Packers lose Williams to Saints

[wizard 87]

Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy will be moving on to option No. 3 after defensive coordinator candidate Gregg Williams agreed to join the New Orleans Saints.

Williams accepted a deal to become the Saints' defensive coordinator, the club announced this morning. The Saints and Packers were the two teams most interested in Williams, the former Jacksonville, Washington and Tennessee defensive coordinator and Buffalo head coach.

Williams and former San Francisco head coach MIke Nolan were McCarthy's top two candidates to replace fired defensive coordinator Bob Sanders. Nolan took the defensive coordinator's job with the Denver Broncos.

The leading candidate to become McCarthy's defensive coordinator is Jim Haslett, who is waiting to hear whether he will be named head coach after serving on an interim basis for 10 games last season. Haslett interviewed with McCarthy on Monday and Tuesday for the coordinator's job.

Haslett is still in the running for the Rams job, but there are indications the Rams will go in another direction, and if they do, Haslett will be looking for a job. At this point, the Packers are the only team that has shown an interest in his services.

It's possible McCarthy will wait until after this weekend to see if any assistant coach prospects become available. Among those would be Philadelphia secondary coach Sean McDermott, Pittsburgh linebackers coach Keith Butler and Baltimore special assistant Vic Fangio.

The Rams are expected to make a decision on their new head coach soon, possibly before the weekend is up. Haslett and McCarthy worked together for five seasons in New Orleans where Haslett was the head coach and McCarthy the offensive coordinator.

Haslett has used a number of different defensive schemes. He was part of Pittsburgh's staff in the 1990s that used a 3-4, but he has used a lot of 4-3 since then, incorporating a lot of the blitz emphasis that the Steelers used.

The Rams were awful on defense all year this season. How much of that was due to poor talent and how much was a reflection on Haslett is up for debate. In six seaons as head coach of New Orleans, his defenses ranked eighth, 16th (tied), 27th, 18th, 32nd and 14th.

 

[DonnieCash]

Maybe we'll make it to option 10.

They don't seem very eager to fill this spot.

 

[The Wok]

*sigh*

The Pack's lethargic business practices strike again.

 

[Aaron rodgers is god]

man i really wanted this guy hes the type of def cordinatior that i like..... but im likeing the next guy we could pick up it sounds he likes to blitz and we are also going for pitsburgh linebacker coach all i say is MM make the deal :handshake: but it doesnt look like he did good on the saints but maybe he did not have the right personnel for his schemes and the saints never had a great defense

 

[Dulak]

man i really wanted this guy hes the type of def cordinatior that i like..... but im likeing the next guy we could pick up it sounds he likes to blitz and we are also going for pitsburgh linebacker coach all i say is MM make the deal :handshake: but it doesnt look like he did good on the saints but maybe he did not have the right personnel for his schemes and the saints never had a great defense

ya to losing williams ... so who they looking at next?

 

[The Wok]

man i really wanted this guy hes the type of def cordinatior that i like..... but im likeing the next guy we could pick up it sounds he likes to blitz and we are also going for pitsburgh linebacker coach all i say is MM make the deal :handshake: but it doesnt look like he did good on the saints but maybe he did not have the right personnel for his schemes and the saints never had a great defense

ya to losing williams ... so who they looking at next?

Haslett and the Philadelphia secondary coach.

 

[NelsonsLongCatch]

[quote="Aaron rodgers is god":eb9r8bl3]man i really wanted this guy hes the type of def cordinatior that i like..... but im likeing the next guy we could pick up it sounds he likes to blitz and we are also going for pitsburgh linebacker coach all i say is MM make the deal :handshake: but it doesnt look like he did good on the saints but maybe he did not have the right personnel for his schemes and the saints never had a great defense

ya to losing williams ... so who they looking at next?

Haslett and the Philadelphia secondary coach.[/quote:eb9r8bl3]

Is Haslett a defensive guy? I know he was the head coach of the Saints for a while, but how is his track record on defense?

 

[The Wok]

Wikipedia:

"Haslett began his NFL coaching career as a linebackers coach for the Oakland Raiders in 1993. Haslett next coached linebackers for the New Orleans Saints in 1995 and was promoted to defensive coordinator for the 1996 season. Haslett then coordinated the Pittsburgh Steelers defense for the 1997 through 1999 seasons.
[edit]New Orleans Saints
In January, 2000, Haslett was named head coach of the New Orleans Saints. That season, he guided the Saints to a 10–6 regular-season record, their second NFC West title, and the first playoff victory in team history as they defeated the St. Louis Rams, before falling to the Minnesota Vikings the following week. As a result of the Saints' turnaround from their previous 3–13 season under previous head coach Mike Ditka, Haslett was named NFL Coach of the Year.
In 2005, Haslett's sixth and final year with the Saints, the team stumbled to a 3–13 record after Hurricane Katrina forced the team to temporarily relocate their operations to San Antonio, Texas, and play three of their home games there (in the Alamodome), four in Baton Rouge at LSU's Tiger Stadium, and one at Giants Stadium in New Jersey against the New York Giants. Despite Haslett's strong leadership during a difficult season marred with extensive traveling and substandard practicing conditions in San Antonio, it was not enough to save his job.
[edit]St. Louis Rams
Haslett became the Rams' defensive coordinator to start the 2006 season. On September 29th, 2008 Haslett was named the head coach of the St. Louis Rams after Scott Linehan was fired. Haslett's contract was found to be invalid by the NFL. The NFL informed the Rams that under provisions of the Rooney Rule, only an interim head coach can be appointed during the season. The Rooney Rule, adopted in 1993, requires that minority candidates be interviewed for all open head-coaching positions. He won his first game as interim head coach of the Rams with a thrilling 19-17 victory over the 4-1 Washington Redskins. That win was followed by a 34-14 drubbing of the Dallas Cowboys on 19 October, 2008. This brought the Rams to a 2-4 record. The team would lose their final 10 games, however, leaving Haslett with an interim record of 2-10 on the year. On January 15, 2009 the Rams announced that Haslett was no longer in consideration for the permanent head coaching position and that the team would be going in a "new direction".[2]"

 

[Zero2Cool]

I don't think we lost Williams to the Saints. If we wanted him, he'd have left with a contract.

 

[NelsonsLongCatch]

I don't think we lost Williams to the Saints. If we wanted him, he'd have left with a contract.

I agree. I think GB has their eye on somebody specific. Now that Philly is out of the running, all of the options are available.

I was kind of hoping for a switch to the 3-4, but I guess that isn't going to happen.

 

[mathew]

i wouldn't mind switching to a 3-4. plus, PEPPERS from CAROLINA is planning on turning down any extensions. he's a FA this offseason and says he wants to be put into a 3-4 defense. he says he will be more explosive. put into perspective that he had 14.5 sacks this season

 

[Pugger]

While some of us were wringing our hands over "losing" Williams to the Saints, MM was busy recruiting somebody a whole lot better in my eyes!!! :rofl:

 

[longtimefan]

Locking it since no need to have this going anymore