After a two-day sojourn of examinations and second opinions that took him as far away as Charlotte, North Carolina, Mario Williams feels a lot better about the nagging soreness in his left foot.
"I'm fine," he said. "I'm not worried. I just think it's not that serious. I understand. I appreciate the concern. I'm alright."
Williams after being examined by the team's medical staff flew to Charlotte to get a second opinion from renowned foot and ankle specialist Dr. Robert Anderson. Anderson, who is the team orthopedist for the Carolina Panthers, is a foot and ankle specialist that has been practicing for 30 years. Buffalo has sent Aaron Schobel and Kyle Williams to see Anderson for evaluations and recommendations.
"They determined that the best course of action was rest and treatment," said Marrone of the findings of all the physicians involved. "Really there's no timetable for his return, but it's day by day. That's where his situation is right now."
Williams, who was trying to honor coach Marrone's team directive to defer all injury explanations to him, did not provide details on when the injury first cropped up, if it's a brand new ailment or some recurring problem. He did confirm that he participated in the conditioning test last Saturday when players first reported to training camp.
The Bills top pass rusher said it is both his philosophy and was the team's medical suggestion to seek a second opinion, so he did. Williams took the same approach last year with his ailing left wrist, which did lead to surgery. The defensive end isn't worried about that being the case with this particular injury.
Williams was dressed for Wednesday's practice, but again he said that was part of procedure with head coach Doug Marrone, who requires all players injured or not to come to the field dressed in the required practice gear for the day.
After participating in walk through prior to the start of practice, Williams worked with head strength and conditioning coach Eric Ciano and went through about a half hour of interval training going from the stationary bike to a medicine ball routine to swinging a sledge hammer down on a giant truck tire.
The team has an off day on Thursday and with no timetable for his return it's unclear as to when Williams will participate in his first training camp practice with his teammates.
"I would love to be out there obviously," said Williams. "But like I said this is a precaution and I'm just following orders."
