Drafted to slow Manning, Williams hasn’t yet

HOUSTON — When the Houston Texans drafted Mario Williams, owner Bob McNair said a big reason they chose him was so they could beat Peyton Manning and the Colts.

The Texans did get their first win over Indianapolis last season, but Williams didn’t have much to do with it.

In three meetings with the Colts Williams hasn’t sacked Manning, but he has gotten the quarterback’s attention with his recent play.

“In the film that we’ve seen of him, he is what we call a disruptive guy and he’s certainly a guy that I think you’ll be paying attention to on every single play,” Manning said.

Williams is second in the NFL with 13 sacks this season and has nine in his past five games. He is the only player in the league to have at least one sack in each of the last five games.

He had a career-high 3½ sacks in last week’s win over Denver.

“He’s an excellent player,” Manning said. “He’s really playing at a high level — really kind of took over the Broncos game himself in a lot of ways and put a lot of pressure on their passing game.”

Williams hopes to get that kind of pressure on Manning this week when the Texans look to win their eighth game for the first time in franchise history. He said Manning and the Colts present a number of different challenges.

“It’s just the whole thing,” he said. “It’s the offensive line and it’s him just knowing the scheme of things and getting rid of the ball,” Williams said.

Last season, Williams wasn’t comfortable enough to be moved around on the line and preferred to stay at right defensive end. As he’s gained confidence this year, coaches have been able to shuffle him around and create more problems for opponents.

“Last year, there was so much stuff thrown at me and now I’m just a lot more comfortable,” Williams said. “So it’s just something that I’ve gotten accustomed to doing and I like doing it. Everything’s pretty good right now.”

Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy said he thinks Williams will win over fans who wanted the team to draft Vince Young or Reggie Bush. Dungy even compared him to his star defensive end Dwight Freeney.

“He has played outstanding football the last seven, eight games that we just looked at here and I’m sure that’s what everybody envisioned,” Dungy said. “That type of play helps you win championships. No question about it. He’s giving them the type of impact that Dwight gave us with our first pick when I was here.”

Coach Gary Kubiak said Williams is enjoying himself, and that he’s so excited in practice he often asks to take scout team snaps.

“He loves to do it,” Kubiak said. “It makes our offensive line guys mad, but that’s a good thing. He’s getting really comfortable with who he is as a pro and where he’s headed with his career. It’s not hard for him out here anymore. He loves practice. That’s the key to being a great player.”