SAM THE MAN
Williams set to light fire in Jets defense
Gang Green receivers coach can’t contain his praise for quarterback Darnold
He is loud, proud and oozing with fire. He is high-motor, high-intensity and high-IQ for a franchise that needed an infusion of all of that after an eight-year slumber.
Gregg Williams could tell you stories for days about anything and everything he’s seen in nearly 30 years in the NFL. He certainly doesn’t lack self-confidence.
From his booming voice at practice to his tales of his 42 personnel packages, in-depth personal scouting on everyone from coaches to PR folks, Williams might be precisely what the Jets defense needs to bring them back to relevance.
The common thread in this extraordinary football life: Attitude is paramount.
“My secrets get out,” Williams said Thursday in his first comments since joining Adam Gase’s staff in January. “The reason that I keep getting hired is culture. And culture beats strategy any day of the week. How you find ways yourself to be tougher. How you find ways to play harder (and) play smarter for longer than any opponent you go against. The scheme is a way to surround the ball, surround the formation… It’s find ball, see ball, get ball. But it comes from an attitude.”
“It comes from a personal understanding of what it takes to play this game at this level at the highest level,” he continued. “Players can smell and feel and know whether you’re conning them faster than coaches do. Because they see the personal side of you. So yeah, I push, prod. And attitude does come first. And I tell them that attitude is everything. Pick a good one today.”
Williams, who finished last season as the Browns interim head coach, is refreshingly real. Oh, sure, he’ll chew out a player’s derriere, but he’s real. And in this cut-throat business, real recognizes real.
Williams’ candor should mean something. When he praised Todd Bowles for his good work with his defense, it should mean something. When he makes it clear that nobody — not even Pro Bowlers — get free lunches on his watch, it carries weight.
His initial assessment on Gang Green’s core defensive players:
On Jamal Adams: “He’s very motivated by directness. I said, ‘I’ve coached a lot better people than you before.’ Right off the bat. But that was the point… He’s been fun to watch. He can’t fake who he is, either.”
On Leonard Williams: “We’re really looking forward to cut him loose.”
On C.J. Mosley: “He’s had his ass chewed before, so I don’t have to worry about that because that’s how Nick (Saban) is… But (Mosley’s) a really good leader… All the great leaders that I’ve been a part of have to show a great example before you open your mouth.”
What you see is only part of what you get with Williams, whose football brilliance is rooted in disguise. Always keep
the offense guessing.
“He has a very organized mind,” said offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, who coached with Williams in Tennessee. “He is a former quarterback so he does attack offenses as a quarterback sees them… I think it’s going to help our quarterbacks grow a lot… That will also create conflict for other people, because Gregg knows how a quarterback sees coverages and protections. He does a really good job of attacking those.”
Williams’ attacking mindset is only possible with next-level thinkers. He requires smart, versatile players willing to get out of their comfort zones for the greater good.
“You have to learn more than one position,” Williams said. “You can’t just be a one position-dominant person. That’s the next-man-up philosophy. So how you get through an injury-plagued game, an injury-plagued season, who’s the next-best athlete? Not the next guy on the depth chart at that position. So, our guys have already started doing that.”
“We’ve already put the playbook in three-and-a-half times. We’ll put it in another three times at training camp. Guys are already starting to multi-task at other positions. When you’re a concept learner and a cognitive learner, you should be able to do those type of things. It’s not that hard.”
Williams has some good pieces in place, but transforming the league’s 25th-ranked unit from last season won’t magically happen. He laid the groundwork with expectations this spring, but he won’t truly know what he has in his room until the bullets start flying for real. How will his guys respond in pressure moments?
His relationship with Adam Gase will also be fascinating, two Alpha personalities oozing with intensity.
“Respect and trust are earned,” Williams said. “And he has earned my respect and is earning my trust now because we’re working together on the same thing. It’s been fun. He’s a very good coach and has a really good mind.”
Williams has seen and done it all. His flash might grab the headlines. His “Come Get Some, b——!” huddle break certainly is entertaining, but there’s substance below it all. He’ll be an invaluable asset to Gase and his players.
“It’s the honesty part of it,” Williams said about maintaining his intensity for three decades. “Every day is an interview: Them to me, me to them. People ask me all the time how much longer am I going to do this. I love what I do. I’m a competition-aholic. When I walk into a room and nobody will pay attention to me anymore, it’s time to do something else.”
People on One Jets Drive are paying attention, which could pay off in a very big way for everyone.