It's been almost a week since Mario Williams became the biggest free agent acquisition in Buffalo sports history and I waited a few days because 1.) I was relaxing with days off and 2.) had to let it sit for a few days. But as you might imagine, I got a few takes on this. Obviously I never ever expected the Bills of all teams to sign the biggest free agent in the year's free agency. I did not even expect them to even get a meeting with him. Then out of the blue, he chose us first. He came here first before any other team and he never left. He was here for a total of three days and each day I was a nervous wreck with the old Buffalo montage "how will they blow this?" This is a team that fails to close on the field and I would not have surprised if they did so off it. But to the credit of the Buffalo Bills' front office, GM Buddy Nix, and many other personnel, they got it done before he could even consider talking to another team. They did what they did to sell him to come here and hearing from Williams, he seems like a guy who likes the small town, country atmosphere and does not need the wild and crazy nightlife and social life that big cities offer such as New York or Miami. So from the bottom of my heart and the hearts of millions of Bills fans, thank you!! Not only did we sign Williams, a special thanks goes to him as he chose us. That was one of the most awesome things I ever seen an athlete do. I sound bias that's because I am in this article. I try not to let emotion get the best of me, but I will definitely be emotional while writing this and who could blame me?
This is a huge time in Buffalo sports and hopefully it turns the future around for this downtrodden franchise. This franchise has been so irrelevant for well over a decade and especially since they got rid of Tom Donahoe, who signed big name players, none the caliber of Williams though, the Bills would routinely fail and miss the playoffs. Since then, the Bills have made do with a bunch of castoffs and no names and even though some have been good, either the Bills failed to keep them or they were just mired in obscurity. But there has been such a lack of talent with really no quarterback, offensive line, or defense. Williams is not only a house hold name, the biggest free agent on the market (or second to Peyton Manning if you think), but he fills a huge void on this team that can't get to the quarterback or sack and he should make everyone around him better. I feel the Bills defense goes from one of the worst in the league to somewhere mid-pack just with the addition of Williams. A few breaks and if they can stay healthy, then the Bills could be hopefully in the top-10 in defense. Hopefully, more players in the NFL will come to Buffalo now that they landed Williams.
The impact alone on Buffalo will be huge. Just last Thursday when Mario signed with the Bills, the Bills sold 1,000 season tickets, not game tickets but season tickets. For a team that struggles to sell out games in December with the games being blacked out in the cold and snow and the team eliminated in playoff contention, this is a big sign. People are buying into the Bills mainly because of Mario Williams and when is the last time people bought into one single Buffalo Bill? The only bigger acquisition the Bills made was when they announced they signed Jim Kelly back in 1986, but they owned his rights. Of course we know how that worked out!! But this from the standpoint of taking an NFL free agent free to sign with any team he wants, we don't own his rights, we didn't trade for him. He chose to sign with us!! For a team that hasn't made the playoffs since 1999, longest in the NFL, this is well bigger than words can describe. I've heard some people use the analogy that this is like when hall of famer Reggie White signed with the Green Bay Packers back in 1993 when he was in the prime of his career. Green Bay at that time was a joke and they have not had any success since the days of Vince Lombardi back in the '60s and they were an afterthought in the NFL. Even though they had Mike Holmgren as head coach and a young but unproven Brett Favre at QB, the impact White had alone changed the Packers and they have been one of the most successful NFL franchises in the last 20 years. Boy I hope that opens up the flood gates for us. We need it. He will put the butts in the seats. I remember back in the early-mid '90s when the Bills spent money in free agency and were a huge player. They've signed guys like Ted Washington, Bryce Paup (who was decent before coming here and really exploded here) and Chris Speilman plus all the money they spent keeping the team together. I remember the days of Tom Donahoe when he got guys like Drew Bledsoe, London Fletcher, Takeo Spikes, Sam Adams, and Lawyer Milloy. Too bad that didn't work out well.
Williams should be expected to make a huge impact on this defense which finished 30th in points allowed and 26th in yards allowed last year as well as 29th in sacks with 29. Despite not having any pass rush, the Bills ranked 8th in interceptions and total takeaways. Imagine what they could do with Williams going after the passer? Who will double team Williams? If you do, you free up Kyle Williams, Marcell Dareus, Chris Kelsey, and hopefully a healthy Shawne Merriman to go after the QB. The Bills might have one of the best D-lines in the league. Williams alone can bring half the sack total from the Bills last season. What also helps is the promotion of Dave Wannstedt to defensive coordinator after the firing of George Edwards, who was way over his head and should have never been in that position. Wannstedt is a great defensive coordinator and really helped sell Williams on the idea of playing for Buffalo and playing on this defense. My hats off to Mr. Wannstedt. The Bills need a corner back and hopefully address the issue in the draft, but Williams going after the QB means the QB will either be hurried into making a throw or he'll be on the ground and that helps the secondary. Last year, opposing QBs had all the time in the world to throw and the secondary could cover for only so long. Even the very best cornerbacks can defend a receiver for so long while looking at the QB at the same time before the receiver separates and the QB hits him for a big gain. I am sick of watching the last few years my defense get shredded by the opposing QB all day long as he had infinite amounts of time to throw and the average to below-average guys looking like Tom Brady. I am also sick of watching opposing running backs get average at least a buck fifty and looking like Walter Payton and Jim Brown.
With an improved defense and a pretty good offense, there's no way this team can't win at least 9-10 games and at least be in contention for the playoffs as the AFC is pretty weak in my opinion. Injuries played a huge part last year no question, but the talent was thin as is so that means the depth was awful. If they can stay healthy, then who knows I like our chances. If this team can start out 5-2 and beat the Patriots and Tom Brady and Michael Vick and the Eagles with that horrific defense and most of the injuries occurred after, then who knows how many games this team can win if healthy and with Williams making an impact? Plus the AFC East is weak outside of New England. If we can finish second, then it gives us a great chance at a wild card if we win 10 games. Its very possible because Miami failed at landing Peyton Manning and the best they could do is David Garrard. The Jets also failed in the Manning sweepstakes and even had to give Mark Sanchez a contract extension. They are a huge mess. Cincinnati won 9 games with a rookie QB and made the playoffs in a division with Pittsburgh and Baltimore and lost all 4 times to them. So why can't we make the playoffs this year? I am a huge passing man but I want to see a huge commitment to running the football this year with a healthy Fred Jackson and CJ Spiller and get the ball out of Fitz's hands as a much as possible. Last year when Jackson went down, Spiller ran very well but for some reason, Chan Gailey would stop running him in the 2nd half even if they were down 10 points or less and have Fitz throw more, which resulted in predictable play calling and an increase in turnovers. With a much better defense and hopefully not being behind more will result in running the ball more.
Mario Williams was the 1st overall pick of the 2006 NFL Draft with the Houston Texas, who passed on Houston native Vince Young and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush to take Williams. Williams was a beast at NC State and tore up the ACC as a junior. At 6'7 290 lbs., he is considered an athletic freak very much so as another North Carolina defensive end in Julius Peppers, who is also great in his own right. Then GM of the Texans, Charlie Casserly, decided that Williams was a huge position of need and also was the best player in the draft. He was criticized for it by local fans but was proven to be smart which leads me to say "there's people who get paid to watch games and there's those who pay to watch the games." Williams only had 4.5 sacks his rookie year but followed that up with 14, 12, 9, 8.5 and 5 in each of the next five seasons and did so without another pass rusher opposite of him. The five sack season last year came in only five games when he was injured with a torn pectoral muscle and missed 11 games. In other words, he had a sack a game last year. That injury is not devastating that it will not derail his career. He should be fine. When had a player the caliber of Mario Williams, at his age (only 27), who played six seasons and was the #1 overall pick in the draft was available in free agency? Maybe Peppers a couple of years ago? He wasn't as young as Williams is. The question is why was Williams available as a free agent and not re-signed by the Texans as teams would not let a talent like this in his prime go? The answer, the Texans were in such financial hell that they could not afford knowing he would be making $100 million for about 6-7 years and get $50 million guaranteed, plus they just re-signed Arian Foster. Also, the Texans were also 2nd in total defense mostly without Williams, so it was a lot easier to part ways with him.
I'm so excited for the up coming Bills season. Even though $100 million with $50 million guaranteed is a lot for one man, he means so much to the fans, the team, the owner, and the community that it's worth every penny. He's in the prime of his career not past his prime and should have at least five amazing seasons left. The $50 million guaranteed is the most ever by a defensive player and is tied with Sam Bradford for 2nd most in NFL history behind only Calvin Johnson's $60 million guaranteed he just signed last week. Think about it, before the rookie wage scale set last year, the top pick in the draft got $50 million guaranteed for not playing a single down in the NFL. Williams has played in the NFL for six seasons and will probably play at least six-seven more and has shown he's very successful. Even though I like offense way more than I like defense (check out my post: http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2012/03/is-defense-overrated.html) and I'm pro offense and pro quarterback, you still need to have somewhat of a defense that can get to the passer and force turnovers and not allow a ton of points. I put pass rusher as the second most important position in football only behind quarterback.
I got to admit, if they didn't sign him, I would be devastated and would not care a minute about the season. I would be in the state of apathy I've been with this team for the last five years or so. There would be no hope and we would continue to be the laughing stock of the NFL with no end in sight. I would have been even more upset had they not re-signed Steve Johnson, which thankfully they did. I would have wanted them to bottom out and get the top pick in the draft and take Matt Barkley in 2013. Now I don't have to think about it as there is real hope. I don't have to obsess about QB, yet. I'll worry about that later. Right now I'm thinking playoffs or bust. It seems as if the front office has the confidence of the owner to make football decisions. It seems Buddy Nix has Ralph Wilson's blessings to make decisions and they seem very smart.
I want to thank in addition to the Bills front office, coaches, and players for getting this deal done is the Bills alumni, mostly Jim Kelly, for helping to sell Buffalo to Mario Williams. We could never do this without the love and support of you guys. Let's go Buffalo!!!
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