BEREA - When nothing seems to go right for a football team, it's understandable that players will be grumpy at times.

When an individual player is having trouble getting on the field with regularity during such a stretch, it can be downright frustrating. Browns defensive lineman Corey Williams knows all about that as he goes through a second straight season in which he's spent more time on the bench than on the field.

In the 31-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers last week, Williams was in on just eight of the Browns' 63 defensive downs. That's not what he wanted to happen when facing the team that traded him in February of 2008.

"I didn't hardly get a chance to play," Williams said. "I only had about eight plays, which I'm not excited about. Who would be excited about something like that?

"You're playing your old rival team. I wish I could have played more and helped my team out more."

Williams was one of 12 players who missed practice the Wednesday before the game against the Packers. He sat out again Thursday but was feeling better Friday and ready to go by the start of the game.

"I'm not going to say (it was the flu) because that's an excuse. I know for a fact that didn't have anything to do with it. I don't know what it is. Whatever it is, we need to get it fixed."

The manner in which Williams is being used (or not used) is perplexing. This is his second year playing in a base 3-4 after playing four seasons in the Packers' base 4-3 defense. He's healthy after dealing with a bad shoulder all of last season.

Still, his lack of playing time has kept his numbers to 10 tackles (seven solos and three assists) and one sack. He seemed to be making progress earlier this season when he had three tackles, a sack and seven quarterback pressures against the Cincinnati Bengals. A week later against the Buffalo Bills he had just three stops (one solo and two assists), but he came close to getting a sack when he leveled quarterback Trent Edwards in the Bills' end zone on a play that resulted in a debatable roughing-the-passer penalty.

Since then Williams has been largely non-existent. Spending most of the Green Bay game watching obviously didn't sit well with him.

When it was suggested that he's not happy, Williams would only say, "huh." Pressed further about whether too much has been made about his supposed struggles adjusting to the 3-4, Williams shrugged and said, "That's all I've got to say."

The adjustment theory was discussed quite a bit during training camp. Williams admitted he enjoyed playing in the Packers' 4-3.

"I miss that a whole lot," Williams said during camp. "Coming from a 4-3 where I was used to lining up and getting off the ball to going into a squared-up stance is a big difference to me."

Williams, the Packers' sixth-round draft choice in 2004, worked his way into a prominent role in Green Bay. In the 2007 and '08 seasons he combined for 98 tackles and 14 sacks (seven each season).

Having had depth on the defensive line at the time, the Packers decided to not re-sign Williams when he was eligible for free agency last year. Instead, they placed the "franchise" designation on him, which meant he couldn't sign with another team. He was traded to the Browns on the first day that free agents could sign with another team, with the Browns sending the Packers a '08 second-round draft choice.

Williams hurt the shoulder during the first week of camp. He played in pain throughout the season and had surgery during the offseason. Despite the shoulder problem, he registered a career-high 57 tackles but only half a sack.

Williams couldn't have been pleased when he found out Mangini's theory for pressuring quarterbacks. It's all about a collective effort instead of devising ways that give individual players better chances at getting to the quarterback.

"It's not specifically designed to highlight one person or another person," Mangini said in camp. "It's really designed to attack the scheme or the formation or the protection that the offense is giving us. Sometimes you're the cannon and sometimes you're the fodder, and you have to be willing to play both roles in this for it to be successful. We'll never really focus on one guy, per se. It's more the group mentality."

Whatever it's called, Williams doesn't like the role he's playing.

mmclain@tribtoday.com