Tag: Gregg Williams

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.

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.

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.

LISTEN: Talking Taysom Hill, Gregg Williams on the Saints Wire Podcast, Episode 15

Episode 15 of the Saints Wire podcast discusses Taysom Hill’s improvement as a passer and the Jets firing ex-Saints DC Gregg Williams.

The latest episode of the Saints Wire Podcast is live, hosted by Ryan O’Leary (@RyanOLearySMG) with Saints Wire managing editor John Sigler (@john_siglerr). You can subscribe for new episodes (released on Thursday) on Apple Podcasts or your podcast app of choice.

This week we’re surveying Taysom Hill’s improvement as a passer and previewing the upcoming matchup with Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts, while also meditating on Gregg Williams’ legacy in New Orleans after the New York Jets fired the ex-Saints defensive coordinator.

Catch up on past episodes in the playlist embedded below:

Richard Sherman blasts Gregg Williams for ‘lazy’ blitz call that lost game to the Raiders

The five time Pro Bowler walks us through another Jets calamity.

Richard Sherman wasn’t a fan of the Cover-0 call that caused the New York Jets to lose their 12th straight game on Sunday.

If you’re not familiar with what happened on Sunday, let me fill you in. The Jets were just seconds away from grabbing their first win of the season against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders had the ball at midfield with no timeouts left and Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams inexplicably called a blitz with no safety help over the top.

Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs ran past Jets cornerback Lamar Jackson and caught a perfect pass from Derek Carr, winning the game for the Raiders.

The call was so bad that the Jets were falsely accused of tanking. Even an average Madden player knows you’re just supposed to spam the “Prevent” defense with a million deep safeties and make it to the end of the game.

In an interview with Pro Football Focus, Sherman broke down why it was such an insanely bad playcall, a call so exasperating that Williams was promptly fired by Adam Gase on Monday following the game.

“It’s just lazy football,” Sherman said. “You’re literally putting everybody in the hardest position you can put, 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.”

That’s essentially exactly what happened on the play. Carr had to step up in the pocket a little bit, but look at the positions of the Raiders blockers in relation to the Jets rushers just before Carr launched the ball deep to Ruggs.

Just about everyone is blocked up, save for Neville Hewitt (No. 46) who was unable to get a hand on Carr.

“I’ve never been a fan of Gregg Williams,” Sherman said when breaking down the overaggressive nature of the call. “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.”

That call led to Williams being unemployed and considering he’s been on the coaching staffs of two of the worst teams in NFL history, this year’s Jets and the 0-16 Cleveland Browns in 2017, it’s unlikely that he’ll be getting another gig anytime soon.

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6 AFC East stories from last week for Bills fans to know

AFC East news updates for Buffalo Bills fans from Week 13.

The Bills have a huge AFC playoff matchup this upcoming week against the Steelers. While Buffalo is certainly in the driver’s seat in terms of the division, they can’t slip up.

Because of that, keeping up-to-date with all things AFC East is of the upmost importance right now.

With that, here are six stories from the division over the  last week for Bills fans to know, starting with a quick Week 13 game recap for each team:

Scott Shanle on Gregg Williams’ ill-advised blitz: ‘Can’t tell you how many times we ran that’

The Jets fired defensive coordinator Gregg Williams after a game-losing blitz, which didn’t surprise former Saints linebacker Scott Shanle.

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New York Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams shocked the football world on Sunday when he called a cover zero all-out blitz in the final seconds against the Las Vegas Raiders, having put an undrafted rookie cornerback on first-round Olympic-quality athlete Henry Ruggs III with the game on the line. Ruggs predictably smoked his opponent on a vertical route, and the lack of safety help over the top set him up for the game-winning touchdown catch.

It was enough to cost Williams his job, as well as the ire of nearly everyone in the NFL’s orbit. But New Orleans Saints fans weren’t surprised at the poor decision by Williams, who served as their team’s D.C. from 2009 to 2011. Neither was former Saints linebacker Scott Shanle, who played under Williams.

What’s a little odd is that Shanle defended his old coach, saying on Twitter: “Can’t tell you how many times we ran that pressure but had cornerbacks smart enough not to bite on a double move.”

Shanle also pointed to the obvious — noting that the Jets are probably firing everyone are what’s shaping up to be an 0-16 season, meaning Williams chose to go down fighting with an on-brand reckless blitz rather than a safer, more conventional approach.

But Williams has lost so many games with bad decisions like this that you’d think he had learned his lesson; the Saints’ 2011 divisional round classic ended with a similar play call in which San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis cut between the zones to catch a game-winning touchdown pass with Saints safety Roman Harper trailing in coverage.

So, yeah, Shanle is recalling correctly that the Saints ran a lot of these all-out blitzes, betting that the pressure would get home before the quarterback could finish his drop and get a pass off. But too often Williams’ aggression worked against him, and in one case it cost the Saints a Super Bowl bid. Maybe he just remembers it differently.

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Adam Gase explains his decision to fire Gregg Williams: ‘Obviously, I wasn’t happy about that call’

Jets HC Adam Gase said he was not happy with Gregg Williams’ final play call against the Raiders.

Hours after firing Gregg Williams, Adam Gase explained his decision to relieve the defensive coordinator of his duties.

Williams was dismissed less than 24 hours after New York’s 12th loss of the season, a 31-28 defeat that saw the Jets blow a four-point lead when the coach called for a zero coverage, all-out blitz — even though the Raiders needed to shoot for the end zone with 13 seconds left in the game. Las Vegas QB Derek Carr did just that, lofting a deep ball to Henry Ruggs III. Ruggs III, one of the fastest receivers in the NFL, torched undrafted rookie corner Lamar Jackson with ease and, with no help in sight, hauled in the game-winning touchdown.

The loss — and particularly Williams’ unprecedented play call — left Gase and Jets players stunned after the game. Marcus Maye, a typically reserved team captain, was especially critical of his coordinator.

While Gase said Maye’s comments did not impact his decision to fire Williams, the play call did.

“Obviously, I wasn’t happy about that call,” Gase said somberly Monday, per SNY. He also lamented not overriding the play. “That was a heartbreaking way for our guys to lose a game. For that to happen in that situation, we can’t have that happen.”

Gase added that he felt this was the best move for the organization and that while it was his decision, he discussed it with GM Joe Douglas, team president Hymie Elhai and CEO Christopher Johnson Monday morning. All were on board with firing Williams. Gase proceeded to have a nearly hour-long conversation with Williams.

“Obviously, he wasn’t happy,” Gase said, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini.

With Williams out, assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach Frank Bush will assume the title of interim defensive coordinator. Gase said that no other coaching changes were made; Williams’ son, Blake, is a defensive assistant on the staff.

Report: Frank Bush will be interim DC after Jets fire Gregg Williams

The Jets will name assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach Frank Bush as the interim defensive coordinator.

Shortly after firing defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, the Jets have found his replacement.

According to The Athletic’s Connor Hughes, the Jets will name assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach Frank Bush interim defensive coordinator with four games to go.

Bush was a defensive coordinator one other time in his 34-year coaching career. That came with the Houston Texans between 2009 and 2010. However, he was fired after two seasons, as Houston’s defense finished third-to-last in the NFL in total defense following the 2010 season.

Bush was also on Adam Gase’s staff in Miami as the assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach.

This all comes after Williams was fired for sending an all-out blitz in the closing moments of the Jets’ game against the Raiders on Sunday, leading to New York’s 12th loss of the season.

Jets personnel, specifically Marcus Maye, were highly critical of their former defensive coordinator for not putting them in a better situation to succeed. The Jets had the game won, but Williams took a big gamble by sending pressure.

We’ll see if Bush can make a difference as a defensive coordinator now with the season coming to a close in just a few weeks.