Anyone who watched the Vikings' season-opening victory over Cleveland on Sunday could tell that Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kevin Williams had a major impact on the game.
Williams finished with a sack and a fumble recovery but surprisingly he was only credited with one hurry of Browns quarterback Brady Quinn. However, that changed when the Vikings coaches got done reviewing the defensive film and charting their own stats. Williams was given seven quarterback hurries.
Williams, who remains eligible to play while the "StarCaps" case makes its way through the court system, is one of the elite 3-techniques in the NFL and everyone associated with the Vikings knows it.
"They always talk about defensive ends and then they talk about defensive right ends," coach Brad Childress said. "That's where you hear a lot of things about. ... But Kevin Williams is a very, very good football player, and I think the other thing that doesn't get said enough is he's a very smart football player. If you sit in meetings with him he's not just a blinders on guy. He knows where the backs set, he knows how the protection is coming, he knows formations and what plays come out of formations. He's rare from that standpoint, too. He's really the whole package." " ... Kevin is a 3-technique in this division and anybody that runs a version of this defensive scheme, it was Warren Sapp when everybody named it the Tampa-2 style of defense. That's kind of the engine that powers the car and he's prototypical. He does have a rare blend of speed and power. He's not just a pass rusher. He can stand up against the run, he can move he can chase you down. So, there's a reason he's a Pro Bowler and a very good player." There were some other stats changed from Sunday. Defensive end Ray Edwards was credited with a sack in the game, but the coaches changed that to a half-sack and split it with linebacker Ben Leber. Defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy also got a sack that originally went to Letroy Guion.
