Why Mario Williams Will Succeed for the Buffalo Bills in 2012

Since Mario Williams signed a six-year $100 million deal with the Buffalo Bills this offseason, expectations for the team have been extremely high.

Ticket sales are reflecting the fans' excitement, and why shouldn’t Bills fans be giddy? The team just signed one of the best defensive ends in the game, and he has all of the tools he needs to succeed in 2012.

The first reason Williams will succeed next season is the system. The Bills are reverting back to a 4-3 defense with the additions of Williams and Mark Anderson as their new defensive ends. The 4-3 system will only benefit Williams’ performance in 2012.

In 2011, Williams played five games at outside linebacker (a new position for Super Mario) while with the Houston Texans. Despite moving positions and only playing in five games before going down to a season-ending injury, Williams was 11th on a list of the top 64 NFL outside linebackers by Matt Miller.

That’s high praise for a guy who not only played just five games in 2011, but also had to adjust to playing a different position.

Williams is a freak athlete who can succeed at defensive end and outside linebacker, as well as being able to succeed in a variety of defensive systems.

Nevertheless, Williams probably fits best as a shed-blocking, pass-rushing defensive end whose main job is to get after the opposing team’s quarterback and wreak havoc.

Few players in the NFL pressure opposing quarterbacks as successfully as Williams. It’s safe to say he will be returning to his comfort zone as a pass-rushing defensive end next season.

Secondly, Williams will have a solid supporting cast around him in Buffalo to take some pressure off.

Admittedly, the Bills don’t have the impressive depth of the Houston Texans defensive unit. Blossoming stars Brooks Reed and Connor Barwin, along with J.J. Watt and Antonio Smith made Super Mario expendable to them this offseason, which is truly a testament to their defensive depth and talent.

Although the Bills defense last season wasn’t on the level of the Texans’ D, they still have some players who can step up and play shoulder-to-shoulder with Williams.

Mark Anderson is the first who comes to mind. He's the other big name addition the Bills went after in the offseason, and he had 10 sacks for the New England Patriots in 2011. Anderson will play opposite Williams on the defensive line to create a two-headed pass-rushing monster.

In addition to Anderson, there's Marcell Dareus, who had an impressive rookie season and led the Bills with 5.5 sacks.

If opposing offensive lines plan on double-teaming Williams to limit his effectiveness, you can bet Dareus, with a year of NFL experience under his belt, will gladly step up.

Playing alongside Dareus in the middle of the Bills’ defensive line, is defensive tackle Kyle Williams.

Williams was a two-time Pro Bowl selection for the Bills, making the Pro Bowl in 2009 and 2010. Unfortunately, his 2011 season was cut short due to injury, eliminating his chance at a three-peat.

The former fifth-round selection out of LSU has been rehabbing after undergoing foot surgery, but if he can come back healthy next year and return to his Pro Bowl form, the Bills defensive front has the potential to be one of the best in the NFL.

The bottom line is that Williams won’t be alone. Dareus, Kyle Williams and Anderson will help Mario make a smooth transition to his new team.

Let’s be honest Bills fans, Williams is not under much pressure to perform in 2012.

Yes, he may feel the need to justify a $100 million contract next year. Yes, the excitement from Bills fans has certainly put lofty expectations on the 27-year-old. Yes, he is coming off of a season-ending injury.

But despite those pressures, Williams has been under much higher scrutiny before in his career.

Flash back, if you would, to the 2006 NFL draft. Just about every meaningful draft analyst projected Reggie Bush to be the No. 1 overall selection by the Houston Texans. At the time, the Texans would have been fools to go in any other direction.

Well, they knew more than any of the experts.

The Texans, against popular opinion, drafted defensive end Mario Williams over the USC standout Reggie Bush.

Len Pasquarelli, a writer for ESPN at the time, wrote a scathing article about the decision to pass on Bush saying, “even quarterback David Carr, throwing from his back, which is where he has been for most of his four seasons in Houston, has better aim than his bosses.” Ouch.

In fairness to Pasquarelli, just about every football fan was thinking the same thing.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and I think it’s fair to say the Texans made the right choice.

Anyway, my point is that Williams has been under more pressure in the past. Signing a new contract after he’s already proven himself to be an elite NFL athlete should not bring any added pressure.

Trying to prove to skeptics your team was correct to choose you as the No. 1 overall pick in the draft after nearly every analyst thought it should have been someone else? Now that’s pressure.

Williams was booed, ridiculed and made the scapegoat for every Texans failure. To make matters worse, he recorded just 4.5 sacks in his rookie season.

Williams however, did not give up on becoming the player the Texans’ organization believed him to be. The following year he notched 14 sacks, ending the chatter from doubters.

Finally, Williams has no reason why he won’t succeed in Buffalo, because, frankly, even if he has a down year by his standards, it will still improve upon the Bills’ sorry excuse for a pass rush last season.

In 2011, the Bills recorded 29 total sacks as a team, tied for third worst in the league. To put that number into perspective, Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen had 22 sacks.

In just five games last year, Mario Williams recorded five sacks. As I said before, the Bills’ team leader in sacks a season ago was Marcell Dareus with 5.5. Williams had nearly that amount playing less than a third of the season’s games.

I don’t think there’s even a slim chance the 2012 Bills can’t outmatch the 2011 Bills in terms of pass-rushing ability. Williams should be a major reason why.

If Super Mario simply goes out and plays football, the Bills have a genuine chance of making some noise in the AFC East this coming season.