In probably the worst kept secret around these parts since Terry Pegula was “officially” going to buy the Sabres, the Bills have finally parted ways with Mario Williams. As most of you guys know, we’ve been pretty much Pro-Mario at the site since he got here. Look, we are fans at the site and I’ll admit our opinions can sometimes be jaded because we really want to believe a player or coach will work out in Buffalo. However, when you get the lamestream media criticizing him about mini-fridges, questioning if he was really battling depression, or going ape shit over him not practicing during the first week of training camp, its hard for me to chalk up my opinion on Mario as being just an overzealous fanboy.
The guy was a target right when he decided that not talking to the media on Monday was in his best interest.
However, when you get through the soap opera bullshit, Mario was an effective player. From 2012-2014, Mario had the 4th most sacks in the NFL and ranked 5th all-time in franchise history (43). The Bills defense was a junkyard fire from basically 2007-2011 (Dwan Edwards/Shawne Merriman/Larry Triplet..anyone?) and turned around on Mario’s watch. Sure, some of that goes to having a competent coaching staff (See: Pettine/Schwartz) and having 99/55 here, but Mario was a big part of it and deserves credit.
For the most part, Mario brought a lot of fun to the table in Buffalo and not just on the field. The two days leading up to Mario signing was basically our playoff run. The city shut down and everyone put on such a positive face into seducing Mario to come here. It felt a lot like the town in Funny Farm when Chevy Chase was trying to sell the farm. Sure, the money brought him here, yet, you couldn’t help but get caught up in the #marioparty with thinking we actually weren’t going to finish 2nd in our self-deprecating Buffalo minds. Getting him was treated like winning the Super Bowl because the Bills were finally going to be relevant and things were going to change. Well, Mario was relevant…the team…Not so much.
The losing for the most part continued and lead to what Mario became in the folklore of Bills history… He’s one of those really good players who came along at the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s what Lee Evans, Takeo Spikes, Kyle Williams, Eric Moulds, Stevie Johnson, Byrd and a few other players were…Diamonds in A LOT of rough.
If only the team around them were as good as these individuals. It wasn’t Mario’s fault that EJ Manuel and Kyle Orton were the QBs for two of the best defensive years in franchise history. It wasn’t his fault that Doug Marrone was a fucking idiot. It wasn’t his fault that Chan Gailey didn’t wanna give CJ Spiller the ball enough in 2011. Maybe some will look at his salary as a reason for him to carry the team to the playoffs and not be satisfied with his accomplishments, but it is still a team game. When you got those guys at QB, you come away with knowing the team game had a colossal hole.
Additionally, I’m a bit concerned on what the future brings to us when it comes to signing high priced players. The Bills and Sabres have never really been big into signing high priced free agents. Now with Pegula, things are changing. Are we always going to have a few pockets of lamestream media and fans paint rich players as being Prima Donnas? Are they going to use their salary against them because they didn’t win MVP even if they were really good? I mean, we are talking about people being pissed about mini-fridges or the likes of LeSean McCoy having a party. Will hot tabloid journalism takes like this be a constant for when the Pegulas pay for another free agent? God help us if that’s the case.
It does break my heart a bit that it ended this badly and not just by cutting Mario, but how his final year was the worst of his career here. Up until this past season, I was cool as a cucumber with Mario. However, he deserves blame for what happened this past season as he definitely had the look of someone who couldn’t wait to get the hell out of Rex Ryan’s defense. He did basically phone it during the final part of the season and it would be a disservice for me to just ignore it. I can understand if some fans are sour on him because players can’t give up like that. All fans have is hope when it comes to the Bills being good at this point. When they see a player not trying, its pretty hard to be hopeful about your team.
Now, it shouldn’t just all fall on him. His coach was as equally hard-headed with not wanting to adapt his scheme to the best attributes of his players. A lot has been made about Mario’s cap number. To me, this breakup wasn’t about salary, but more about how Mario and Rex couldn’t co-exist. Both of them were stubborn alpha-males who had a proven track record in the NFL, but couldn’t agree on the strategy to prove it together. Now, on the bright side, I do feel both can strive without each other. Now Rex can put in his system and the types of players he wants and Mario can go to a legit 4-3 defense.
In the end, I thought Mario was worth the contract and was satisfied with his performance. But per the usual with saying goodbye to a good Bills player, its just too bad I wasn’t satisfied with the rest of the team’s performance.
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