Re: The Decline and Fall of Payton’s Empire, or How the Culture of Gregg Williams Ruined the Saints
 

This ^.

But yet, still with a shot. Season is not over.

Re: The Decline and Fall of Payton’s Empire, or How the Culture of Gregg Williams Ruined the Saints
 

Sharper was good but he was hurt in 2010 when we had the 4th rated D. Williams also had to deal with Vilma being hurt that year and still had the 4th rated D. Williams is still my favorite DC as of late, the bounty thing was overblown but the key to Williams was his ability to hype people up and make them aggressive. He took a bunch of average players and made them into a pack of angry dogs. Williams' defense worked even though they struggled at times it was consistent.

Re: The Decline and Fall of Payton’s Empire, or How the Culture of Gregg Williams Ruined the Saints
 

Exactly. You could feel reasonably comfortable, and get excited when they would line up on 3rd down, that something good would happen!

Gregg Williams defenses had this thing where, stuff that looked EASY for the other team's offense in the first half, wouldn't be as easy for them in the 2nd. You could see them clamping down and taking stuff away from the offense as the game wore on. Now? It's no different as the game progresses, in fact it's actually WORSE in the 4th than in the 1st quarter.

And you could also SEE the effect they had on opposing QB's, with your own two eyes -- they'd get guys rattled or unhappy or where you could tell the QB was just not wanting to be out there, he wanted to be anyplace else but on the field right then. The Saints defense would always give up that ONE big horrible running play, early in the game, 50, 60, 70 yards, usually for a TD....and 99 times out of 100, with the Gregg Williams D we'd be like, "okay, they got that one, but that's NOT gonna happen again!" and it WOULDN'T. Nowadays the big plays for the other team just keep on coming and coming.

Re: The Decline and Fall of Payton’s Empire, or How the Culture of Gregg Williams Ruined the Saints
 

Not so fast.

I seem to remember Williams's defense being sort of a one trick pony.

They couldn't stop Hasselbeck or Lynch in the playoffs - 41pts
They couldn't stop Alex Smith or Davis in the playoffs - 36pts

The blitz became predictable and ineffective after the 2010 Superbowl.

Re: The Decline and Fall of Payton’s Empire, or How the Culture of Gregg Williams Ruined the Saints
 

An Empire is what New England has year after year, and Green Bay is starting to look the same way.

Re: The Decline and Fall of Payton’s Empire, or How the Culture of Gregg Williams Ruined the Saints
 

While true, the offense turned the ball over 5 times in the San Fran game. There isn't a defense in NFL history that can overcome that.

Re: The Decline and Fall of Payton’s Empire, or How the Culture of Gregg Williams Ruined the Saints
 

His defense pretty much shut down the Cards last night.
Arguably the best D.C. in the league and I wish we had him back.

Re: The Decline and Fall of Payton’s Empire, or How the Culture of Gregg Williams Ruined the Saints
 

Exactly. Watching that defense play was almost as bad at times as it is watching this current one.

While I'll forever be grateful to GW for being part of that SB winning team - I wouldn't want him back.

I still wish they would've gone with Romeo Crennel instead of RR, but I had to admit after last season that they made a good call - now it seems that it might've just been a fluke. I feel like Crennel would've been far superior long-term in creating a good complimentary defensive unit for SP's offense.

But then again, I was over the moon when they hired Spags to replace GW.

Re: The Decline and Fall of Payton’s Empire, or How the Culture of Gregg Williams Ruined the Saints
 

GW had Dennis Allen coaching that secondary and I think that helped a lot,and it makes me wonder how much Ryan's D would improve having him back along with other new defensive coaches. Maybe Ryan's scheme isn't as bad as it seems to be...maybe it just needs some better coaching.

Re: The Decline and Fall of Payton’s Empire, or How the Culture of Gregg Williams Ruined the Saints
 

If you gave a chimp that D-Line they would play well. The GM deserves credit for getting such a strong line set up there with depth and Ogletree is immense