Bills DT Williams still flying under the radar
by Brian Galliford on Jul 16, 2009 6:00 AM EDT
in Buffalo Bills Opinion
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PrintJohn McCargo used to be the hot name. As a first-round draft pick of the new-look Buffalo Bills in 2006, McCargo represented the future of the defensive tackle position in Buffalo. Meanwhile, the consensus surrounding unheralded fifth-round pick Kyle Williams was "nice player, limited upside."
Flash forward three years. McCargo is trying desperately to prove that he belongs after a failed trade to Indianapolis, several injuries, and questions surrounding his work ethic. Meanwhile, Williams has started all 48 games in his three-year career. He's entering the second year of a five-year, $14.5 million extension he signed last July. Very quietly, he is one of Buffalo's most underrated players at any position.
How did this happen? How does a fifth-round pick start every game in his rookie season and hold onto the job for two more? Simple: Kyle Williams is a heck of a football player. Too few of us Bills fans realize it. I, myself, have never written an article solely dedicated to Williams - and feel a little bad about it. That changes right now.
Many folks are quick to look at simple metrics and decide that due to the Bills' lackluster performances in defending the run the past three seasons, the "nice player, limited upside" description still fits Williams. That's not the case. According to Football Outsiders metrics, the Bills - behind Williams and fellow tackle Marcus Stroud - were sixth-best in the NFL in 2008 stopping the run between the guards.
It's also worth noting that over the past three years, only one Bills defensive lineman - end Chris Kelsay, a player traditionally in a better position to make a play - has more tackles than Williams' 148. That shows how active Williams is and just how hot his motor runs. He'll never be a sack machine or a dominant presence, but he's sturdy, dependable, and far more importantly on a young team, he's consistent.
Sturdy, dependable and consistent doesn't win you a lot points in the flashy NFL. In a city like Buffalo, those qualities should be revered. It's particularly difficult to get away with not talking about Williams considering the fact that despite his fifth-round draft status, the guy was an outstanding collegian. He earned Second Team All-SEC in his junior year, 2004; that elevated to first team in 2005. He was a Second Team All-American in his senior season, voted there by several institutions. He did all of that playing for one of the nation's prestigious college programs.
There's a reason Williams got an early contract extension, and why the Bills chose to upgrade over Larry Tripplett rather than Williams - he plays the game the right way. He plays what is traditionally an unglamorous position, and he does so with reckless abandon. He's tough, he's gritty, and based on his college days, he's used to winning. He works at his craft. More importantly to the fan base, he's a productive player. While no one will ever mistake him for the cornerstone of an NFL defense, there isn't a team in the league that would turn down having a Kyle Williams on their roster. He deserves more respect than the very little he gets.
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Great read Brian
I’ve always like Kyle since we drafted him. I love his tenacity and his baby face demeanor. He seems to be extremely unselfish and a lunch pail hard worker type of guy, exactly what we like.
From what I saw he is improving every year and I think we could see him one day, maybe even this year get 4 or more sacks. Although we might never confuse him as a cornerstone of our defense, he might be in our top 2-3 guys one day.
Great idea to write about Kyle, he deserves some attention!
Your ability to control the LOS is directly linked to your ability to win football games!
FEED the BEAST!
This article ties in nicely with the one about Phil Hanson. Both very under rated players.
We talk about Schobel coming back creating space for maybin by taking up double teaming, lets watch Williams peofit from this as well.
Football. Bloody Hell!!
the defensive tackle position is one that is never recognized unless you have a dominant defense. If the Bills defense takes a step up this year you will hear Kyle Williams’ name mentioned more often as a player that can dominate at times with his quickness and ability to shed blocks. I’d take 10 more of him in a heartbeat.
LOL
I just imagined our entire D being made up of Kyle Williams’. I think our secondary would get torched but the receivers would pay dearly for every ball they caught.
Delightfully Ignoring The Truth since 1995.
by NeverendingOptimism on Jul 16, 2009 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions
Those open field tackles would be BRUTAL!
by CanadianBillsFan on Jul 16, 2009 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions
It would almost make having the worst passing deffense worth it… almost.
by CanadianBillsFan on Jul 16, 2009 8:12 PM EDT up reply actions
The secondary wouldn't get torched because...
No receiver could get around him in time to catch a pass.
Kyle is the type of player you hate to doubt as a fan, because he’s the quintessential Buffalo Bill – a tough, gritty and no-quit player, who works harder than anybody. However, a lot of Bills-fans – including underlined – have doubted his physical capabilities, and whether he actually was ‘worthy’ of starting in the NFL.
Personally, I’ve come to the conclusion that he most definitely deserves that, because every time he’s on the field, he very rarely makes mistakes. He’s a very good run-stopper, who in stature resembles Kelly Gregg from Baltimore; both very difficult to move because of their compact built and their ferocious hustle.
As Brian mentions, Kyle will likely never be more than a ‘50 tackles, 2 sacks’ per season type of player, but that still makes for a very depenable and sufficient DT.
If Big John McCargo could just inherit a little of Kyle’s stability, our DT-core would be looking a lot stronger.
by BillsfanfromDenmark on Jul 16, 2009 8:49 AM EDT reply actions
there’s nothing wrong with 50 tackles and 2 sacks from a starting DT in a 4-3 scheme. lots of teams would scream for a guy who can handle that =) usually teams have one strong tackle and a revolving door for the other one – it’s nice having two guys that we can count on as starters.
by the_prophet on Jul 16, 2009 10:17 AM EDT up reply actions
Great peice Brian
I agree with it 100%. Williams is by far the most underated player on our roster. He plays hard and gets the job done. Thats why I don’t get all the ppl that keep on calling for us to geta big DT to replace him, Williams has been fantastic in his first 3 years and will only get better with time.
by CanadianBillsFan on Jul 16, 2009 9:14 AM EDT reply actions
I happened to pop in ESPN NFL 2k5 for xbox yesterday...
and the defensive tackles were pat williams and sam adams. I know sam is out of the league, but williams is still a pro bowl caliber player on the vikings. I was just curious to see what you guys think about the comparison of p. williams/adams and stroud/k. williams, and if we are better, worse, or the same at dt.
by dragonwag0n on Jul 16, 2009 9:21 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
I think that we’re not as good as we were in 2005. But we had arguably the best DT combo of the league in ‘05, so it’s not a very fair comparison. I will however say that I think that our starting DT combo maybe ranks in the top 5 of the league right now, and if not, they are deffinatly top 10.
by CanadianBillsFan on Jul 16, 2009 9:40 AM EDT up reply actions
not sure about top10
but then again id have to look at the league as a whole
The Bills CAN win any game
by killascript on Jul 16, 2009 10:12 AM EDT up reply actions
Well, Only 20 teams run a 4-3 and Buffalo is definitely in the top 10 of those teams.
The only teams that I would say are clearly ahead of Buffalo are Minnesota (P. and K. Williams) and Washington (Haynesworth and Griffin/Gholston). The Giant’s have depth and talent (Canty, Rocky Bernard, Fred Robbins, Barry Cofield – That DL with Tuck, Kiwanuka and Umenyiora is absurd) and I would rank them well ahead of Buffalo too.
I’d put Buffalo in the same tier as Philly (Bunkley, Patterson, Laws), Chicago (Tommie Harris, Dusty Dvoracek, Anthony Adams, Marcus Harrison), Atlanta (Jon Babineaux, Jeria Perry, Trey Lewis), Seattle (Redding, Brandon Mebane, Colin Cole, Red Bryant) and maybe Carolina (Kemoeatu and Damione Lewis)
Oakland is decent (Gerrard Warren, Tommy Kelly, Terdell Sands) and a team like Houston (Okoye, Travis Johnson) or New Orleans (Sedrick Ellis, Kendrick Clancy) could improve a lot this season. Tennessee (Tony Brown, Jovan Haye, San’Derrick Marks, Jason Jones) is a wild card without Haynesworth
I think they’re a fringy top 5 unit, especially if you’re only looking at the starters.
Those were my thoughts exactly, of the 4-3 defences, they’re a top 5. Out of all the groups you mentioned, I’d actually put us at 4th or 5th. And while other teams have lots of upside, so do we with one very strong DT in Stroud and with Williams getting significantly better every season.
by CanadianBillsFan on Jul 16, 2009 3:46 PM EDT up reply actions
well
lets hope the rest of the D can use that as a jumping off point to a better season.
The Bills CAN win any game
Sam Adams was always overrated. He’s a great athlete for his size, but there are reasons he spent most of his career jumping from team to team every couple of seasons. I’d say the 05’ DTs were a tad better because Pat Williams is a special player and you simply couldn’t run up the middle with him around.
i still think
that td that sam adams had against the patriots in the 31-0 win on week 1 is my favorite bills play in recent memory though
by dragonwag0n on Jul 16, 2009 10:38 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Best seats I ever had in my life for a game. Pulled a switcharoo, and sat on the Bills side, 45 yard line scoreboard, about thirty rows up on the aisle. Perfect way to watch a football game.
bummer theres no audio
still fun to watch though. i dont know why i forgot about milloy’s sack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nyFGYDYVFw
Oh, to have a pass rush…
"I know I'm a true receiver..." Roscoe Parrish, Buffalo Bills - May 2009
"In my heart, I know I'm funny." Lt Steven Hauk, Good Morning Vietnam - 1987
by thefourwinds on Jul 17, 2009 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions
number 2 D in the league that year. sigh
Delightfully Ignoring The Truth since 1995.
by NeverendingOptimism on Jul 17, 2009 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions
On my recent Madden game Williams ascended that to my brilliant playcalling to be a 98. Of course Chris Kelsay was a 99 and broke the single season sack record…
Anywho… I think Williams is a solid guy in the middle. He’s never going to be the world beater or the great DT but he can be a solid contributor for years. The Bills need some play makers and stars but they also need guys like this on their team.
Playing Realistic Optimist at Buffalo Rumblings since 2008. Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.
I’d argue that it’s guys like Williams that allow stars to be stars. I mean you can be a star in this league and be the only standout on the deffence, but to truly be a star on a great deffense you need to know that theres someone there to back you up when you take bigger risks in order to make the bigger plays.
by CanadianBillsFan on Jul 16, 2009 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions
I just want to put this out there right now. It’s completely unrelated to the topic of this post, and I hate myself for swaying the topic, but it needs to be said.
Today, BuffaloBills.com put up a lovely, excellent video on the nickel cornerback battle b/w D-Flo, Youboty and Corner. You should check it out.
We’ll be discussing the same thing in an article I wrote scheduled to air around noon.
I just want it to be known that my article has been scheduled to post at that time for three days now. I am not just a guy perusing the Internet, seeing that video, and saying “hey, that’s something neat to talk about!” Mr. Chris Brown and I just appear to be on the same wavelength at the moment. It is purely coincidental and I just wanted that publicly known. :P
Carry on with Mr. Kyle Williams!
Buffalo Rumblings. On Twitter.
"Our style is simple but not that easy. Roll up your sleeves and play good, solid football." -- Marv Levy
by Brian Galliford on Jul 16, 2009 9:47 AM EDT reply actions
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.....
Haha
~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."
There’s a reason Williams got an early contract extension, and why the Bills chose to upgrade over Larry Tripplett rather than Williams – he plays the game the right way.
Well, I’d like to believe they weren’t related in any way. Williams was young and has proven he could play in the league. The Bills dumped Tripplett because he was aging and stunk.
~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."
I’d like to think that they were related. Williams got the extention because he was that good and Triplette got released because he was that bad and Williams was that good that it made him look worst.
by CanadianBillsFan on Jul 16, 2009 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions
What’s with the lack of pictures??? First you took the one out of my Hansen article, now Kyle Williams isn’t deserving of a single picture?!?! I need pictures! Words are sooooooooooooo boring.
~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."
seriously. just copy that picture of TO getting levelled by mini-williams from that article a week or two ago, and we’ll be set.
by the_prophet on Jul 16, 2009 10:19 AM EDT up reply actions
??????
What is that?
~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."
http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2009/7/3/936235/t-o-day-at-buffalo-rumblings
first picture, that kid looks like williams.
by the_prophet on Jul 16, 2009 11:27 PM EDT up reply actions
A Slightly Different Take
I’m afraid I have to disagree a little with Brian’s take on Williams. He does do well against the run, but in all the time I have watched him I have rarely seen him successfully push back the pocket on passing plays to open things up for the DE’s. In addition, he just as rarely gets penetration into the backfield to put pressure on or sack the QB. I remember that last year Williams was very excited that he was going to get the chance to play 3-tech a fair amount of the time, but he did not take advantage of it. In a word, part of the explanation for the Bills’ anemic pass rush falls on his shoulders, which is why I would love to see the team make a wide-bodied DT a top priority in next year’s draft. I see Williams as an excellent rotational player who makes a significant contribution to the team, but as a starter he is no better than average.
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