Gregg Williams To Rams As DC, What Should Cardinals Fans Think?

by Jess Root on Jan 17, 2012 2:00 PM MST in NFL Offseason/Free Agency

The St. Louis Rams are getting their coaching staff put together finally. Jeff Fisher has agreed on a five-year contract and they also have decided on a defensive coordinator. Gregg Williams, who had been the defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints, has agreed to move to the Rams and do the same job.

The important question now is -- how does this affect the Cardinals and what should the fans think?

Williams is supposedly very close to Jeff Fisher. In his tenure with the Saints, his defenses were the opportunistic type. They could give up a lot of yards, but would generate turnovers. That is one reason they have their Super Bowl championship.

However, his defense also gave up two 80+ yard TD drives late in the game to Alex Smith and the San Francisco 49ers. It was a performance like this that got Clancy Pendergast fired by the Cardinals after their Super Bowl run.

Now, as noted on Turf Show Times (our Rams blog), the Rams have more talent on the defensive side of the ball than the Saints.

Should Cardinals fans be worried? Not really. The 49ers already have an elite defense. The Seahawks defense looks like it could be a big deal and the Cardinals defense is also solid. Basically, if the Cardinals are prepared to play the Niners and Hawks, then there is no need to get fired up about the hiring of Williams.

Does this hiring worry you at all as a Cards fan? Or do you even care who coaches Sam Bradford and the Rams? (Make sure to leave some comments below!)

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Here comes the blitz

by Jesse Reynolds on Jan 17, 2012 2:22 PM MST reply actions

NFC West will be much improved next year as a whole

"If Gortat pulls off a real Dream Shake in-game this year I will shave my head.
Mark my words." Piotr Szczesniak 12/12/11 2:12 PM
Cardinals, Suns, D-backs for life!

by Airwave on Jan 17, 2012 2:48 PM MST reply actions

im not worried , the saints D was nothing to brag about

They gave up sum big numbers throughout the year. So now that he’s got even lesser talent in St Louis, makes me less nervous.

by tucson cards fan on Jan 17, 2012 3:07 PM MST via mobile reply actions

Agreed

Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears fan
Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Coyotes, Arizona Rattlers fan
[I have always lived in Arizona, dad is from Chicago].

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by JoeCB1991 on Jan 17, 2012 4:56 PM MST up reply actions

Not too worried. His defenses in the past 11 years across three teams have finished 30th, 31st or 32nd in Takeways 6 times. Over the course of his career apart from a couple of blips he has been generally average at best.

His teams NFL rank in PPG over that span, 29, 27, 5, 5, 9, 27, 11, 20, 7, 13
HI steams NFL rank in YPG over that span, 21, 15, 2, 3, 9, 31, 8, 17, 25, 4, 24

He is going to blitz, but a blitz is beaten with quick throws, slant and hot reads. We may struggle with a QB who is not comfortable, but hopefully whomever we put back there in 2012 will be comfortable by week 1.

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by khodder on Jan 17, 2012 3:35 PM MST reply actions 1 recs

For some reason the picture makes me think of him telling a joke...

“So the bartender says, he was this tall and then….”

Section 103, Row 19

by CardsFan08 on Jan 17, 2012 3:44 PM MST reply actions

Living in nola…i can tell u darren sharper made this defense good in 09.

by r.s.a on Jan 17, 2012 4:04 PM MST via mobile up reply actions

I was a big fan of Sharper. I’m good friends with a number of Saints fans and have been staying current with them for the last few years.

I love that that they let Reggie leave and picked up Sproles. The defense is good but could use a few upgrades. It’ll be interesting to see where they go without Gregg Williams.

Section 103, Row 19

by CardsFan08 on Jan 17, 2012 4:30 PM MST up reply actions

Boom or Bust

with Williams, but it will be interesting to see how his defense performs when they aren’t on the field all the time.

Formerly known as Cardsfan928, If you wanna grab a quick game of madden, my screenname is also my Xbox name.

by INSOMAN1ATIC on Jan 17, 2012 6:33 PM MST reply actions

No need tp worry...

We still have the best DC in the West.

by Alex Mann on Jan 17, 2012 6:40 PM MST reply actions

That is something we can all agree on,

however I think Niners have us on talent, but that’s alright we haven’t sucked bad enough to draft as high, and this draft we need to focus getting linebackers

Formerly known as Cardsfan928, If you wanna grab a quick game of madden, my screenname is also my Xbox name.

by INSOMAN1ATIC on Jan 17, 2012 6:49 PM MST reply actions

to be honest

I dont think the niners have more talent then us… We got better safeties, D line, recievers, TE are about equal, corners are equal, RB equal especially when Williams comes back, they have a slightly better Oline and a better linebacker corp only cause they have Willis and bowman plus good rotation guys. They have some guys they won’t be able to resign like rogers, bowman, or the other ILB that filled in for Willis.

I think we are about even

by cgcardzfan on Jan 17, 2012 6:57 PM MST via mobile up reply actions

I'm just talking defense,

they do play that hybrid defense Pendergast loves so it’s hard to gauge, but with the way the D has showed up this season for them. It’s hard to argue that they don’t have a huge amount of talent on that side of the ball.

Formerly known as Cardsfan928, If you wanna grab a quick game of madden, my screenname is also my Xbox name.

by INSOMAN1ATIC on Jan 17, 2012 8:44 PM MST up reply actions

Pah

Bowman’s nothing special. He disappeared when Willis wasn’t playing. Aldon Smith is the second piece of that group, not Bowman.

by tw3kr on Jan 17, 2012 9:30 PM MST up reply actions

Talent certainly goes to us.

Even if it’s raw talent we still outweigh them. Our Safeties are better and Receiver(s). Our QB can and will be better, we have more depth at TE and that amasses to more talent. Get a RT and or LT and our O line is better. Give Acho and Schofield a FULL Offseason and there’s our dangerous pass rush. Bradley should compete for the spot next to Washington. I disagree with cardzfan though on the CB’s. Peterson will be a force to reckon with next year, Toler will come back strong, Jefferson will be solid, and Marshall will be our Nickle Corner. Although I hate to say it, I don’t think Money Mike will be back next year. RB is strong, LSH, Wells, and Williams. Great RB Corps, in terms of change of pace. LSH is a speedster, Wells is a punisher, and Williams can catch the ball, break tackles, and is a speedster.

by Alex Mann on Jan 17, 2012 7:28 PM MST up reply actions

Woah now

Marshall is our starter. He had a HUGE season. No way Toler comes back from injury into a new D and starts over Marshall. Marshall is better then Toler anyway to be honest. More then likely Peterson and Marshall will be our starters once again. I see us trading Rhodes and Johnson n Marshall taking his place. Qbr. Marshall moves to FS, Toler will sub in at CB and alongside Peterson and Jefferson or MoneyMike will be our nickles.

I hope we keep Mike he is the best slot corner in the NFL

by cgcardzfan on Jan 18, 2012 1:57 AM MST via mobile up reply actions

I think we'd keep Mike Adams over Jefferson tho...

We might be able to keep both considering they are both cheap

by cgcardzfan on Jan 18, 2012 1:59 AM MST via mobile up reply actions

Gotta re-sign Marshall first

He’s a UFA.

But they won’t trade Rhodes. Guy had a monster year in 2010 and was playing well when not injured. Best case scenario is re-signing Marshall as 3rd CB and backup FS, with Jefferson and Adams rounding out the CBs, and drafting a S to eventually replace A-Dub. Johnson and Abdullah they can let walk, neither have shown much promise as eventual starters.

by CardsFan1976 on Jan 18, 2012 11:54 AM MST up reply actions

Marshall would be our starting CB

And I know Rhodes had a great season last year but before he got injured this year he was playing horrible. He’s a good safety who is about to turn 30, we gave bigger needs then having 2 probowl safeties. At this point Rhodes is a luxury. Trading Rhodes is what a smart team would do… A player that has a lot of value but has peaked and is going nowhere but downhill. Similar to what Pittsburgh, NE, Baltimore do with all there aging stars and a big reason why they are never in rebuild mode.
I wouldn’t advocate trading him if we didn’t have a guy to replace him, but Marshall was awesome when he played safety. He’s built like a safety and plays like a safety. We didn’t even need Rhodes this season, Our D flourished with him on the bench.

With his replacements here, and big needs at OL, WR, LB… Trading him would be very smart and what a winning franchise would do. Similar to what NE did with Richard Seymour to the Raiders.

Not only would Rhodes net us an extra pick to build on our corp of young talent. He would free up cap space that would be crucial to signing a number 2 WR.

So a 30yr old FS for a mid round draft pick, a #2 WR, all the while having no to very little decline in production from his position….. Yes please….

by cgcardzfan on Jan 18, 2012 2:45 PM MST via mobile up reply actions

I was just talking defense,

and I hope to hell Money Mike comes back next year, he’s the best tackler@CB on the team. What he may not get in deflections he can more than make up for without the letting the big play happen.

Formerly known as Cardsfan928, If you wanna grab a quick game of madden, my screenname is also my Xbox name.

by INSOMAN1ATIC on Jan 17, 2012 8:46 PM MST reply actions

He's expendable. Love the guy but only way I see him come back is his special teams play, and even then that role is diminishing

with LSH playing Gunner on Punts, Demarco Sampson, and Sam Acho getting Special Team roles too.

by Alex Mann on Jan 17, 2012 9:14 PM MST up reply actions

I understood that you were only talking defense

And I agree with you. SF loaded up on defense with eight years of high draft picks and now they are stacked. I always knew they had a ton of talent on D and it was my primary concern if they ever got a decent coach.

However, our guys aren’t too shabby either and there’s no telling how good we could be with another full year of Horton, along with a real training camp and preseason. Our D could rival theirs I think.

As for Gregg Williams, it is the Rams who should be concerned. They play Alex Smith twice a year and this guy ran the D that made Smith look like a friggin’ superhero.

by Zapf on Jan 17, 2012 9:18 PM MST up reply actions