Rugby Saint II

At what point did we stop being a finesse team? Some critics argue that the Saints are dirty football players who take cheap shots. We battle hard in the trenches and lay "remember me hits"on the ball carrier. Gregg Williams is known for aggressive tough play on the defense and I think it rubbed off on the offense during training camp. The first few practices the defense dominated the offense. The entire team came out of training camp tougher than they went in. When did the Saints stop playing finesse football and start playing with swagger?

dizzle88

A quote from brian billick in America's Game 2000 Ravens - " anytime you win a game defensively, you take on that reputation, dirty, rough, raunchy."

Plus one thing that gregg williams said, is that it was really underrated what a great group of guys we already had here. Gregg williams brought in a attitude and a scheme and 16 wins later weve got a lombardi trophy.

I think it also helped that payton insisted we develop a running game, that made us grind out tough yards. Overall 2009 offseason seems to have been fantastic from what the results showed.

Choupique

Nah, they are very good a finesse.

Here are a few examples...


It takes finesse to time those hits. They contribute to these type results.





It takes a lot of finesse to pull all that off in the NFL.

TAKEAWAYS require finesse.

;-]

Apportez le bois. Deux cela. Qui est celui?

UK_WhoDat

Don't think you can ever play finesse on defense. I know where you are coming from though. It FEELS as if we are hitting more and that is due to GW's aggressive stance. But we have always had guys who could hit; alas to the detriment of their tackling.

Euphoria

We are still a very finesse team even on D. There is a lot of technique and scripting that goes into our play on both sides of the ball.

Cheap shots aren't intentional. Take the beating Warner took late in the game instead of taking Warner to the ground they rallied around him and held him up instead of taking him down completely.

Srgt. Hulka

We didn't come out this season to be a finesse team. We weren't trying to be pretty. We weren't trying to impress anybody. We came out this season to play football and put a Lombardi trophy in the case. Thats what we did. End of story.

OldMaid

Late hits, remember me shots are not cool.
Late hits, you penalize yourself with a fine and /or your team loses yards.
I AM sure Payton and staff are not going for late hits.
Now, a young man of 24, 26 ,6"5 at 325-375 lb. playing football going full speed cannot stop on a time like a little 5"2 75 lb. ballerina.
All defensive lineman on every team, including the so-called classy Colts, aim to play aggressive defense.
What are the Saints defense supposed to do? Blow a kiss to the opposing team's offense.
I am not picking on any of you here, but I am kind of tired of hearing other teams, fans, say Saints play dirty defense.
The Saints defense plays in techinque no more aggressive or less aggressive than any other team. I do not see any other team's defense trying to blow a kiss to Brees or to any other qb.
Yes, Coach Gregg was wrong saying about remember me shots. The Colts and other teams could send some remember me shots to Brees as well and we sure don't want that.
My point is that pro football is a very physical sport .

Choupique

The guy interviewing him is the one who coined the phrase before and during the interview, not Coach Williams.

I don't think he was wrong at all. You are the one who is incorrect and paraphrasing him incorrectly.

The media did spin it the way you've described so you are not alone.

Saint_LB

I think I prefer people calling them a dirty team as opposed to a powder-puff team...

papz

Who cares if we're labeled as finesse? We just won the Superbowl. If that's what it's called, then I hope we bring our best "finesessesesesesesesesesesessesesss" again next year.