Inside The Bills

Williams dressed for practice

Bills DT Kyle Williams is dressed for practice for the first time this week.

Williams missed Wednesday and Thursday’s practice with a nagging foot injury. He appears to be limited, but we’ll get a full update on the extent of Williams participation after practice.

Kyle to be game-time decision

Bills DT Kyle Williams did not practice again on Thursday and head coach Chan Gailey said they’ll make a call on him come Sunday morning.

“Yeah, he’s going to be a game time decision,” said Gailey.

Earlier in the week Gailey said a decision on Williams’ availability for Sunday could hinge on how healthy fellow NT Torell Troup is for Sunday’s game. Troup practiced fully on Wednesday and again Thursday.

“He looked like he did alright out there,” said Gailey of Troup. “He got better.”

When asked if Troup will be able to go Sunday Gailey said, “I think so. It looks like it to me.”

Williams still out

Bills DT Kyle Williams is not practicing for a second straight day due to a foot injury. Here are the other non-participants.

Donald Jones
Aaron Williams
Da’Norris Searcy
Demetrius Bell
Chris Kelsay

Kyle not practicing

Bills DT Kyle Williams will not be practicing Wednesday due to his foot injury.

That according to head coach Chan Gailey.

“He’ll sit out today and then we’ll see where we go from there,” said Gailey of Williams.

Williams is dealing with a foot injury that has been bothering him since training camp and it was further aggravated in the third quarter of last Sunday’s game against Philadelphia. More on Williams’ intentions for Sunday on the home page of Buffalobills.com later today.

No lunging at Vick

Knowing how elusive Michael Vick is as a quarterback, the Bills defense, though eager to bring him down or apply pressure whenever they can, realizes they have to be disciplined in their pursuit not reckless.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time the first guy back there he’s going to make him miss,” said Kyle Williams. ”That’s something we’ve talked about. With him you can’t just go take your shot. You need to break down and try to slow him down and get in his face.  So we’re going to try to get after him and disrupt him.

He will stay (in the pocket) as long as he has to but it’s obvious, and you can tell, he likes to get out of the pocket and make things break down and then throw the ball.  The scary thing about him is it might have been last week or the week before, they get in a 3^rd and 15 or 3^rd and 16, he gets out of the pocket, makes it look like he’s going to throw and then runs it for the first down.  Those are the things that are going to kill you.”

Williams said the problem defenses have is when they try to rush upfield around the edges to hem him in, but get too far upfield and he steps up past them through the pocket and is off to the races.

“When he really hurts guys is when you blitz and rush and you’re behind the guy and you create these big seams in the defense or open up the field to him,” said Williams. ”That’s when he hurts you on deep balls or with him running. It’s a big test for anybody when you play the guy.”

Kyle on the pass rush

While Buffalo’s offensive line has been great out of the gate ranking first in the league in sacks allowed per play, Buffalo’s defense is at the opposite end of the spectrum ranking 32nd in sacks per play as they have two on the season. However, as Kyle Williams explains facing a pair of top flight running teams followed by a quick throwing Tom Brady getting pressure on the quarterback hasn’t been the focus.

“We want to hit the guy and we want to disrupt the guy more,” said Williams. ”I think some of it is you have to look at what we are doing defensively and you have to look at what they’re doing offensively.  I’m not making excuses or anything like that, but the guy we just played (Tom Brady) he gets rid of the ball.  If you look at the game he’s hitting a lot of crossing routes and different things like that.  So, it’s a little bit above but it’s something we want to get more out of as we have opportunities to do it.  When guys get one-on-one you have to win. You have to get pressure, hit the quarterback and disrupt his lanes.”

Againsts New England Buffalo rushed just three and four a lot committing more players to coverage while the down linemen clogged passing lanes in an effort to deflect passes, which worked (See: Marcell Dareus tip).

Facing Cincinnati rookie QB Andy Dalton this week could present more opportunities.

“I think with something like that you have to be able to give him different looks,” said Williams. ”Maybe get him confused a little bit not knowing what he’s seeing. Maybe he holds the ball a half second longer and that’s lot of pass rush you know it’s holding the ball a half second longer where hits turn into the sacks, non pressure turns into pressure. But with them they are going to hang their hat on running the football. And if we can’t stop the run we aren’t going to be able to give him different looks and get after him throwing the ball.”

Pass ‘D’ looking to rebound

Buffalo’s pass defense surrendered a handful of big plays last Sunday against Oakland and allowed Jason Campbell to complete 70 percent of his passes en route to a 323-yard passing day. But if you ask the Bills players there were different factors that went into why the Raiders were so successful in rolling up passing yardage.

DT Kyle Williams explained that Buffalo’s approach was squarely focused on Oakland’s ultra-productive running game, which left them in less than ideal pass rushing situations to help the secondary on the back end on passing downs.

“We had just a couple of blitzes that we ran that really came free,” he said of last Sunday’s game. ”They picked up a 3^rd-and-8 on us, really just a chuck and duck the guy caught it. And then a couple of other times we ran and were able to get some pressure he threw the ball in the ground. We ran a lot of under defense (Sunday). I was playing the shade and Marcell and Dwan played a three (technique) and a five (technique). Not your most favorable pass rushing position, but I think we were going in thinking that those guys rushed for over 200 yards last week and they’re going to pound it and we have to be ready for it.”

Williams said to the Raiders’ credit they audibled to some short pass plays to counter Buffalo’s focus on the run.

“They were in some running personnel and got us on some quick passes and they max protected and got the ball down the field when we were in an under defense,” he said. ”It’s a tough row to hoe, you’re going to get doubles and things like that. We didn’t throw a big package at them. We were focused on getting McFadden down and slowing that down.”

And the Bills did that with McFadden managing just 72 yards on 20 carries. Facing a much different Patriots offense this week that leans more toward the pass the Bills believe the approach will be different as pressure on Tom Brady is essential to disrupting the New England passing game.

“It’s different every week,” said Williams. ”We’re going to have to carry some different things with those guys going into the ball game. With their three tight ends and one back, two tight ends and two backs, they run a lot of different things.”

Head coach Chan Gailey has also challenged his defensive backfield to go make a play if the opportunity is there, and his defensive staff is likely to have a more aggressive plan as well.

“Go out and expect to be great in the game,” said Gailey in reference to what he told his players in the secondary. ”Don’t go play defensively, and I don’t mean that in the wrong terms. Go be aggressive on the field. We’ve got to go compete for the ball when the ball is in the air. We’ve got to study what they do. We’ve got to be good tacklers. All those little things that make a secondary good, that’s what you’ve got to do. It’s not a major overhaul, we’ve just got to get better at what we’re doing.”  

“We’ve just got to go make plays,” said Leodis McKelvin. “That’s all it is. Most of the time we were in position to make a play so when we’re there we got to go make one.”

Meet Kyle Williams & Andra Davis

Bills Pro Bowl DT and team captain Kyle Williams and ILB and team captain Andra Davis will visit the Verizon Wireless kiosk in the Walden Galleria Mall to meet with fans and sign complimentary autographs tonight (Wednesday).

Williams and Davis will be at the Verizon Wireless kiosk from 6-7 pm.

The two Buffalo defenders are the spokespersons for Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine program in Upstate New York.  Williams and Davis encourage all fans to make a difference in the life of a domestic violence survivor by donating their no longer used wireless phones at the Bills home game at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday Sept 25^th.  Fans donating a wireless phone at the game will receive an Andra Davis poster at the entry gates.

You can also bring your no longer used cell phone when you come to meet Kyle and Andra tonight at the Galleria as well to donate to the cause.

Williams sees big jump for run ‘D’

Bills DT Kyle Williams wasn’t shy in sharing his opinion on how big a jump he feels the team’s run defense can make this season.

“A lot better,” he said. ”It can’t get any worse, I don’t think. We’ve added some good players. I think as you watch the film, it looks different in practice, our fits look different, our control on the line of scrimmage looks different, and it looked like that in the preseason game. So there’s no reason to believe it won’t be tons better. I don’t want to be a little bit better, I want to be tons better. Talking about 30 spots better, I’m talking about a lot better, that’s what I expect, that’s what I want.”

Buffalo finished 32nd in the league last season in run defense. 30 spots better would put them second best in football, a ranking held by the Chicago Bears last season.

Williams schooling up Dareus

Marcell Dareus obviously has certain God-given abilities out on the football field, that no one needs to help him with, but when it comes to uncovering little nuances of the opponent, Kyle Williams and the other vets in the defensive line room have been giving Buffalo’s top pick some pointers.

“I have a good feel of (the scheme) because the veterans, especially Kyle Williams, are really keeping me on it,” said Dareus. ”I have really just been taking it all in like a sponge and doing the best I can with it. There is a lot to take in but I see now that it is a whole lot different than the preseason and I am ready for it.”

“That’s helpful for Marcell,” said head coach Chan Gailey. ”He probably doesn’t even realize how helpful that is for him at this point to have Kyle in the room with him. And really it’s not only Kyle, but it’s Dwan Edwards and a lot of those veteran guys that are true professionals to be able to sit in there and help him. Marcell is extremely smart, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like he needs help, but I think in four or five years he’ll look back on it and realize how good it was to have those guys in the room early.”

Williams explained where he’s helping Dareus the most.

“As far as what I’m trying to teach him is how he’s looking at things pre-snap, formations, different things, trying to get him to see things that I see before the play,” said Williams. ”To study things the way that I study them so he can take that explosiveness and use it to his advantage rather than being in at a disadvantage in the middle of a play and helping him get out of trouble. If he can do it at the beginning of the play, he can use it to put them in trouble at the beginning of the play rather than him having to recover he can put them in a bad spot.

“Just trying to talk about formations and tendencies, what are you looking at pre-snap, not getting too focused in on the guy in front of you, trying to see the whole scheme. If we can see things fairly similar we’re going to play better off each other. We’re going to know where the other one is going to be and make some plays.”

Kyle Williams won’t play

Bills DT Kyle Williams missed practice on Monday and Tuesday this week, and as a precaution he’s going to be held out of tonight’s preseason finale against the Lions.

“Kyle is simply precautionary,” said head coach Chan Gailey. ”We’re resting him. He’s played hard and practiced hard. He’s had a little nagging injury and we’re just protecting him and letting him get completely healed before we play Kansas City.”

Torell Troup is expected to get the start with the starting defense in Williams’ place tonight.

Bills on the radio

Here’s a rundown of where you can find a couple of Bills players on the local radio airwaves Wednesday morning.

Kyle Williams– 97 Rock; Norton in the Morning at 8:35 am (listen online)
Nick Barnett – WGR 550; Howard Simon Show at 9 am (listen online)

Kyle: Extension talks are new

Bills Pro Bowl DT Kyle Williams confirmed that talks on an extension have begun, but that it’s still very early in the negotiating process.

“They’re just talking,” Williams told Buffalobills.com. ”It’s not far along so that’s really, I really don’t know much other than that. I kind of let my guy do that stuff and I don’t deal with it. But that being said, this is where I want to be. I feel like we’ve got a chance, moving in the right direction, got some good players here, and I want to see what I started here through.”

For more on Williams and his superb training camp you can reference tonight’s practice report and find his comments on how excited he is about teaming up with Marcell Dareus up front.

Merriman: I’ll have chances

Shawne Merriman got a taste of being a terror against opposing quarterbacks again with a pair of sacks on back-to-back plays in his preseason debut for the Bills. He knows with Kyle Williams and Marcell Dareus up front he’s going to get a lot of quality matchups and opportunities.

“It’s going to be a great thing to have those guys, those tackles like Kyle and Marcell, to allow me to go out there and play football,” he said. ”They’re great tackles and they’re going to cause a lot of attention and for me all I have to do is line up and do what I do.”

Opponents are really going to be in a pick your poison situation with the group Buffalo will be putting out there this season.

Kyle on the radio

Bills Pro Bowl DT Kyle Williams is going to be on the radio today as well as Assistant Head coach Dave Wannstedt. Here’s where you can find them.

Kyle Williams – Jim Rome Show at 12:35 pm

Dave Wannstedt – Dan McNeil Show; 670 Score (Chicago) at 1 pm

Kyle ranks 8th

USA Today put together their list of top 10 NFL defensive tackles and Buffalo’s Kyle Williams made the list.

Williams ranked eighth in their top 10. Baltimore’s Haloti Ngata was number one, which might be a bit painful to some Bills fans knowing he went 12th overall in the 2006 NFL draft and the Bills had the 8th pick that year. Anyway here’s the top 10 list.

1. Haloti Ngata – Baltimore
2. Ndamukong Suh – Detroit
3. Vince Wilfork – New England
4. Darnell Dockett – Arizona
5. B.J. Raji – Green Bay
6. Jay Ratliff – Dallas
7. Kevin Williams – Minnesota
8. Kyle Williams – Buffalo
9. Casey Hampton – Pittsburgh
10. Richard Seymour – Oakland

Kyle Top 10 eye opening

For those fans that have actually asked me via email what kind of difference Kyle Williams really makes on the field for the Bills needs to watch our latest installment of Top 10 Performances of 2010.

A lot of times fans naturally just follow the ball when watching a football game. For those that fall into that trap here’s your chance to see just what Kyle Williams is doing to disrupt opposing offenses as we take a closer look at his huge game against the Steelers last season with some expert analysis from defensive line coach Giff Smith.

Kyle ranks as highest Bill

Bills Pro Bowl DT Kyle Williams was the highest ranked Buffalo player in the ESPN blog postings of the Top 25 players in the AFC East.

Williams was ranked 11th best player in the entire division. The only other Bills that have appeared on the countdown were Stevie Johnson (19th) and Fred Jackson (17th).

Kyle ranks with Kirwan

NFL.com analyst Pat Kirwan ranked his top interior defensive linemen and Buffalo’s Kyle Williams made the cut.

Kirwan ranks Kyle Williams fifth in the league among 3-4 nose tackles behind Casey Hampton, Sione Pua, Jay Ratliff and Vince Wilfork. Here’s what he wrote about the Bills Pro Bowl DT.

Kyle Williams, Bills: A rising star after being a fifth-round pick in 2006. Williams is undersized at 6-foot-1 and 305 pounds, but plays with great leverage and quickness. As one offensive line coach said, “If he was somewhere besides Buffalo, everyone would look at him like Jay Ratliff.” Williams has 95 solo tackles and 9.5 sacks the last two seasons.

Kyle on the cusp

On Monday Kyle Williams was recognized by SI.com’s Peter King as the 27th best player in the NFL. On Tuesday the Pro Bowl DT got some more recognition.

The New York Times Fifth Down blog posted their Top 10 Defensive Tackles list and though Williams wasn’t named with the likes of Kevin Williams, Haloti Ngata and Vince Wilfork, he was listed with three other players in an honorable mention category of sorts called on the cusp (see below).

On the cusp – Jonathan Babineaux, Falcons; Kyle Williams, Bills; Antonio Garay, Chargers; Fred Robbins, Rams