NFL: Things finally super for Mario

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Mario Williams' big ass boat!! Bass Pack could do some damage in this thing!

Mario Williams’ big ass boat!! Bass Pack could do some damage in this thing!

Quite a few Wolfpackers in the NFL are having fantastic seasons, so we like to try to highlight something NFL-alum-related every Sunday. Last Sunday was Philip Rivers’ 7th child.

This week, Sports Illustrated ran a nice feature on Mario Williams finding harmony both off and on the field.

“Now,’’ Williams said this week, “it’s pretty much all football, and I couldn’t be happier.”

If indeed that’s the case, it’s showing. After seven games, he’s tied for second in the league with 10 sacks. His Week 2 tour de force performance against Carolina (4.5 sacks, six quarterback pressures) is one of the best games by a defensive player this season, and his play the last two weeks (2.5 sacks, three knockdowns, nine pressures) is the kind of consistent pressure the Bills need to have while their offense is struggling with inconsistent quarterback play.

Occasionally in his past, Williams could be faulted for not playing relentlessly for four quarters. Not taking plays off, exactly. But not coming with the passion the Texans thought they saw in Williams at North Carolina State. That wasn’t the case in the fourth quarter at Miami in Week 7. With the Dolphins trying to add to a 21-20 lead with seven minutes left, Williams faked Miami tackle Tyson Clabo, then stormed inside to sack Ryan Tannehill before he could work through half of his receiver progression. Miami punted two plays later. Then, with three minutes to go, Williams overpowered Clabo, pushed him into Tannehill, and the ensuing forced fumble was recovered by the Bills’ Kyle Williams. Six plays later, Buffalo’s Dan Carpenter kicked the winning field goal. The Bills stole one, in large part due to Mario Williams being the best player on the field in the last seven minutes on an 87-degree day in south Florida.

Also around the league — the legend of Russell Wilson grows!

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3 Responses to NFL: Things finally super for Mario

  1. packalum44 10/27/2013 at 11:01 AM #

    Mario had Jekyll and Hyde games while at State. He would disappear some games and have 4 sacks the next. No one should have been surprised in that respect. Name one DE that doesn’t though?

    I suppose one difference is that most DEs don’t have 4-5 sack games. Maybe in those dominant games he set unrealistic expectations. He has the physical tools to be better than Bruce Smith. But he won’t ever touch those sack numbers because he screwed around his first several years.

    I just rambled a bit.

  2. BJD95 10/27/2013 at 9:03 PM #

    It’s ok, Super Mario. Messing around with white women kinda screwed with my head a little bit. Oh, for just the past 25ish years or so.

  3. triadwolf 10/28/2013 at 6:54 PM #

    To be fair Mario fought some nagging injuries most of his stay in Houston. A couple of NC State injury gremlins must have found their way into his luggage. For his sake I hope he left them in Houston.

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