Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

At long, long last the Buffalo Bills have addressed the one area that has been their glaring weakness ever since the Super Bowl years ended: their offensive line. In today's NFL Draft, the Bills selected the gigantic Mike Williams (OT, University of Texas, 21 yrs old, 6' 5", 375 lbs) with the fourth pick overall. Williams should step right in and finally give the Bills someone who can block consistently, ending a frustrating pattern of rotating inadequate 4th-through-7th rounders that have been the mainstay of the Bills' line since Wil Wolford and Howard Ballard left. The Bills have made no effort to seriously upgrade their offensive line since 1994, when they selected Ruben Brown, despite their consistently disappointing running game and the alarming number of sacks given up each year (although this number dropped during Doug Flutie's two years as the starting QB, mainly because of his elusiveness and willingness to scramble). Of course, any draft pick can go belly up (Ryan Leaf, anyone?) but for now the Bills have done what they've needed to do. Now, hopefully they'll stop trying to get Drew Bledsoe and instead pick up a decent QB prospect in the second or third round; they also need to address a thin defensive line.