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Gregg Williams changes defensive culture of New Orleans Saints | NOLA.com

The question to Gregg Williams: Do you have to be crazy to be a coach?

Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune
Said New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams: 'I don't look at my job like being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. It's more like being the warden of a penitentiary. And I say this in a nice way.'
You could almost hear the wheels turning inside the head of the New Orleans Saints' defensive coordinator.

After a pause: "Let's see. I have to admit to being a little wacky. And this is coming from a guy whose son is not only a coach, but also a graduate of Princeton. But, yeah, you can say I'm a little wacky.''
The more Williams pondered the question, the more he felt that, as a group, defensive players may be more "wacky'' than offensive players.
"I'll tell you one thing,'' he said. "I don't look at my job like being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. It's more like being the warden of a penitentiary. And I say this in a nice way.
There will always be more glamour on the offense. Buddy Ryan used to say when he was coaching defense it was like training animals, that sometimes you had to break 'em before you bridle 'em. But Buddy loved those wacky animals he was training. Just like I do.''
Jonathan Vilma, asked what he will remember about Williams in later years, said he'll look back on someone who was wacky, but in a cerebral way.
"What Coach Williams showed me last season was he could get players to find something inside themselves, something they didn't realize they had,'' said Vilma. "I'm talking about something that made them a better player. To me, that's what coaching is all about.''
As Williams' on-the-field quarterback, Vilma watched the defensive culture change from what it had been, from a passive sense to forcing your will on the enemy.
"Guys had to keep earning their jobs every day, almost at every practice,'' said Vilma. "It bred a feeling of confidence that kept building. It was amazing to watch.''
A lot of it had to do with an approach that has always been part of the Williams way: Hands-on teaching every day.
"I love watching the competition during practice,'' said Williams. "It all translates into the three hours you have on Sunday. I'm a big believer that practice makes perfect, or comes close to it.''
Williams makes no secret of the fact one of the reasons he chose coming in to take over the Saints' defense, and not the one in Green Bay, was Drew Brees.
"It's not fun being in charge of a defense when you can lose games 9-7 and 10-9,'' he said. "I like it better when you can give up 15 to 20 points and still have an offense that can win it for you.
"I like a guy who can win games for you when things aren't going the way you like them to go. That's what a quarterback like Drew Brees does. He's as special as they come. For him, every single second of the day is a competition. A guy like him can make me look like a better coach than I would be coaching defense for a team in the hands of another quarterback.''
With a slice of history behind him, Williams isn't looking ahead to bettering the storybook stats of last season, when the Saints forced 35 takeaways that included 26 interceptions, seven returned for touchdowns.
"I'm looking for us to adapt to what the other offenses throw at us,'' he said. "We have to adapt to trends, to rules, to the players we have and the other team has. My job is to put players in the position to do what they do best. Believe me, there are only so many ways you can line up 11 players on defense. I'm looking for players you can play more than one or two or three positions. I'm looking for players who can play on special teams, if they want to make the team.''
At the moment, he's looking to see how last season's No. 1 pick, Malcolm Jenkins, will do at safety after a tour at cornerback.
He's interested to see how Clint Ingram, a newly acquired linebacker, turns out, someone Williams describes as "someone who has had a tough time staying healthy because he's so all-out, all the time.''
Meanwhile, the battle cry hasn't changed.
"We have no starters.''
"We treat every ball on the ground as a scoring play.''
"Every incomplete pass is like a fumble.''
Accept them as from a coach who pleads guilty to being a little wacky.

Thanks God he's our coach. And our defense is getting better.

Saint_LB

News out of TC is that Brees has been lining up at FS on defense and may just go both ways this season!

QBREES9

It's more like being the warden of a penitentiary. And I say this in a nice way.'

Is that possible, LOL Good Read.