Heading into the season, there were a lot of people making bold predictions about the Bills defense.
Seven games into the year, the Bills are 3-4 and their defense has been shredded in each of the four losses. That includes Sunday’s 35-34 loss to the Titans, which featured a huge day for Chris Johnson against the league’s worst run defense. The performance left defensive tackle Kyle Williams with a bad taste in his mouth.
“Well, I’ve got to look at it and say the talent is, uh, you know, I mean ... You’re not very talented if you’re doing what we’ve been doing, OK? I’ve said it from the very beginning when we were at training camp. Talent doesn’t matter,” Williams said, via Tim Graham of the Buffalo News. “It doesn’t matter what things look like on paper, what you say. ‘We’re going to be good because look at this sheet of paper.’ That doesn’t matter. It matters if you’re playing fast, you play physical, you play together. It’s everybody on defense. It starts up front, it works its way around.”
Williams waved off suggestions that the scheme or coaching were to blame and kept the focus pointed strictly on the players after Sunday’s game. Coach Chan Gailey was on a similar wavelength when he said that there would not be a move involving the dismissal of defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt or other members of the defensive staff during the bye week.
Something has to change before the Bills embark on the final nine weeks of their schedule, though, or the Bills will continue to be on the wrong end of defeats and the preseason hype about their defense starts to look even more ridiculous.