Inside The Bills

Carrington’s got a nickname

Alex Carrington’s play is spiking on the defensive side of the ball of late, something we’ll bring to light more in a feature story Wednesday morning on Buffalobills.com. However, it was his exploits on the field goal block unit that earned him his current nickname in the Bills locker room.

After making the block on Jay Feely’s game-winning field goal attempt in Arizona in Week 6 with two seconds remaining to force overtime, Carrington triumphantly grabbed the wrist of the hand that blocked the kick with his other hand while jumping around to celebrate.

“We gave him a lot of garbage for that sorry celebration,” said Kyle Williams.

One of his teammates also gave him a nickname in the wake of that play and subsequent victory.

“Everybody was clowning me on it,” Carrington told Buffalobills.com of his celebration. ”Stevie gave me a nickname after that. He started calling me ‘Mega-Hand.’ That was the Arizona game. He was calling me ‘Mega-Hand.’ There are a few people that are calling me that now, mainly on the coaching staff. I’ll hear it in the hallways.”

No word if he plans to team up with Detroit’s Calvin Johnson on any collaborative efforts in the offseason.

How ‘D’s approach has led to more consistency

By now everyone knows that the defense has been a remarkably more consistent unit since the bye week. But in a one-on-one conversation with Buffalobills.com, DT Kyle Williams explains why they have been more consistent with their play.

“I think that the main thing that we’ve talked about is being committed to the process,” said Williams. “Everybody wants to talk about winning, wants to talk about the playoffs, talk about the division. Well the teams that are good, the teams that are consistent are committed to the process of practicing every day, getting better at your run fits, as your pass rush, in 7-on-7 drills. They’re committed to getting better in practice and working there.

“That’s the process that leads up to winning. You can’t just talk about winning and playoffs and just expect it to happen when you go out there. That’s really where we’ve picked it up and have really adopted just kind of grinding the process with everybody and just working every day.”

Williams said everyone is practicing faster in terms of tempo and it has led to more of a game-like setting during the week, which better simulates how they have to react and play on Sunday. That has translated into more consistent execution in games of late.

3 D-linemen not practicing

The Bills have three defensive linemen not practicing here on Wednesday.

Kyle Williams is getting his typical Wednesday off to give his persistent ankle problem an extra day of rest.

Mark Anderson is still not in a position to return to the practice field after a couple of knee surgeries. He’s been out since Week 5.

And Chris Kelsay is not in attendance after re-aggravating the torn ligament in his neck.

Bills Pro Bowl fan voting update

There are a few Bills players that are in the top 5 at their respective position in fan voting for the Pro Bowl. Shockingly, C.J. Spiller is not among them. Here’s the latest update.

At kick returner Leodis McKelvin sits third in the voting behind Cleveland’s Josh Cribbs and Baltimore’s Jacoby Jones for the AFC spot.

Jairus Byrd stands second at free safety behind Baltimore veteran Ed Reed.

Kyle Williams is still third in the DT voting behind Baltimore’s Haloti Ngata and Cincinnati’s Geno Atkins.

2013 Pro Bowl voting will continue online and on web-enabled mobile phones through Dec. 17 by going to Buffalobills.com to fill out a ballot.

The teams will be announced at 7:00 pm (ET) Wednesday, December 26 on NFL Network’s “Total Access”.

The AFC and NFC All-Star squads are based on the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group’s vote counts one-third toward determining the 43-man rosters that represent the American Football Conference and National Football Conference in the Pro Bowl. NFL players and coaches will cast their votes on December 20-21.

4 defenders not practicing

Four Bills defenders are not practicing here on Wednesday including a new non-participant.

Aaron Williams
Ron Brooks
Mark Anderson
Kyle Williams

Kyle Williams is getting his typical Wednesday off for his ankle ailment.

Bills now enjoy advantage of playing Thurs.

After cramming in two division games in five days, the Bills now enjoy being ahead of the game. Monday the team got in an extra practice in preparation for Indianapolis. They also are coming off extra rest having Saturday and Sunday off.

“Everything from getting your body back right, to being able to sit on your coach and watch them go against a divisional opponent, an opponent we know well, a good matchup,” said Sheppard in reference to the Colts-Patriots game this past Sunday. ”It gives us a good advantage.”

“It’s good for us,” said Kyle Williams. ”The later you get those Thursday night games,  its tougher to get ready for  physically, it’s much more mental preparation.  Having a weekend off, and getting back to work, and giving us  a chance to get our legs back under us, will be good.”

Tip of cap to Byrd and Kyle

SI.com columnist Peter King in his Monday Morning QB column this week tips his hat to both Jairus Byrd and Kyle Williams.

King obviously watched Buffalo’s Thursday night win over Miami and led off his ’10 Things I Think’ section of MMQB with Byrd and Williams. Here’s what he wrote.

Kyle Williams on “the spark”

Bills DT Kyle Williams said it last Monday–it only takes one win to provide a spark.

In his appearance on The John Murphy Show Friday night, Williams said Buffalo’s win over the Dolphins provided that spark.

“I think so, I hope so,” Williams said.  “I feel like we’ve had really good preparation the last three or four weeks.  Even the bye week when we practiced leading up to Houston and New England, fell short a couple of times.  We finally came out and won a game last night.  I think it’s an affirmation of the hard work and the focus that we’ve had in practice. ”

“I think that spark was Thursday, and I think we gotta continue to do that,” he said.

Kyle Williams was credited with two tackles in the win over the Dolphins, one of them for a loss.  He played a big role in Buffalo’s defense holding Miami to just 60-yards rushing in the game.

And Williams always has a role to play when it comes to firing up his teammates before and after games.  He talked to The John Murphy Show about his pregame comments to the team, and his approach to each game.

“I always make it a point that we know what we’re playing for,” he said.  ” Not everybody has an opportunity to do what we do.  We have an opportunity every Sunday to see what we’re made of.  Every man that walks the earth doesn’t get an opportunity to do  that.  He doesn’t get a chance to look in the mirror every week and   see if he has enough of what it takes to win football games.  We get an opportunity to do that every week and that’s a cool thing.”

“People play for fame, money, family, different things.  For me, I feel like I represent a lot of things.  Obviously, I represent my family.  I represent my hometown.  I represent LSU.  And that encompasses a lot of things, I take that very seriously. But when you go inside those lines, all those things fall by the wayside.  If you’re not out there for the right reasons, and that’s to beat a man, win a football game, you’re not going to last very long.  This game is whip or be whipped, and I don’t like being whipped.”

The John Murphy Show airs weeknights from 7-9pm on the flagship station of the Bills, WGR Sports Radio 550.

Friday John Murphy Show

We’ll spend most of the night recapping the Bills win over the Dolphins Friday night, on The John Murphy Show.

We start at 7pm with a recap of the news of the day, and a look back at the game in our Game Rewind.

At 720pm, Bills DT Kyle Williams joins us in studio for his take on the game, and how he and his teammates shut down the Dolphins running attack.

Joe Buscaglia gives us his observations from the sidelines of last night’s game, and Sal Capaccio will join us at 820pm to preview the upcoming weekend in fantasy football.

We’ll make lots of time for your phone calls and your thoughts on Buffalo’s win and what lies ahead.

The John Murphy Show airs weeknights from 7-9pm on the flagship station of the Bills, WGR Sports Radio 550.

Postseason still a target for players

The postseason is the target for every NFL team. Some teams at this point are obviously in better position than others, but Buffalo’s players are just keeping their head down and moving on to the next game after locking up a win over Miami Thursday night.

“There’s definitely still time,” said Nick Barnett. ”We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and start looking too far ahead.  We got to take it one game at a time and mathematically, we’re still in this thing to do what we plan to do. We just got to take it one game at a time.”

“It’s just one game at a time,” said Kyle Williams. ”I told you guys Monday, it just takes a spark to start a fire. I think we felt like this is the direction we should be headed, and we should be going in. We’re just going to take it one game at a time, we’re going to focus on Indy , but we’re going to have a long weekend and get some rest, just take a run at this thing.”

Kyle Williams hoping elbow is minor

Bills DT Kyle Williams finished the game, but his elbow has certainly felt better.

Williams got hit on his elbow at the end of a play in which he made a tackle.

“I thought I broke my arm,” he said. “I tackled a guy, somebody came in, I had my hand flat on the ground, somebody came in and hit the back of my elbow. I heard a big thunk and bent it in pretty good. I had a little dead arm for the rest of the night, but hopefully it’s nothing serious.”   

Bills head coach Chan Gailey did have any injury updates after the game.

K. Williams in top 3 among DT pass rushers

Bills DT Kyle Williams, not surprisingly ranked high when it came to Pro Football Focus’ pass rush productivity for interior defensive linemen.

Pro Football Focus had Williams ranked third in the league behind only Houston’s J.J. Watt and Cincinnati’s Geno Atkins. Here’s the top 10 on PFF’s top 20.

Byrd, Kyle, Leodis in AFC Pro Bowl hunt

Three Bills players are in the hunt for an AFC Pro Bowl nod as they’re all among the top three vote getters at their respective positions.

Jairus Byrd is second among free safeties, just 8,000 votes behind Baltimore’s Ed Reed.

Kyle Williams is third among defensive tackles behind Cincinnati’s Geno Atkins and Baltimore’s Haloti Ngata.

Leodis McKelvin is third among kick returners behind Cleveland’s Josh Cribbs and Baltimore’s Jacoby Jones.

Vote for your Bills as much as possible right here to move them into the top two vote getters at their position to help land them in Hawaii this winter.

Kyle might deal with ankle rest of way

Kyle Williams’ ankle injury doesn’t appear to be hampering his performance on the field on Sundays, but it is going to make him a limited participant each and every practice week for the rest of the season.

Head coach Chan Gailey gave strong indication that Williams would probably sit out Wednesday practices the rest of the season due to a nagging ankle injury.

“It looks like it, but you never know about those things,” Gailey told Buffalobills.com. ”All of a sudden it could start to feel better one week and as it progresses it works its way out. Hopefully we’ll be able to get through the season with him one way or the other.” 

Williams ankle problem first surfaced in Week 6 where he didn’t practice much at all leading up to the Cardinals game, but played. He hasn’t missed a start this season, and to keep that streak alive it looks like one extra day of rest during the practice week will allow him to do that.

Kyle’s pass rush productivity among the best

DT Kyle Williams is tied for the team lead in sacks with 4.5 thus far this season. But his pass rush productivity has been more than sacks. According to ProFootballFocus, Williams is among the best defensive tackles in the league in pass rush productivity.

Williams, in terms of pass rushing productivity is second in the league among DTs, with a rating of 12.0. Only Cincinnati’s Geno Atkins is better (15.3).

Williams has 4.5 sacks, 5 quarterback hits, 13 quarterback hurries and 2 batted passes in eight games this season.

Stevie, Kyle practicing

Two of Buffalo’s more important starters were back practicing Thursday.

Kyle Williams and Stevie Johnson were both participating in practice. Both sat out Wednesday’s practice.

We’ll provide an update on the status of both players after Chan Gailey gives his Thursday update post practice.

Kyle, Stevie are spectators

Kyle Williams and Stevie Johnson are the most noteworthy spectators at Wednesday’s practice.

Johnson was not expected to practice coming off a thigh contusion in last week’s game.

Williams has been dealing with a nagging ankle ailment since the Arizona game, but hasn’t missed any game time.

Here are the other non-participants today.

Mark Anderson
Aaron Williams

Glenn, Kyle listed as questionable

After Friday’s practice, head coach Chan Gailey said that left tackle Cordy Glenn was good to go and is expected to start, but he’s still listed as questionable along with DT Kyle Williams.

The designation is likely due to the fact that both players were limited in practice throughout the week. Not once did either of them participate fully in practice. But both are considered to have a far greater likelihood of playing than questionable. Both players moved very well in the practice setting and showed no ill effects from their ankle injuries.

Kyle, McGee limited

Bills DT Kyle Williams and CB Terrence McGee were two limited participants in practice Thursday.

Both were limited on Wednesday as well. Williams has been dealing with a nagging ankle injury since Week 6, but hasn’t missed any playing time. McGee however, is still struggling at times with his surgically repaired knee.

“He was about the same,” said Gailey after practice Thursday on McGee’s level of participation. “He was limited today in practice.”

When asked if McGee might be held out of Sunday’s game at Houston, Gailey held off on making a call.

“I’ll have to make a decision tomorrow,” he said.

Byrd getting Midseason recognition

Bills S Jairus Byrd was named to the Pro Football Focus Midseason All-Pro Team. There were a couple of other Bills players that got honorable mentions.

Here’s what was written about Byrd and San Diego S Eric Weddle, who were the two safeties selected.

Safeties: Eric Weddle, SD (+13.0) and Jairus Byrd, BUF (+10.5)

Weddle was a slam-dunk pick with his exceptional all-around play making him stand out from the crowd. With Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu aging, is now the time to crown him the league’s best? Byrd’s work in coverage is second-to-none and he oozes playmaking ability. A real game-changer at the safety position.

Earning honorable mention on offense for Buffalo was C.J. Spiller, who lost in a close race with PFF selection Adrian Peterson and on defense Kyle Williams was an honorable mention too. Remember voting is open for the Pro Bowl and you vote for your favorite or most deserving Bills players.