USA TODAY International Edition
Williams leaves last play in past
Playoff-ending TD hasn’t discouraged Saints safety
COSTA MESA, Calif. – “Nothing about last year.”
That was the first thing out of Marcus Williams’ mouth when approached by a visitor after a joint practice with the Chargers this past week. It was a statement about mind-set, the Saints’ second-year safety undoubtedly determined to put the worst missed tackle of his life behind him.
Williams, remember, is the guy whose brilliant rookie season ended in disaster. He whiffed badly, head down, on an attempted tackle that could have sealed a trip to the NFC Championship Game. Instead, he fueled the “Minnesota Miracle” as the Vikings’ Stefon Diggs sprinted 61 yards for a game-winning touchdown as time expired in the divisional playoff.
Williams knows. People might wonder how he’s been coping ever since, but there’s no getting that gaffe back. It’s over and done with now. Life goes on. Another season looms.
“I’m strong-willed,” Williams told USA TODAY. “I’m strong-minded. I don’t think about anything else but the next play, the next game. So that’s how I feel about that.”
Williams, 21, seems poised to become a shining example of just how to rebound from adversity — a fresh case for one of the lessons that sports can provide with its mix of fierce competition, drama and human emotion. He’s certainly looked like a man on the rebound with an impressive summer.
When the Saints began training camp in July, he intercepted Drew Brees on three consecutive days — prompting Brees to compare Williams to Ed Reed. Against the Chargers, Williams continued to turn heads as one of the stars of the joint practices, picking off Philip Rivers on back-to-back days.
“Bounce back?” Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan told USA TODAY when pondering last season’s finish. “You can’t harp on it. He’s had the whole team’s support behind him. So outsidein, you might say for everybody who’s down on him, you can’t take away all he’s done — from all of the workouts, to the way he approached OTAs, the way he’s come on in camp.
“He’s going to put the league on notice for who he is.”
This vibe has been a theme throughout the offseason. Earlier this year, Saints coach Sean Payton contended that Williams’ ability to rebound hardly registered as a concern.
“Every time I turn on my little Twitter feed, he’s jumping over fricking buildings,” Payton said in March, alluding to Williams’ intense training regimen.
“That’s what you love about him. You’re always mindful that he’s not over-training, but he epitomizes all the things we’re looking for. He’s extremely athletic. He’s smart. His teammates love him. He had a fantastic rookie year.”
Even so, Jordan pointed out a certain irony with the infamous play that reminds us the NFL can be such a game of inches.
“Until the last play, you really couldn’t find anything to fault him on,” Jordan said. “He’s probably as technically sound as you’re going to get.”
But added scrutiny doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing for Williams. Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott, for instance, had the following message to pass along to him: Don’t let one play define you.
“The great thing for him is that he was a rookie when that happened,” Lott told USA TODAY. “He’s got a long way to go, a lot of great moments ahead.”
Lott, one of the greatest safeties ever, went on to elaborate.
“Greatness comes from those moments,” he said. “Moments like those make you prevail, because you realize, ‘I was in that moment for a reason.’ Knowing Marcus, knowing the kind of person he is, I’m counting on him to understand that it won’t happen again. And I’m counting on him to understand that when you accept something and move on, you grow.”
Williams beamed when Lott’s words were passed along, but he took them in stride.
“That’s pretty much what everybody’s been saying,” Williams responded. “And he’s right — you can’t let one thing define you. But now it’s on to the next thing.”
Perspective doesn’t seem to be an issue for Williams, a second-round pick from Utah. Part of a secondary that includes cornerback Marshon Lattimore, the defensive rookie of the year last season, third-year corner Ken Crawley and veteran safety Kurt Coleman, Williams insists that a focus in camp has been to tighten the communication of the unit.
And the biggest lesson from his rookie year?
“Just the mental part of the game,” he said. “Stay in the playbook. You can never learn too much stuff. There’s always somewhere you can be to make a play.”