CINCINNATI — Maybe it’s because Kyle Williams knows the clock is running.

After all, he’s 33 years old, has played in the National Football League for 11

seasons and, never once, has he been in a playoff game.

And, on Sunday afternoon at Paul Brown Stadium, his offensively undermanned Bills gutted out a 16-12 victory over the Bengals to keep their slim post-season hopes alive.

Buffalo prevailed, in large part, because of the way Williams played.

The 6-foot-1, 303-pound defensive tackle didn’t have glittering stats — 4 stops, 3 of them unassisted, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit — but he was disruptive all afternoon.

Coach Rex Ryan admitted of Williams, “He’s amazing. I’m glad he’s been healthy all year. He represents (with his effort) what this team — what our Buffalo fans and community — (are) all about.”

So obvious was his performance that he was brought to the post-game podium, accompanied by his son Reed, one of Williams’ five children.

Rarely is the child of a player in the locker room of a road game, but Kyle’s family stayed at the home of Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, a friend and college teammate of Kyle’s at LSU.

Easily the best talker on the Buffalo roster, Williams was asked about the importance of the victory.

“We’re two teams kind of teetering on the brink … we’re in a desperate position,” he said of the Bills (5-5) and Bengals (3-6-1) “We talked about coming in and winning one football game … focusing all our effort on winning this one football game. We’ll do the same thing again next week … focusing on winning one game at home, beating Jacksonville (2-8), and just try to build like that.

“I think that’s the way we’ve won every time this year … our preparation has been good and we’ve really taken it one game at a time.”

He added of the game that wasn’t decided until a desperation Andy Dalton pass was knocked down in the end zone on the last play, “We talked about it all week … this is an experienced talented football team that’s had a lot of success (five straight playoff appearances). It’s going to come down to the end of the game … the last few plays.

“We didn’t waver at halftime … we had to clean up some things penalty-wise (9-for-75 yards, but only 1-for-5 after intermission) and make some adjustments and we played much better in the second half (Cincinnati had only 110 yards of offense the last two quarters).”

Williams added of the tense finish when the Bengals drove 58 yards in 12 plays before Dalton’s last heave for the end zone.

“Coming down to the wire we talked about it’s going to be an all-day game and each play has a life of its own and it was … coming right down to the last play of the game,” Williams said.

“We take pretty wins … we take ugly wins … we just take wins wherever we can get them.”

Will the Bills have to win every game from now on in low-scoring fashion with No. 1 wide receiver Sammy Watkins still on injured reserve (foot) and running back LeSean McCoy (thumb) and wideout Robert Woods (knee) leaving Sunday’s  game and not returning?

“As soon as you say that, we’ll score 35 points,” Williams maintained. “Each week is so different … matchups are so different … teams that you play are so different.

“But, if we can play the way we did on defense (in the second half) … close out the game, play tough the last quarter, I like our chances in a lot of games.”

He added of his own performance, “I always play hard and I want to make plays for my teammates as well as I possibly can to help us win. Plays I made today were from being put in a good position by Rex, Rob Ryan (defensive assistant), DT (coordinator Dennis Thurman) and guys around me flying around and making plays.”

It was a particularly good day for the Bills defending the pass as Dalton was 24-of-43 for only 207 yards and a lousy 57.0 passer rating.

The secondary, maligned in losses to the Patriots and Jets, made two interceptions and knocked down nine passes.

”I’ve been around long enough to know that we only rush as well as they cover and they cover as well as we rush,” Williams said. “I think they responded great (to the criticism) … it was just kind of a get-back-to-the-basics week for them really focusing on technique and doing the small things right.”

In summing up the day, the former fifth-round draft choice noted, “(All games) mean something … we only get to play 16 of them in the regular season, so they all carry weight. There’s such a fine line (winning) in this league, especially when you’re playing good football teams.

“Obviously, you’re typically not going to beat good football teams like that with the penalties that we had. That’s something we’ll have to get cleaned up.”

And the Bills have six days to do it … and stay alive.

(Chuck Pollock, the Times Herald sports editor, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com