. But you're always giving them space. That's what you don't want to do. You don't want to be one-dimensional. That's pretty much what happened. I became one-dimensional.

"And obviously, we weren't playing well as a defense, either. So it made things a lot more tougher. So it was a bad situation - a total bad situation."

In retrospect, Williams admits he should have sat out a few games. "Maybe more," he adds. Instead, the Packers' secondary was historically bad. After the season, Williams rehabbed his shoulder five times a week with physical therapist Russ Paine, who worked with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson on his knee.

Paine hadn't seen an injury quite like this, Williams said. The shoulder did not require surgery, and structurally, it's 100%. But when he moves his arm in certain directions, it's still weak because of the nerve.

There are significant differences between his left and right shoulders.

"There's no muscles or anything there, so obviously in some directions that I move, my arm is substantially weak," Williams said. "So that's what I've been working on this off-season - try to get those other muscles strong enough so I can compensate for that. That's where I'm at right now."

Cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt expressed full confidence in Williams throughout last season. Several times, Whitt had said Williams was always the one player he never worries about. Last week, he remained steadfast.

During Green Bay's organized team activities, Williams looks fine to him.

"He does everything I ask him to do," Whitt said. "I believe if he's healthy, he's going to be as good as there is in the league. I confidently believe in his ability and I believe in Tramon Williams. So what he tried to do for us last year and play injured, that takes your hat off to him because he thought that gave us the best chance to win."

Added Williams, "It just takes time. There's nothing you can do. You can work out, you can rehab, you can do all you want on it, but it's going to regenerate when it wants to regenerate. It's probably going to be a while. The nerve has a mind of its own pretty much."

Williams loves the new additions on defense, gushing over Jerel Worthy specifically. Williams' shoulder is not at full strength right now, but it's not on his mind. He's trying not to think about it. At some point - he hopes by September - it'll be fully healthy.

Green Bay hopes so, too. The draft should add some pop to the pass rush, but Williams' return to form may be more important.

He's the one on the front line facing every team's No. 1 wide receiver.

"Guys aren't going to let (2011) happen again," he said. "I feel the same way. . . . I think we're definitely going to be a lot better than last year. It was a fluke year, first of all. I don't know how we can go from a top defense to that bad. It's unacceptable. I don't have a theory for it, but I just think it was a fluke year."