ORCHARD PARK (AP) -- On one of the first days the Buffalo Bills wore pads in practice, Marcell Dareus was so eager to hit someone that on his initial attempt in one-on-one line drills, the rookie defensive end jumped offside.
Shaking his head in frustration, Dareus lined up for a second chance. Timing the snap perfectly, Dareus exploded out of his stance and generated such momentum from of his 6-foot-3, 340-pound frame that he struck Craig Urbik so hard the Bills starting right guard was lifted off the ground and then deposited flat on his back.
Boom!
"Everything, I take seriously," Dareus said, recalling what happened last month. "When it doesn't work the first time, it really turns on the second time."
Dareus is proving to be a quick study, something that's become increasingly evident during a preseason in which the Bills' highly touted first-round draft pick - he was selected third overall out of Alabama - hasn't looked or felt outmatched.
"As camp went along and we got our preseason on," he said, "I was like, `OK, I've got a feel for the game. It's not that crazy'."
Dareus showed flashes of his brute force and agility with three tackles and two sacks in four preseason games.
He's also made an impression in practice, too. During one five-play stretch, he had a hand in four plays, two sacks, he flushed the quarterback and then, for good measure, shrugged off an offensive lineman to corral running back C.J. Spiller for what would've been a 2-yard loss.
The Bills are counting on Dareus' production to carry over in preparing to open the season at Kansas City on Sunday. Buffalo drafted him with the intention of plugging a big body into what was a porous defense that finished last in the NFL against the run - the Bills allowed 200 yards rushing eight times last year - and had difficulty applying pressure.
Veteran defensive tackle Kyle Williams has already seen a difference.
"I think he's going to help a lot. He's as big and talented a guy as you'll ever be around," Williams said. "What he has that can't be taught is how big and how well he moves."
The Bills' new-look defense will certainly get tested in the first two weeks of the season. The Chiefs were the NFL's top rushing team last year. And then, the following week, the NFL's second-best rushing team, the Oakland Raiders, come to town.
"Of course it's a big pill to swallow," Dareus said, referring to the challenges ahead. "For us being the worst and them being the best, we really have to see how much we've improved."
Asking Dareus to be an immediate difference maker might be a lot to put on the rookie's shoulders - and he'll acknowledge that stopping the run is not a one-man job.
What's also true is that he's faced far more daunting tests. The second-youngest of six children, he grew up poor in Alabama. His father died when he was young and his mother - Dareus' biggest influence growing up - spent years in and out of hospitals because of a heart condition, and died last year.
Playing football, then, is easy by comparison.
"Some people look at it like a burden," Dareus said. "The thing is, you've just got to embrace it and use it as fuel."
The motivation to succeed has already begun paying off after he signed a four-year, $20.4 million rookie contract in July.
"I do this so I can be in a position where I don't have to go ask anybody else or have to go to the bank and get turned down and look embarrassed in front of everybody," he said. "My mom, we always sat down and talked about that like we're not going to want any more. And that's my whole drive."
He has no intention of slowing down, either.
Last month, coach Chan Gailey took a cautious approach when asked what his impressions were upon seeing Dareus' hit on Urbik.
"I'm not going to `Oooh' and `Aaah' about it," Gailey said, noting he prefers to judge players on a larger body of work.
On Wednesday, with the preseason over, the coach had a far better impression of Dareus.
"I think he's exactly what we thought we were going to get," Gailey said. "I think he's going to be a very good football player for a long time in this league."
(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
