Mario Williams is expected to have a major impact in Buffalo this season. On Sunday, he was a nonfactor. The man the Bills signed to a $100 million contract over the offseason had only one tackle. The Jets completely had their way with the defense Williams is supposed to anchor this season, smashing the Bills 48-28.
Naturally, it was the replacement officials’ faults that Williams put up a stinker in his debut.
“Pass blocking doesn’t consist of illegal hands to the face just about every play, which, when somebody tells you that, and you’re five yards away from it, and you walk away like you don’t see him telling you you’re getting punched in the face every time, then that dictates somebody like myself having to take care of that on my own,” Williams said according to ESPN.com. “There’s definitely, with the situation that we’re in with the refs like that, and then you don’t listen or you don’t call it one time out of 20 that were out there. That’s really disheartening from that point.”
Williams’ biggest beef with the officiating crew seemed to be that he was crying the entire game and nobody was listening.
“I had some things going on, so I stayed on the left side, but it’s just one of those things where you tell somebody from the beginning of the game — and it happens, one time that’s on me,” he said. “But when it’s multiple times and I tell you and honestly you act like you don’t hear me throughout the whole game, I think that’s a big problem.”
While the replacement officials have certainly made some bonehead mistakes already, listening to players use them as an excuse for poor play has already gotten old. There were plenty of moments where the officiating crews looked lost on Sunday, but let’s not pretend the guys who are on strike used to get it right every time.
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