Tag: Gregg Williams

Former Washington linebacker Antonio Pierce is the new head coach of the Raiders

Pierce began his career with Washington and was an excellent linebacker before he was allowed to walk in 2005.

The Las Vegas Raiders made it official on Friday: They were hiring interim coach Antonio Pierce as the franchise’s new head coach.

Pierce, 45, began the 2023 NFL season as the Raiders’ linebackers coach but was promoted to interim coach when the team fired Josh McDaniels. Pierce did an outstanding job, leading the Raiders to a 5-4 record with some impressive victories, including a Christmas Day win over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

Several Las Vegas players, including stars like defensive end Maxx Crosby and wide receiver Davante Adams, made it clear to everyone the players wanted Pierce back.

It’s been quite the journey for Pierce. An undrafted free agent out of Arizona in 2001, he signed with the then-Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent. It was Marty Schottenheimer who identified Pierce. He started eight games as a rookie and was a key member of Washington’s special-teams units.

It was the 2004 season in which Pierce had his breakout year. Under the legendary Joe Gibbs and new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, Pierce started all 16 games as Washington’s middle linebacker. He was the linchpin on the NFL’s No. 3 defense that season. It was the perfect time for Pierce to enter free agency, too.

Antonio Pierce #58 of the Washington Redskins. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

He wanted to return, and the team seemed to want him to return. Unfortunately, the team lowballed Pierce, allowing him to hit free agency and enjoy a terrific five-year run with the Giants before he retired in 2010.

Pierce started a TV career after retiring but instead pivoted to coaching. He began as a high school coach in California before accepting a position as linebackers coach under Herm Edwards at Arizona State. After two years as a linebackers coach, he was co-defensive coordinator for one season before moving into the role alone in 2021.

In 2022, Pierce accepted his first NFL coaching position with the Raiders.

It’s been an incredible journey for Pierce, who earned the job with his results and outstanding leadership.

Congratulations to the former Washington linebacker.

Browns Coffee Corner: Kyler Murray returns, Deshaun Watson does not, Dawand Jones gets praise

Welcome back to Browns Coffee Corner. Here we hit on Deshaun Watson, Dawand Jones, Kyler Murray, and fun defensive stats.

Day two of Browns Coffee Corner! Grab that cup of joe, sit down, and dig into some Cleveland Browns quick hitters! In this edition, we hit on Kyler Murray’s return just in time for the Browns, the lack of a return of Deshaun Watson in Cleveland, the continued praise of rookie right tackle Dawand Jones and more.

As the team gets ready for their Week 7 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, there is a lot up in the air for both teams in this game. Sitting at 3-2, the Browns have a chance to end the week at the top of the AFC North standings if the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions take care of business as well.

The Browns, however, enter this week with quite a long list of players on their injury report, including Watson. With three days to go until the Browns and Colts lock horns, get caught up on everything Browns-related here!

LOOK: Former Browns defensive coordinator Gregg Williams parties in the Muni Lot with fans

He is most remembered for his time as the interim head coach with the Browns, but Gregg Williams is now partying with fans in the Muni Lot

The Cleveland Browns are set to open their season against the Cincinnati Bengals this afternoon at Cleveland Browns Stadium. As a ritual, fans are known to tailgate for hours before the game in the historical Muni Lot adjacent to the stadium. Today, however, there was a familiar and famous (or infamous) face among the sea of fans as former Browns’ defensive coordinator Gregg Williams joined the party.

Williams, of course, is most known in Cleveland for his time as the interim head coach after the firing of both head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley in 2018. The Browns finished the season 5-3 that year after a 2-5-1 start to the season that year. The Browns are hoping for better fortune this season after back-to-back losing seasons after making the playoffs in 2020.

Take a look at the photos captured by fans with the former interim head coach and defensive coordinator as he returns to Cleveland.

‘Commanders are one of 14 NFL teams to not….’

It’s been a while.

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Warren Sharp took a moment Sunday evening to educate his readers that 14 NFL teams have not won a playoff game in the last five seasons.

I immediately thought, “Five years? Why stop there, Warren?”

Well, technically Sharp didn’t. He did actually say “5+ years.”

Commanders fans were already quite aware of this discouraging and frustrating NFL reality. You see, we are all too aware that this NFL franchise has not won a playoff game in well over five years.

Hey Warren, try 18 NFL seasons without a team playoff win!

That’s right, Washington NFL fans have not enjoyed a playoff win since Joe Gibbs 2.0 came out of NFL retirement because he loved the franchise so much he wanted to bring it back some respect.

Gregg Williams was the defensive coordinator, Don Breaux was the offensive coordinator, and Joe Bugel was the offensive line coach.

Quarterback Patrick Ramsey started the season opener, and Mark Brunell the other 15 games. Clinton Portis gained 1,516 yards rushing, including 11 touchdowns.

Santana Moss gained 1,483 receiving yards on 84 receptions (17.7 yards per reception) and 9 receiving touchdowns. Chris Cooley generated 774 receiving yards on 71 receptions and 7 touchdowns.

Ladell Betts returned a kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Antonio Brown returned one 91 yards for a touchdown. No, not that “Antonio Brown.”

John Hall and Nick Novak connected on 17 of 21 field goals and all 42 extra-point attempts.

Remember linebacker Lemar Marshall?

He led the team in tackles (101) and interceptions (4). Defensive end Phillip Daniels led with 8.0 quarterback sacks. He and linebacker Marcus Washington each led with 11 tackles for a loss.

What a year that secondary had, getting their hands on balls. Safety Sean Taylor led with 12 passes defended, and corners Walt Harris and Shawn Springs collected 11 and 10, respectively.

In fact, the defense was most responsible for the last playoff win in franchise history those 18 seasons ago, when Washington went down to Tampa and beat the Bucs 17-10.

Brunell was injured and unable to pass effectively, but Coach Joe was not putting Ramsey out there against the Bucs defense. The Washington offense totaled only 120 yards. But they won the turnover battle 3-1, including a Sean Taylor 51-yard fumble recovery touchdown run.

And so it was 18 NFL seasons ago when the Washington NFL team was the “Redskins,” and they last won a playoff game.

 

You can follow Ivan Lambert on Twitter @IvanLambert18 and Commanders Wire @Washington_Wire

XFL’s D.C. Defenders improve to 2-0 on the season

It was another dominant performance from Gregg Williams’ defense.

The D.C. Defenders capped off the opening weekend of XFL 3.0 last weekend with a come-from-behind win over the Seattle Sea Dragons at Audi Field.

This weekend, the Defenders were on the road with a trip to Las Vegas to face the Vegas Vipers. And, much like last week, the opponent jumped on the Defenders early, but Gregg Williams’ defense took over and led D.C. to an 18-6 win over Vegas.

The Vipers scored in the first quarter when, after a Defenders’ fumble, running back DeAndre Torrey plunged in from two yards out. Vegas missed the PAT conversion and held a 6-0 lead.

The Defenders’ offense did nothing the rest of the first half and went into halftime trailing 6-0.

The second half was a different story.

The Defenders got their first points when kicker Matthew McCrane connected on a 47-yard field to cut the Vegas lead to 6-3.

The D.C. defense continued to dominate, holding the Vipers scoreless in the second half. The Defenders’ offense finally got things going, as quarterback D’Eriq King scored from 12 yards out to give D.C. its first lead. The Defenders converted on the PAT to extend their lead to 10-6.

After a Vegas fumble, running back Abram Smith took the King handoff and scored from nine yards out. D.C. went for two and converted as King found tight end Ethan Wolf in the end zone for the conversion.

D.C. quarterback Jordan Ta’amu completed 11 of 23 passes for 98 yards and also rushed for 68 yards on 12 attempts. King came in and rushed for 32 yards and a touchdown. His only pass attempt was the 2-point conversion to Wolf.

As a team, the Defenders rushed for 229 yards and two touchdowns. They averaged 5.5 yards per attempt.

The Defenders held the Vipers to 178 total yards.

Next up for the 2-0 Defenders is a return home to host the St. Louis Battlehawks.

Former Washington defensive coordinator Gregg Williams back coaching in D.C.

One of the greatest defensive coordinators in franchise history is back — in the XFL.

When you think of Joe Gibbs’ second stint in Washington from 2004-07, the name Gregg Williams frequently comes to mind.

When Gibbs chose to return to the NFL, he wanted a top-notch defensive coordinator, and Williams was among the best in the NFL. Coming off a three-year stint as head coach of the Buffalo Bills, the then-45-year-old Williams was considered one of the best defensive minds in the NFL.

Williams was popular among fans during his four seasons with Washington because his defensive units —outside of 2006 — were some of the best in recent franchise history. Williams was known for his aggressive and attacking style. Unfortunately, like the current Washington team, Williams didn’t always receive much help from the offense.

When Gibbs abruptly retired at the conclusion of an emotional 2007 season, many believed Williams was the ideal replacement. For whatever reason, owner Daniel Snyder and his handpicked stooge, Vinny Cerrato, thought otherwise and somehow came to the conclusion that Jim Zorn was the ideal Gibbs replacement.

No disrespect to Zorn, but that coaching “search” was among the most embarrassing moments of Snyder’s tenure, of which there are plenty.

Williams departed and spent the next 13 seasons going back and forth between different teams as a defensive coordinator and even a stint as the Browns interim coach in 2018. At one point, there was hope among fans that Williams would return to Washington and serve as Jay Gruden’s defensive coordinator, but it never came to fruition.

Williams last coached in the NFL in 2020 with the New York Jets. After spending two seasons out of football, Williams is back — in Washington.

Only this time, Williams is with the D.C. Defenders of the XFL, which begins play this weekend. It’s been a long road for Williams, but he’s glad to be back in Washington.

“I just smiled thinking about getting an opportunity to go back to Washington, D.C., as one of my favorite places I’ve been to,” Williams said, per Jake Russell of The Washington Post. “ It [Washington is] one of the most powerful and fun fan bases that I’ve been a part of,” Williams said.

Unfortunately, Williams is most known by some fans for Bountygate when he was with the Saints from 2009-11. That cost him a year of his coaching career. However, Williams was always popular with his players, who still speak highly of him to this day.

One of the players Williams was closest to was legendary Washington safety Sean Taylor. Williams and Taylor had a close bond in their four years together before Taylor’s tragic death in Nov. 2007.

While Williams could’ve been back in the NFL, this opportunity is ideal for him.

“This is a perfect, perfect setting here to have the entire team be that way,” Williams said. “It brings a smile to my face every single day we get a chance to compete and get better.”

Williams and the Defenders open the 2023 XFL season Sunday at home against the Seattle Sea Dragons.

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Former Bills head coach Gregg Williams hired by XFL

XFL hires former #Bills coach Gregg Williams:

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It’s been awhile since Gregg Williams worked with the Buffalo Bills–or anywhere in football for that matter.

But he’s back.

In the XFL.

Williams, 63, was announced amongst the XFL’s first batch of assistant coach hires this week.

Williams joins Reggie Barlow’s coaching staff as the defensive coordinator. Fred Kaiss was also announced as Barlow’s offensive coordinator and running backs coach.

Team names have not yet been announced by the XFL. The league is anticipating a 2023 return after it shutdown operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Williams last coached in the NFL in 2020 with the Jets, his second of two years with the New York Jets as their defensive coordinator.

Other higher profile names with the XFL’s coaching ranks include some other former Bills connections in Jim Haslett and Wade Phillips.

Williams was with the Bills from 2001 through 2003. He served as interim head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2018 and had multiple defensive coordinator stints around the league.

The most notable thing Williams will often be best known for was his role regarding the New Orleans Saints and the “bounty scandal” that ensued in 2012. He was suspended for an entire year for his involvement.

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Ex-Saints DC Gregg Williams hired for XFL assistant coaching job

We don’t know how many NFL head coach jobs he’ll claim he turned down this time, but ex-Saints DC Gregg Williams has been hired as an XFL assistant coach:

Hey, look who’s back: Gregg Williams has been hired as a defensive coordinator with the still-rebooting XFL ahead of the spring league’s 2023 season, having been assigned to work with head coach Reggie Barlow (the startup league has not yet clarified which coaches will be working with which franchises), the XFL announced on Thursday. Two other former New Orleans Saints coaches, Jim Haslett and Wade Phillips, are heading teams of their own.

Williams, of course, helped the Saints win Super Bowl XLIV but ended his three-year run as Sean Payton’s defensive coordinator in disrepute, allowing Alex Smith and Vernon Davis to march downfield uncontested in the final minutes of the team’s Jan. 2012 playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Months later, the NFL’s Bountygate investigation resulted in suspensions for Payton, Williams, other assistant coaches and team executives all stemming from allegations that Williams installed a pay-for-injury scheme.

For his part, Williams threw New Orleans under the bus in testifying against his former players and coworkers to support the NFL’s narrative. The relationship between Williams and his old team and its fanbase has been, let’s say, acrimonious ever since.

Known for talking a big game but coaching scared, Williams returned after a one-year ban from the NFL to work with the Tennessee Titans, complete with a bizarre witness protection-style goatee. He had a couple of other brief and unsuccessful stints with the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets after that — at one point bizarrely claiming that he’d turned down 11 interviews for head coaching jobs around the NFL to instead become Cleveland’s defensive coordinator.

Between poorly-timed all-out blitzes and a louche attention to detail, Williams’ defenses have struggled to compete in the NFL while yielding too big plays too often, whiffing on too many tackles, and committing a lot of penalties. Maybe he’ll find more success against a lower level of competition in the XFL.

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Jets shock Rams to get their first win of the 2020 season

Sunday’s Jets-Rams game looked to be a laugher. It was, but not at all in the way the Rams expected.

Believe it or not, the Jets were due. They had scored on their first possessions in each of their last eight games, including Sunday’s contest against the Rams, and in seven of those eight games, the Jets scored the first points of the game — only the Chiefs beat them to it in Week 8. Of course, it was everything that happened after those first scores that had Adam Gase’s team at 0-13 on the season, and most of that has been Gase’s fault.

Believe it or Not: New York Jets score on their eighth-straight opening drive

So, here were those 0-13 Jets, up against a 9-4 Rams squad at SoFi Stadium. A Rams defense that had been the NFL’s best in Defensive DVOA since Week 10, and whose head coach (Sean McVay) and defensive coordinator (Brandon Staley) were each on Touchdown Wire’s list of the league’s best play-callers. The Rams were playing for something here, as well — with Seattle’s earlier win over Washington, McVay’s team was trying to stay on top of the NFC West here.

So, what happened? Of course, a Jets team that had scored 183 points all season — a league-worst 14.1 points per game — put up 23 on the NFL’s best defense from a “right now” perspective, and a defense that had allowed 30.2 points per game allowed just 20 to McVay and his cadre of weapons.

What happened? New York’s defense, freed from the constraints of Gregg Williams, played solid ball and forced Jared Goff into mistakes. The offense kept drives going. Quarterback Sam Darnold completed 22 of 31 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown, and Frank Gore ran 23 times for 59 yards and a score. It’s not that the Jets did anything spectacular; they simply played to their talent and didn’t make their usual string of soul-crushing mistakes.

There is a frustration for Jets fans, though. Based on strength of schedule, if the Jets and Jaguars each lose out, Jacksonville now has the No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft. As for the Rams, they are now behind Seattle in the NFC West, and we expect the next week to provide all kinds of soul-searching opportunities before they take on the Seahawks next Sunday.

 

Richard Sherman tears into ex-Jets DC: ‘I’ve never been a fan of Gregg Williams’

San Francisco 49ers All-Pro CB Richard Sherman tore into ex-Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’s “lazy” game-blowing play-call.

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Richard Sherman is the latest NFL personality to take a dig at ex-Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

The San Francisco 49ers All-Pro cornerback, in a recent episode of “The Cris Collinsworth Podcast featuring Richard Sherman,” ripped not only Williams’ game-blowing call in Week 13, but also the coach himself.

“It’s just lazy football,” Sherman said of the all-out blitz that got Williams fired. “You’re literally putting everybody in the hardest position you can put [them], you know? Nothing but space and opportunity and if they pick up your blitz and these receivers can do whatever they want, they have the full field to deal with.”

The play in question left undrafted rookie cornerback Lamar Jackson one-on-one with Raiders rookie wide receiver Henry Ruggs III. Jackson played 15-yards off the ball with no safety help over the top and was burned for a game-winning touchdown by the speedy Ruggs III.

Sherman’s sentiments were shared by Jets safety Marcus Maye after the game. Maye said that while Gang Green needed to execute the play, Williams has to put his players in a better position to succeed.

Williams won’t get another chance to do so with the Jets, as he was relieved of his duties by Adam Gase following the 31-28 loss. If it were Sherman, that fateful call would e the last Williams ever makes in the NFL.

“I’ve never been a fan of Gregg Williams,” Sherman said. “I don’t understand how he kept getting hired and that’s another thing that the NFL needs to address… it’s not like he’s had a consistent top-10 defense.”

Through 12 games this season, the Jets defense ranked 29th overall, 30th in scoring and 31st against the pass.

While Williams did what he could with limited personnel in his 28 games as New York’s defensive coordinator, he shouldn’t expect a letter of recommendation from Sherman.