Well this is my own personal take on how we have arrived at the Most Horrible Defense In History...

I’m no expert. AT ALL. But when Gregg Williams first came here, I did some research on him, to try and see what he was gonna bring us. Because I was so tired of the defense losing games, after 2008! I went out and read and searched a lot of articles from the local sports writers in different places, about previous Williams teams, Washington and Buffalo, and about the Titans team he took to the Super Bowl, to try and learn more about the Gregg Williams D.


He was known for this. It was very specific. His defenses had a kind of a formula to them.

1) good to really good corners & secondary -- this was a big part of his emphasis. Remember how freaking lockdown good we used to be, LOL? In Washington Williams had that guy SEan Taylor who died, but who was really good. The Titans Super Bowl team was a really good secondary, too, with a couple of Pro Bowlers..
2) Williams would then have ONE playmaker/anchor type "star" linebacker, who in our case was Jonathan Vilma, surrounded by a cast of faceless "nobody" linebackers. That's exactly how his other defenses worked. and how it was here. Shanle! I forget the cat’s name but in Washington he had the same deal, a veteran linebacker to “anchor” the defense and be a leader.
3) then Williams would have 1 or sometimes 2 guys on the line who were playmakers, and just kind of physical, badass in-your-face guys. Jevon Kearse was one of those, AFC Defensive Player of the Year in 1999.
And then Williams would have other guys in the line who were like hatchet guys, or goons, just go after the QB and take off his head. Sound familiar? We had it with Hargrove and McCray and Remi. Kind of random WHO ARE THESE GUYS type of players.

I don't know all their names,but Gregg Williams did this same model with the other defenses of his.


So part of the reason why Williams was a GOOD fit here, is because his coaching "philosophy" really does work with, low talent, journeyman, or kinda low budget players being supported by your handful of key really good or great players. The idea was that the stars would anchor the thing, (Greer/Porter/Sharper/Harper in back, Vilma, I dunno, maybe we can say Will Smith was good on the line back then?) and the decent players could play the scheme, and it would WORK, at least most of the time. When it didn't work, it was usually spectacular failure in the running game -- remember all those 80 and 90 yard touchdown runs, usually once per game somebody would rip one off, because somebody didn't do their exact specific job, and the whole thing broke down. Usually because Vilma was held, LOL.


The other thing that Gregg Williams did a lot of, was tinkering. You’re here now, then you're gone, out the door, never to be heard of again. I like you, no I don’t. But again, it was a good fit with Payton as head coach, because Payton kind of has ADD like that, about the offense. Short fuse. If you haven’t made a big play for me in the last 20 minutes, I don’t remember who you are, get out of here.

So NOW, fast forward, and Gregg Williams has left...we have been cobbling together this defense of really sort of No-Name guys, ON PURPOSE, because that's how it was meant to be built. And now we're missing some of the key anchors too. This was actually a big part of Gregg Williams’ demise in Washington, EXACTLY. The story was that as Gregg Williams went on there, certain key guys would leave or be run off, or retire, and then they’d be replaced by lesser guys, and it didn’t work out.

Then you have Vilma hurt....Lofton is tackling people. The rest of them? It's TURRIBLE.

I can’t speak to the so-called “Spags system” because I didn’t research it out; I don’t really see much of a system out there, just a bunch of headless chickens.

So we have a big honking mess. We have guys who have not developed, we have guys who have regressed and gotten WORSE, we have marginal guys like Fujita who leave and then suddenly the whole thing LOOKS LIKE it craps out, but it sorta doesn’t . But I'm not sure it's a thing you can put at one doorstep and lay it down there and say 'THAT'S THE PROBLEM.'

Here ya go: Pick one or a handfull...

Player Personnel
Ryan Pace Director of Pro Scouting
Rick Reiprish Director of College Scouting
Brian Adams Assistant Director of College Scouting
Terry Fontenot Pro Scout
Ryan Powell Pro Scout
Mike Baugh Area Scout
Dwaune Jones Area Scout
Josh Lucas Area Scout
Jim Monos Area Scout
Terry Wooden Area Scout
Ryan Hollern Combine Scout
Joey Vitt, Jr. Combine Scout <--- nepotism?
Jason Mitchell College Scouting Coordinator
Matt Manocherian Scouting Assistant
Michael Parenton Scouting Assistant



New Orleans Saints | Staff

I'm laying it squarely at the feet of Rick Reiprish.

I'm laying it squarely at the feet of Rick Reiprish.

So...you're saying let's sack the guy who is consistently credited with bringing us Pierre Thomas, Lance Moore, and all the other undrafted rookies and low round gems that have made our team what it is.... Every Saints' position group features at least one former undrafted rookie from the college ranks. Reiprish is often credited with being THAT GUY. You're saying sack the guy who was actually a very successful football college drafter before coming to the Saints, and brought the Jaguars from brand new team to 11-5 and the top of the AFC in like only 3 years of running their draft. It's waaay more complicated than that. We can't just fire our way out of this.

He's in charge of the scouting. He reports his staff's scouting reports to Loomis. He suggests which players Loomis should go after.

Rick has been a round a long time and is well respected. I'm sure he'll "adjust" his department accordingly.

IIRC he blew up the scouting department several years back. I'm sure he'll consider doing it again.

Thanks for the "insider" info. This is the kind of input that helps me to understand what's going on with the Saints. I'm glad to learn that Rick knows what he's doing.

Thanks for the "insider" info. This is the kind of input that helps me to understand what's going on with the Saints. I'm glad to learn that Rick knows what he's doing.