What do Saints fans need to know about Gregg Williams?

by MtnExile on Jan 10, 2009 9:40 AM EST

Where y'at, Jags? MtnExile from Canal Street Chronicles here to find out what you can tell us at "Da Chronic" about Gregg Williams.

You may or may not realize that Williams interviewed with the Saints this past week for the defensive coordinator post. The Saints were his first interview; Williams was the Saints' first interview; and the New Orleans Times-Picayune is reporting that

Gregg Williams has an "extremely strong interest" in the job, according to his agent.

There are many of us--myself included--who rejoiced at the firing of defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs, and hoped we might end up with a new DC who believed in an attacking style of defense--not necessarily Williams, but someone like him. Now, with things heating up on that front, we'd like some input from those who know him best.

I realize things didn't go so well for the Jags on defense this season (they went even worse for us); but playing as we do in different conferences, we're not really up on all the fine points of what went wrong. So if anyone could give us his opinion of Williams, his defense, and why it failed this year, we'd be much obliged.

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This is a Redskins take on Williams

http://www.bigcatcountry.com/story/2008/1/28/112822/181

Big Cat Country!:: The Official Home of the Unofficial Blog of the Jacksonville Jaguars!

by River City Rage on Jan 10, 2009 11:16 AM EST reply actions

Hmm, I remember reading that awhile back

But reading it now, it seems he had a crystal ball. I wonder how many times we didn’t hear about Williams and Del Rio squaring off.

"I smoke. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your mouth."-Bill Hicks

by Jonathan Loesche on Jan 10, 2009 3:16 PM EST up reply actions

When it works it works, when it does not it almost at times was like watching a frustrated someone play Madden football, calling the same defense over and over in the hope that one of these times the offense will play right into it and usually it did not.

If there’s a quote that could sum up Gregg Williams, that’s it.

"I smoke. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your mouth."-Bill Hicks

by Jonathan Loesche on Jan 10, 2009 3:13 PM EST reply actions

Williams...

will work best in a system that fits his style. I’m not sure what kind of defense the Saints usually run but the Jaguars love some cover 2 and prefer to stay in that style of defense. This completely clashed with Gregg’s defensive philosophy and led to some really bad defense early in the season.

by Adam Stites on Jan 10, 2009 3:13 PM EST reply actions

The Saints system

I’d have to say there wasn’t one, really. Gary Gibbs supposedly (from what I’ve read, anyway) shared with Williams the idea of making use of “everything”—it just didn’t work under Gibbs. At Canal Street Chronicles, it’s been dubbed “Gibbs gumbo”—a little bit of everything, lots of leftovers, all mixed up. It’s a libel on gumbo, actually.

The Saints have played a lot of man coverage in the past, but they couldn’t get the pressure on the quarterback to make the scheme work. Our defensive line was a bunch of serious underachievers, and people have been crying out for a no-nonsense disciplinarian. I don’t know if Williams is a good motivator or not, but from what I’ve read it doesn’t sound like his strong suit. Buddy Ryan’s players loved him; it sounds like Williams’ simply put up with him because there’s nothing they can do about it. Is that a fair assessment?

Get Sean McDermott!

by MtnExile on Jan 10, 2009 3:31 PM EST up reply actions

Luckily you

guys have a lot of speed on your DL. He likes using the DL in all kinds of stunts and dropping people into coverage and stuff while zone blitzing other people. I think Greg Williams’ down fall came because he was a little slow to figure out our D and he was even slower when feeling out oposing O’s.

by Ewdtrey on Jan 10, 2009 6:12 PM EST up reply actions