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Saints defensive coordinator gregg williams post-practice transcript

Q: Can you talk about stopping the Miami run game?

A: They have a really good run game in all facets. Right now, we thought we had a two headed monster this week. This one stat wise right now is ahead of them. I think Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are both very, very, very dynamic runners, no matter what kind of offense you put them in. This staff has done a great job of coaching to the strengths of the football team. I’ve always respected Bill Parcells and people that come from his tree of coaching. It think Tony Sparano’s done a really, really good job in a short amount of time getting those guys groomed in to be real hard nosed in the run game. They’re doing an excellent job of coaching and we have our hands full.

Q: How well is Remi Ayodele playing?

A: Real well and each week he gets a little bit better. We kind of identified several of those guys when I first got here who needed to get some playing experience to take the next big hump and improve their skills. He’s been improving each and every week. The big part of him, he’s a load, really powerful at the point of attack and I think he likes the way we’re teaching things. Our skill set is really good for the type of player he is. Each week he gets better.

Q: Is nose tackle his position?

A: He’s best inside there, the closer to the ball you play him, but he does have a very good push to the pocket in his pass rush too. Being an effective pass rush team, you have to be able to collapse the pocket. If you don’t collapse the pocket, it doesn’t matter how good a pass rush you have on the edge. You have to be able to collapse the pocket inside. Some of the best sack teams in the National Football League are the ones that really knock the pocket back hard. He helps us knock the pocket back since I got here and he’s been doing a good job.

Q: Is he a guy that you said you wanted to make something of him when you got here?

A: He was a guy that I really wanted to find out about, because I didn’t know enough about him to tell you the truth. Once we got out there in the non padded practices, I saw he was very athletic, knew he was powerful, could see the powerful parts of him in the strength and conditioning program and watched the limited snaps that I did see on film. I just needed to see the athletic part. I saw it in the OTA’s and stuff and now his durability. That position has to be durable, because they’re taking a train wreck every snap and he is a real durable body guy.

Q: Has he kind of taken that job now?

A: We play so many guys. If coach lets us dress seven, we play all seven (defensive linemen) on gamedays. If we dress eight, we play all eight. I think that’s the strength to our staff, sort of like what Tony Sparano’s doing over at Miami. We’re trying to play as many packages of people as we can to remain as fresh as we can. Morale stays high as long as everybody things they’re involved. What we try to do is we don’t have any starters. We have the Saints defensive football team and we’re going to try to play them as much as we can, an even number of snaps as we can in certain positions. Some positions you can’t do that, but that happens to be a position where we can concentrate on that. That helps you in week 14, week 15, week 18 if you get a chance to play. It helps, because you’re taking some of the crashes off their bodies early in the season.

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