WhoDat!656

Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has unfairly been made the scapegoat but a loss of this magnitude cannot simply be reduced to one bad decision, no matter how egregious it was.

Yes, Williams' decision to blitz the 49ers in the final minute leading to a back-breaking 47-yard reception by Vernon Davis will long live in infamy for Saints fans. But that ill-advised decision was just one of several factors that conspired against the Saints and led to San Francisco's dramatic 36-32 victory.



Gregg Williams shouldn't be the scapegoat in New Orleans Saints loss: film study - New Orleans Saints Football NFL News - NOLA.com

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

CharityMike

What a croc!! He can spin it anyway he wants to. If he wants to be in denial, so be it. He called the blitz of all lb's leaving the middle open to have harper/jenkins covering the te. Williams fault right there. He don't call that OR someone,who is suppose to be the "leader" of the defense, calls a time out or changes the defensive call, that 47 yard reception don't happen. End of story.

Euphoria

He needs to leave town with Greg Williams and I just told him so...

neugey

I don't really disagree with anything Duncan wrote. The GW defense that let us down at the end of the game kept us in the game earlier. I'm not a fan of scapegoats either. That being said, since hindsight is 20-20 it would indicate that some changes would need to be considered.

Williams needed to adjust his defense to the fact that Davis was the only real receiving threat on the 49ers. Ginn wasn't doing much and Crabtree was dropping balls and playing inconsistently. Blitzing your strong safety 17 games in a game where their TE is the only weapon is kind of insane. We should've treated Davis like he was Megatron and doubled and triple-teamed him and let Greer play Crabtree solo.

QBREES9

Jeff did you watch the game ?

Danno

It was a team effort. Both sides of the ball contributed to the loss.

But one side has played poorly in nearly every game this season, and it isn't the offense.

While this one game doesn't justify condemning the defense, the previous 17 certainly do.

WHO_DAT_CAT

I watched the game. What I saw is the defense keeping us in the game, after the offense and special teams turned the ball over repeatedly.

Not saying the defense doesn't need work. But, I do believe in giving credit where it is due. So, here's the credit: Had it not been for the defense in that game, Vernon Davis' catch would not have mattered. And, frankly, it shouldn't have mattered.

Turning the ball over as many times as we did in a playoff game is just embarrassing. Roby looked like a keystone cop out there. The defense may need to be overhauled (won't argue there), but if it is true, then it was true when the team took the field that day. But, that loss was not mostly on the defense.

I will have to say that I'm glad Williams is gone, though. Since 2009, he has not proved that his scheme could work with the players we have.

papz

I agree with most of what you're saying WDC, expect the part you're glad GW is gone. Our D is what kept us in the game. Our D let us down with a minute left to go... but our turnovers is what cost us the game. You lose the turnover battle by our margain, 90% chance plus you lose the game.

Fact.

SloMotion

Well, if I may interject ..... and it's just my perspective because I just can't seem to stay out of a good football conversation ..... turnovers are the most important stat in football, and that's not to point fingers at the offense either. SFran scored, what?, 14pts on the turnovers? It made all the difference.

These two quotes stuck out the most in the article to me: "First and foremost, the 49ers simply made more big plays than the Saints." ... "Forget all the talk about the running game and defense winning championships. In today's NFL, games are won and lost by big plays." Both ring true.

Today's game is light years away (and I feel a blog coming on) from what it used to be, and you win by thinking 'outside the box'. Greg Williams was thinking 'outside the box', he had 'em on the ropes and he was gonna' finish 'em. He just blitzed 'em on the previous play and figured no way they would expect it again. It's the killer instinct you want to see in a defensive coordinator. Personally, I think it was a bonehead move in that type situation, but as it has been so eloquently pointed out, "hindsight is 20/20". Who's to say what I woulda' done in that situation, go for the glory or err on the side of caution? Be the hero, be the goat ..... that's what was going through GW's mind. He took a shot. IDK, maybe he knew he was on the way out?

Not sticking up for Williams, I'd rather have Spagnualo anyway, just think the turnovers were more a factor then your defense. I keep going back to the four lead changes in the last four minutes ..... SFran didn't beat you guys, they just outlasted you.

dizzle88

I'm in no way giving our offense and special teams a pass, they performed the worst I've seen since before brees and Payton came. The defense did good to limit the 9ers to 14 points off 5 turnovers, but at the same time GW forced like 5 three and outs in a row then crumbles when the game is about to be won and gives up two TD drives.
We have just scraped through wins when our offense has won games for us and the defense has been non existent, every offense struggles from time to time but the difference is those teams have defenses that make up for it when there offense struggles, we relied on the offense all year and the offense won us games all year. Defense didn't do much.

Spags will make it better though, can't wait to see his defensive system

Your bonehead creator picked a fine chapter to omit from your memory bank....let me ask you, does a machine like yourself ever experience fear? - Vegeta, DBZ