Before you martyr Williams..

[Oaf]

Courtesy of Ron from NM on BuffaloRumblings.com.

Keep in mind he stated all this hours before the news came out that Williams was resigned to a new deal giving him a starting DT's salary.

http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2008/7/3/563963/an-unexpected-finding

With a ballooning salary cap and the reasoning that you keep your young players and that you can never improve the lines enough, and after reading this, I like this signing. Stroud/McCargo/Williams/Johnson is LEGIT.

[ddaryl]

I thouht the extension was a rock solid signing... The Bills are locking up there won early. Kyle still has upside and has shown he can play.

I love the fact that we are taking our OL and DL very seriously unlike TD

[raphael120]

I think that article is crap and works in his little bubble that takes one stat and rejects all others. He failed to mention that many of the times people ran on us, they ran on us in big clips. Backs averaged 4.4 yards per carry on us (5th worst in the league) and also gave up 124.6 yards per game on the ground (8th worst).

How does that make our run D not as bad as we thought? That's still pretty ****ing bad.

Not to mention we were bad defending the passing game also, giving up the 4th worst amount of yards through the air.

So, no, spiff, our defense WAS that bad against the run, and just bad in general.

[BuffaloBills28]

I think that article is crap and works in his little bubble that takes one stat and rejects all others. He failed to mention that many of the times people ran on us, they ran on us in big clips. Backs averaged 4.4 yards per carry on us (5th worst in the league) and also gave up 124.6 yards per game on the ground (8th worst).

How does that make our run D not as bad as we thought? That's still pretty ****ing bad.

Not to mention we were bad defending the passing game also, giving up the 4th worst amount of yards through the air.

So, no, spiff, our defense WAS that bad against the run, and just bad in general.Our run d was not bad last year, if our o could get them off the field for a while and put up some points we would have absolutly NO PROBLEMS!

[Mitchy moo]

Our run d was not bad last year, if our o could get them off the field for a while and put up some points we would have absolutly NO PROBLEMS!

I feel it's a mix of 3 and out on offense and us giving up chunks of yardage. How many times was it 3rd and long and our opponents got a 1st down?? Too many times but that's about to change.

[Ingtar33]

the defense was terrible last year.

but considering the injuries, i was amazed they played as well as they did at times.

[X-Era]

I think that article is crap and works in his little bubble that takes one stat and rejects all others. He failed to mention that many of the times people ran on us, they ran on us in big clips. Backs averaged 4.4 yards per carry on us (5th worst in the league) and also gave up 124.6 yards per game on the ground (8th worst).

How does that make our run D not as bad as we thought? That's still pretty ****ing bad.

Not to mention we were bad defending the passing game also, giving up the 4th worst amount of yards through the air.

So, no, spiff, our defense WAS that bad against the run, and just bad in general.

OK, so then what?

Since our D was bad, replace them all? Doesnt adding Johnson and Stroud make guys like McCargo and Williams better? Doesnt it follow that our D should do better?

If so, why does extending Kyle Williams and locking him in long term not make sense?

[coastal]

That article was poorly written.

Aside from that, if the point was that the Kyle Williams signing is a good move for the Bills...

I agree.

[Don't Panic]

Without focusing solely on Williams, the one thing that bothers me is that we have some other areas on this team that deserve attention, but we don't have the resources to do it due to 'cash to cap' or 'small market revenue'. We need an upgrade at TE, we could use another veteran WR, and it certainly wouldn't have hurt to try to bring in an upgrade at CB (even if its the nickel back)... don't forget DE either. And although we did address other areas by bringing in Stroud, Mitchell and Johnson, we ended FA with the first set of positions shortchanged... literally. So then we extend rotational guys who are decent but not great players to huge dollars. Dollars that they had no business getting at this stage of their career. I'm glad we have Williams locked up, I just think we could have done that and some other things at the same time. That's the problem....

With that said, we are in really good shape personnel-wise. Whether or not we're still lacking in some areas remains to be seen. Year three of a rebuild should be playoffs or you need to consider the project somewhat of a failure... the only thing left is to start playing the games and see how good these guys are.

[patmoran2006]

I'm going to go ahead and disagree. I think its a bad signing.

1- Its for too much money, when we have FAR higher priorities on the team.

2- I dont think Williams is that good. He's started the last two years. He's a gutsy kid. He plays balls to the wall. but the bottom line is you watch the games and he often gets manhandled.

3- He's a backup, and no backup, especially on a small market team should get nearly $5 million per year. THe role he'll play this year is the role he should be playing. He'll probably be more effective because he's coming off the bench and will have a fuller tank of gas while starting OL are tiring down. But I think overall he's only the 4th best DT on this team, and that salary is ridiculous.

[raphael120]

I'm going to go ahead and disagree. I think its a bad signing.

1- Its for too much money, when we have FAR higher priorities on the team.

2- I dont think Williams is that good. He's started the last two years. He's a gutsy kid. He plays balls to the wall. but the bottom line is you watch the games and he often gets manhandled.

3- He's a backup, and no backup, especially on a small market team should get nearly $5 million per year. THe role he'll play this year is the role he should be playing. He'll probably be more effective because he's coming off the bench and will have a fuller tank of gas while starting OL are tiring down. But I think overall he's only the 4th best DT on this team, and that salary is ridiculous.

I liken Kyle Williams to Greer, George Wilson, and Digiorgio.

Do they play their hearts out? Sure.

Do they all deserve to all get paid significantly more money? No.

I just don't see the urgency to lock up Kyle Williams...it's not like he would be a hot commodity once he hits the open market. Brad Butler, I can see why they want to lock him up because he's a STARTER and they apparently like this oline group. Kyle Williams on the other hand, I think he's going to be relegated to being the 4th DT in the rotation with Spencer Johnson getting more playing time. At the end of the day, it's just spending WAY too much money on one position. So now we're dumping tons of money on the DT position and also the DE position.

Stroud isnt playing for peanuts, McCargo was a 1rst rounder so he's making some good chunks of change, and Spencer Johnson signed a respectable deal also. And now Williams. We now have 4 DT's who are being paid pretty well, over a a mil and a half a year. All I got to say is, the powers that be better know what the hell theyre doing.

We're locking up tons of these guys long term and these players better prove they were worth keeping around, say...by making the playoffs this year. THe nice thing about us being able to make the playoffs this year, it means that if we lose in the first playoff game, it's all good because we have everyone coming back next year, more experience and we can take a serious run at the playoffs for consecutive years. So while locking young players up for good chunks of years is important, it's also important to make sure these young players will actually get us to the playoffs. if not, we have just a bunch of mediocre players stuck on the team for long periods of time

[Oaf]

That article was poorly written.

Aside from that, if the point was that the Kyle Williams signing is a good move for the Bills...

I agree.
Please elaborate..

[Oaf]

That article was poorly written.

Aside from that, if the point was that the Kyle Williams signing is a good move for the Bills...

I agree.
Please elaborate..

I think all he's saying is, after he watched the film, he clearly saw Williams usually wasn't the problem. He wasn't saying we were any good at stopping the run. Clearly the Bills seem to agree.

[John Doe]

Given the following:

Defensive tackles take several years to reach their peak

Williams is highly motivated

Williams will probably improve

Williams has proven to be durable

Depth is important

Continuity is important

League salaries are increasing

The cap room is there

The conclusion is obvious: locking this guy up with an extension is a no-brainer.

[Oaf]

At the end of the day, it's just spending WAY too much money on one position. So now we're dumping tons of money on the DT position and also the DE position.


If there is ever a place to overinvest, the lines are the place to do it. I thought you understood that. Now it's time to see results. Anything less than 18th in total defense would be failure IMO.