QBREES9

New Orleans Saints Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams

Thursday, November 12, 2009


Q: Did you work Charles Grant inside a little bit last week?


A: We did and what we’ve done there is try to look at with our nickel package out there, our four down package in pass situations, we want to try to get the four best guys we have at that time. A lot of times if you take a look and we scout every week if you look from a protection standpoint, many times you can get a bigger defensive end, the best one on one is over a guard. There’s so much chipping and doubling going on in the league when you’re trying a four man rush on defense ends. I’ve been doing this for a long time in terms of putting defensive ends inside and giving them a chance to have the one on one rush on one of the guys. Only three or four rushers can get doubled, but one of them’s going to get singled. We do a pretty good job of predicting which guy that is. I think Charles will do better each time we give him that opportunity. He’ll do more of it this year.



Q: Is it a difficult transition to slide inside?


A: No, especially if you’re a tough guy like him it’s not very difficult at all, because you also have to play the run in there. I can’t predict 100 percent it’s going to be passing. Usually, it’s pass, we’re in there and I’m not afraid of having Charles in there to play the run if we got a third down run or a run in a two minute situation which we were doing with him.



Q: Is will Smith playing at another level?


A: I can’t say that, you probably have to get that from him. This is my first experience with him. He’s playing pretty well. That’s the only thing I could say about it. He’s playing well. He’s an excellent tone setter. Not only as you see them as the fans see them in those three hours. You see them work in practice and you see them work in the meeting rooms and the classroom and the weight room. He’s a good mentor for a bunch of those guys on that defensive line too.



Q: Has he seen a lot of the chip blocks and the doubles?


A: All those guys do. If you’re any good at all…I tell them it’s a slap in the face if they don’t see them. If you don’t see those things it’s because they don’t worry about you. The good ones should get a lot of it. We have to have answers to help them if they get a lot of it. We play so many packages, it’s hard for teams to decide when they can and can’t on him, because we play so many different things. It’s a compliment to him, because he’s getting it, yes.



Q: What’s your horror story of a struggling team sneaking up and beating one of your teams?


A: It’s probably so painful I’ve probably forgotten it and I try not to dwell on those things, but the one thing that I have seen with St. Louis which is a credit…Again, another defensive guy being a head coach. Spags (Steve Spagnuolo) is a friend from the old NFC East days at Philly and the Giants, is that those guys are playing very hard for him. I see that he is getting that point across that everybody’s job is on the line. They’ve rolled the team over quite a bit there. Him and Bill Devaney have done that. What you see those guys doing is they’re auditioning for jobs and they’re playing extremely hard, so you have to give them credit. You give the credit to the coaching staff and also those players about how hard they’re playing. They have some very talented people that have played at a Pro Bowl level for several years at some key positions that we’re going to have to defend defensively. They have some really talented players.



Q: Can you talk about the traits of Roman Harper and why he fits in so well with what you want to do?


A: He’s tough. He’s got good size. He’s got and I tease him all the tine…He’s a lot smarter than I normally tease the Alabama grads, but we just tease back and forth on that. He is very tough. He’s very explosive. He’s got fearlessness about him of playing around all the noise. He’s not afraid to be in the run front in any way at all. He’s a good blitzer and what I think he’s shown a lot of people is that he’s a lot better playing the ball than people gave him credit for. We had to do some things to get his confidence changed a little bit. We had to change a few of his techniques of how he was going about playing the ball when it was in the air. I think he’s been real receptive of everything we’ve taught him to do. The big thing is he can’t be afraid to make a mistake. He plays 100 percent all the time and you have to like players like that. If a guy paces himself, I’d just assume he pace himself over by me and I’m not afraid to not play those guys. I’m not afraid to bring them over on the sideline and stand them by me.



Q: Is there a specific way you like to use a strong safety in your defense?


A: No and that’s a good question. Everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve adapted to what I’ve had to do because of the people. I’ve been at places where you’ve had a traditional strong and traditional free. I’ve been places where you’ve rocked and rolled and you couldn’t predict which one was strong and which one was free, because of the likeliness in their abilities. I think as a coach we have to decide what is the best way we can utilize each guys’ skill. It’s not just safety. It’s the (line)backers. It’s the D linemen and everything and get them to play at a real high level. The fact that Roman can be a box safety, but I’m not afraid to put him in the back part of it all and I’ve put him back there. He’s been a real good man to man cover guy. I’m not afraid to use him at all. I’ve used them all. I’ve used all those things before.

www.sportsshooter.com/johnjcoleman

" Anyone can take a picture Only a Photographer can take a photograph "

RaginCajun83

Damn G DUB gives one great interview week after week

QBREES9

I love this guy

Rugby Saint II

Gregg Williams is one heck of a defensive coordinator. He knows how to motivate his players as well as putting together a dang fine game plan. I'm excited to have him be a part of this franchise.