Many happy returns around the NFL

Welcome back, Big Ben.

Welcome back, Kevin Kolb.

Welcome back, Deion Branch.

Welcome back … Mike Williams?

That’s right, on a Sunday filled with eye-catching comebacks by teams and individuals, the biggest blast from the past came from a Seattle Seahawks receiver long since branded a bust.

Williams, the onetime USC star who was drafted with the 10th pick by Detroit in 2005, reeled in 10 passes in Seattle’s 23-20 upset at Chicago. This from a guy who was out of football the past two seasons and hadn’t caught more than three balls in a game since his rookie year.

“Mike Williams came through beautifully,” said the Seahawks’ Pete Carroll, his college coach, who has gotten more out of the slimmed-down Williams than the receiver’s three previous teams: Detroit, Oakland and Tennessee.

It was also a memorable day for Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was suspended for the first four games for violating the NFL’s personal-conduct policy.

Roethlisberger was cheered loudly by his home crowd during introductions, then threw three touchdown passes in a 28-10 thumping of Cleveland.

That was a welcome change for the Steelers, who cobbled together a 3-1 start without him by leaning heavily on their running game and defense. They were ranked last in passing yards per game.

Even though he was cheered in exhibition games, Roethlisberger wasn’t sure how he would be received by Steelers fans, some of whom wanted the team to trade him in the wake of his latest troubles. In March, he was accused of — but not charged with — sexually assaulting a Georgia college student.

Aside from about 20 protesters carrying signs outside Heinz Field, the quarterback got a warm reception.

“I started thinking about it on the way here,” Roethlisberger told reporters when asked whether he wondered how the crowd would treat him. “Before the game I got emotional. To hear the cheers was something special. I got a little emotional.”

Emotional? How do you think Philadelphia’s Kolb feels when either he or Michael Vick are making comebacks every couple of weeks? With the recovering Vick listed as the third quarterback, Kolb played the kind of game the Eagles envisioned when they traded Donovan McNabb, throwing for three touchdowns in a 31-17 pounding of Atlanta.

Vick watched the game on TV from the locker room, because that’s where Coach Andy Reid wanted him to stay, saying he didn’t want him “near the field.”

“I wasn’t going to let him get in the game and throw the ball,” Reid said of Vick, recuperating from a ribcage injury. “He was not getting hit. The chances of him being in there were slim to none.”

In Foxborough, another familiar player made a comeback. Branch, who last week was traded from Seattle back to his original team, caught nine passes to help the Patriots come from behind to beat Baltimore, 23-20, in overtime.

It was an especially timely performance because New England was playing its first game without Randy Moss, traded to Minnesota this month. Nine catches was a career high for Branch, and it matched the total number of catches Moss had made in his four games with the Patriots this season.

Branch had some inkling things might turn out this way.

“They pretty much had to hold Tom back because he was all antsy,” Branch said of Tom Brady in practices last week leading up to the game. “‘I’ve got to get you the ball,’ and this and that.

“Coach was like, ‘Look, son, I’m pretty much going to take you out of practice every now and then because Tom is trying to get you the ball 20 times.’ ”

Clearly, it was Brady’s way of sending a simple message: Welcome back.

A fine mess

A lot of defensive players are likely to find letters from the league office in their lockers this week, fines for helmet-to-helmet hits that knocked several players out of Sunday games.

During the second quarter of their defeat at Pittsburgh, the Browns lost receivers Josh Cribbs and Mohamed Massaquoi — both to helmet-to-helmet hits by Steelers linebacker James Harrison.

“You don’t want to injure people, I don’t want to injure anybody,” Harrison said. “But I’m not opposed to hurting anybody.”

Exactly what he meant by that isn’t clear.

In the New York Jets-Denver game, cornerback Darrelle Revis leveled Broncos receiver Eddie Royal with a similar hit.

Also frightening was a hit in the Atlanta-Philadelphia game, when Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson flattened Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson by launching his head into Jackson’s upper chest/lower facemask. Robinson was flagged for hitting a defenseless receiver. Both players lay motionless on the turf for several moments before being helped to their feet and wobbling off to their locker rooms. Neither returned to the game.

And maybe the scariest of all happened on a Detroit kickoff. Lions linebacker Zack Follett was strapped to a backboard, carted off the field and taken to a hospital after a helmet-to-helmet hit from Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul.

“You’re taught to separate the guy from the ball,” NBC’s Rodney Harrison, once one of the league’s hardest hitters, said on “Football Night in America.” “Your normal mark is right here [indicating across his chest]. But as you’re coming, you start raising up a couple inches, and all of a sudden it’s helmet-to-helmet.

“They’re going to reprogram these players to start hitting lower, by the waist.”

Desperate measures

Dallas lost the “Desperation Bowl” at Minnesota — a battle of onetime Super Bowl favorites, both of whom came into the game at 1-3 — but after the game Cowboys owner Jerry Jones ruled out the possibility of firing Coach Wade Phillips during the season.

Clearly, though, Jones is running out of patience. Before the season, he said he felt better about this team than any since the championship Cowboys of the early 1990s.

Asked if he’s optimistic, Jones told reporters: “I’m not. I’m very disappointed. I realize the challenge that we’ve got, and we’re not playing well enough to get it done right now. We’re running out of the opportunity to make this season what we meant it to be.”

Dis-Charged

The 2-4 San Diego Chargers have already lost more games than in all of the 2009 regular season. What’s more, they lost Pro Bowl tight end Antonio Gates to an ankle injury in the first half of their defeat at St. Louis.

LaDainian Tomlinson, released by the Chargers after last season, must be smiling from afar. He seems reborn with the Jets and rushed for two more touchdowns Sunday (including the game-winner) to bring his season total to five.

sam.farmer@latimes.com

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