Saints safety vows to ‘never’ blow it again
Marcus Williams sat sobbing in front of his cubicle in the silenced New Orleans locker room, his face buried in a folded white towel.
Deep inside Minnesota’s stadium that erupted in victorious euphoria a few minutes earlier, Williams was having a hard time grappling with what had just happened. The rest of his Saints teammates were, too, after a 61-yard touchdown pass by Case Keenum to Stefon Diggs burned Williams on the game’s final play and gave the Vikings a 29-24 win for a place in the NFC championship game.
“You can’t let it beat you down,” Williams said, his eyes still red. “I’m going to take it upon myself to do all I can to never let that happen again. If it happens again, then I shouldn’t be playing.”
Williams, the rookie free safety and second-round draft pick from Utah who was one of several new players who helped the Saints transform a once-lagging defense, was the last man in coverage when the Vikings sent Kyle Rudolph, Jarius Wright and Diggs on routes toward the sideline with no timeouts remaining. Diggs was the deepest, and as he jumped for the ball, Williams went low to undercut him but missed completely.
“It was just my play to make,” Williams said. “The ball was in the air. I can go attack it.”
Diggs, who made sure to note right before the catch that Williams was the only one behind him, kept his balance as he landed and deftly kept his feet in bounds. Then he spun around and kept running into the end zone.
“As a safety back there, you’ve got to be the eraser,” Williams said. “Last play of the game, you’ve got to go do it. You know you’ve got to save the game.”
The Saints were both defensive and supportive of their first-year teammate.
“He’s got to keep his head up,” said cornerback and fellow rookie Marshon Lattimore. “I’m not going to say he’s not feeling bad about the play, but we’ve got his back. We’re young, and we’re trying to come back next year. Marcus is a special player. You can’t let that one play, as big as it was, turn you against him. He’s been playing great all year. Just didn’t get the tackle.”
Defensive end Cameron Jordan tried to take on some of the blame.
“Had I been a half-step faster and been able to get off the tight end and the tackle and completely take over that play,” Jordan said, he could have sacked Keenum.
Williams intercepted Keenum to set up the Saints’ second touchdown. But in the end, all that mattered was the missed tackle of Diggs on the final play.
“You work so hard for a goal. It’s right there, and you come up short,” linebacker Manti Te’o said. “You can imagine anybody, how they would feel.”
Bills hire ’Bama OC
The Buffalo Bills hired Alabama assistant coach Brian Daboll as their offensive coordinator, two days after firing Rick Dennison.
Daboll, 42, was offensive coordinator for the national champion Crimson Tide this season. It was the sixth time he was part of a national title-winning team’s coaching staff. Before that, Daboll was the tight ends coach for Super Bowl-champion New England. He has 17 seasons of NFL coaching experience, including stints as offensive coordinator for Cleveland (2009-10), Miami (2011) and Kansas City (2012).
The Bills were 29th in yards per game (302.6) this season and 22nd in points (18.9) under first-year coach Sean McDermott.
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Tennessee Titans right tackle Jack Conklin tore his left anterior cruciate ligament and likely will start training camp on the physically unable to perform list, coach Mike Mularkey said.