Nov 4, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Buffalo Bills defensive end Mario Williams (94) celebrates after sacking Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub (8) during the first half at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports
As this offseason continues the Bills sure have been busy. New coaching staff, changes coming to the stadium, a potential franchise quarterback and a better all-around attitude it seems with the guys. New things sure are happening but let’s not forget about last offseason.
The Bills were the talk of the league last season when they lured in the biggest free agent in Mario Williams. Around here that was huge news. We haven’t seen the Bills do anything this big in some time and definitely showed us at least this team was looking to upgrade and compete.
The first few games were nothing for fans to look back on as they were dreadful. In the first 5 games he was basically invisible. Being able to obtain 1.5 sacks was about it stat wise. That had fans wondering did the Bills just spend all this money on a bust. Many questions were raised about Williams after his poor start but then some answers came out in the way of an injury.
As much as the Bills at the time said there was nothing wrong with him reports started to surface. It had come out that he had a slightly torn ligament in his left wrist. When this report came out it definitely proved as to why Mario had played with such caution early in the season. Not being able to use the left hand limited him as to what he could do and couldn’t do. Needing to get a procedure done to remedy the problem it soon showed to be true.
Williams continued on to play every game and actually put up some decent numbers. He finished with 10.5 sacks, 37 tackles and 2 forced fumbles. Those highlighted his stats but from what he started with injury wise I think he finished pretty well. Also let’s not forget about the defensive schemes that were run. The at times laid back front with no pressure and people continued to get on the Bills D line. From watching this team all last year anyone could see that was the case.
This season will be interesting to watch as the defensive line will have a new system, run by a new coordinator in Mike Pettine . Maybe all of the negativity towards “the bust” we signed will be put to rest. Time will tell. How many sacks do you see Mario putting up this season? If he’s healthy I’m going to go with 13. What do you think?