For those who opted not to listen to Texans head coach Gary Kubiak's post-game press conference, Kubiak revealed that defensive end Mario Williams has a sports hernia that he's been playing through all season.
"It’s been bothering him for awhile," Kubiak said. "He’s been fighting through it. He got an injection in Philadelphia Wednesday. He’s been doing all he can. We’ll continue to bring him along the way we have been."
More on this after a jump.
Texans Bull Blog isn't painting a pretty picture of this situation as it reflects on the organization and the medical and training staff. I really don't know enough information to go in that direction, but I do recommend clicking on the link to their take.
Instead, I'm going to address those who continue to call Williams underachieving or say disappears to frequently. Playing through this injury, which requires lots of rest and/or surgery to heal, Super Mario has 9.0 sacks. It's his fourth-straight year of 9-plus sacks and also puts him tied for the league lead in sacks among defensive ends.
Going beyond sacks, as the esteemed SBN Houston editor pointed out to me, Football Outsiders shows that Williams is third in QB hurries and tied for seventh in QB hits through ten weeks of their charting. While not a sack, hurries and hits definitely disrupt a quarterback's play. Again, Williams is doing that with a sport hernia, no consistent second-pass rusher opposite him, and a secondary that can barely cover someone for three seconds.
That should tell critics about what kind of player Mario Williams is - he's pretty damn good.
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