Marcus Williams. Starting to get old. (1 Viewer)

[insidejob]

Quite possibly.

Here was the TOP stats from the Rams game:

Saints had 11 possessions with 57 plays that took 29:39; while Rams had 11 possessions with 61 plays that took 30:21. I even looked at the second half and it was about evenly split.

Here are the starting DB snaps for Saints and Rams:

The Rams corners likely weren't gassed because it was obvious we weren't even attempting a deep ball. I think we only had one play go for more than 20 yds. and it wasn't a pass that went 20 yds. in the air. All they had to cover were short and intermediate routes.

 

[insidejob]

The game plan needs to be suited to our strengths like they claimed they do. Williams as a single high safety isn't playing to his strengths (as of now).

 

[bobad]

For every fault we notice in Marcus, CSP notices 2 or 3.

I'm sure he is not happy with him. Age and inexperience are no longer an excuse. Payton may still believe in him, and let him develop 1 more season... or not. I wouldn't be surprised either way.

I noticed a lack of passion and aggressiveness in Marcus' as a rook, but expected him to get better. I was wrong.

 

[new city champ]

You can see Marcus has talent and I too thought he had a strong rookie year.

I have no idea if the Minnesota Miracle caused a fall off in his play, but it seemingly dates from that event.

He was just ok in his sophomore season and two issues seemed to come to the fore: 1) His tackling is sub-par for his position; 2) His instincts are hit and miss in diagnosing a play especially factoring in down, distance and game situations. His awareness is lacking at key times.

Both of these would be problems in any starter, but at free safety being a suspect tackler when you are often the last line of defense magnifies the problem. Similarly, taking the wrong angle, jumping the wrong route when you are being counted on to defend a lead late in a game is a back breaker.

I'm not giving up on him and he makes some good plays as well. But he's got to get the fundamentals necessary to play the position locked down if the team is going to depend on him. You can't fly in and drop your head or throw your shoulder at a receiver or ball carrier, especially when you may be the last defender to have a shot at bringing him down. You can't let receivers get behind you in late game situations when the other team is counting on big plays to pull out a victory. It can't happen. I'm sure he's been coached on these things, so I'm not sure how patient the team is going to be if they keep recurring especially in late game situations.

 

[State Of Affairs]

I don't see his name brought up that much in regards to the piss poor technique and bad fundamentals on display with some of these guys.

Which technique and or fundamentals are you most disappointed in?

 

[State Of Affairs]

Williams’ deep pass support is so bad it’s virtually nonexistent. On nearly every big by the opposition this year - Lattimore is in man coverage, he gets beat off the LOS (Lattimore has never regained the speed/burst he had as a rookie after gaining “muscle”), Lattimore is clearly struggling to keep up with the WR, and instead of Williams sprinting full speed to support he instead kind of just lazily jogs toward Lattimore side. He’s there to attempt the tackle but by then the damage is done.

Williams AND Lattimore have both been very disappointing so far. Apple is what he is - a very marginal, flag magnet starter, PJ Williams is boom or bust, Patrick Robinson looks like the guy he was before he signed with the Eagles. What a mess.....

I mean dang, we’re horrible... sounds like we should blow it up and start all over especially cuz every other team in the league has to 5 players at every position and never give up plays...

I think you left some guys off the list... ??

 

[State Of Affairs]

And maybe from playing so much man coverage in the first half. In man, they're constantly sprinting with receiver (the corners at least).

I'm hoping it was the short week more than anything and the trip to the west coast both shortening their time to recover and game plan. At least this week, there are no excuses on defense. We play man coverage so much better than the zone that if those two contributing factors last week left them gassed, they're gone this week since we stayed out west.

Y’all realize the Rams, as much as we hate them, are one of the best teams with a great receiving groups in the league... that could have something to do with it as well

 

[Pensacola]

As we speak, Russell Wilson is licking his chops ...

 

[BelowZero]

I think that the Vikings play ruined him. But I can’t blame him...Im not sure I’d ever get over that embarrassment.

This is probably the closest answer in this thread. I think he has a pretty bad case of the Yips. It's all mental.

 

[NewOrleansBoy]

I’ve gotten flamed several times on this board for stating something so obvious.

Our pass defense is just simply isn’t good.

Whether you agree or not, facts are, we were ranked #29 in pass defense last season. This season, through 2 games, it looks like they are picking up where they left off. Good rush D. Good QB pressure. But the pass D just isn’t there. They need a new FS next to Bell. They need a new slot to replace PJ who is a liability in coverage, a good tackler though. Finally, someone tell me what they see in Eli that impresses you?

Even Latt gets beat now more than often, but still the best corner on the team.

I’m all for trading for Ramsey or Jamal Adams and watch things change on the defense.

 

[Polo_Haynes2.0]

A lot of us have been saying this for the last 2 years. Williams was an absolute liability last year. It was an embarrassment. What's sad, our defense actually has an early season interception by him and he's still the biggest liability on the TEAM. ITS GROSS

 

[blackadder]

A lot of us have been saying this for the last 2 years. Williams was an absolute liability last year. It was an embarrassment. What's sad, our defense actually has an early season interception by him and he's still the biggest liability on the TEAM. ITS GROSS

At some point it's on the coaches if they don't make a change. Kind of like it was when they kept trotting out Brandon Browner. Wash, rinse, repeat.

 

[Polo_Haynes2.0]

At some point it's on the coaches if they don't make a change. Kind of like it was when they kept trotting out Brandon Browner. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Man you ain't lying. I started to realize last year that it's quite frankly, on the Coaches, especially Allen and Glenn. As much faith as I have in Payton, I REALLY wonder why FS play has gotten overlooked as much as it has. It's so noticeable how bad Williams is. How is he able to keep his job after performing so poorly for the better part of his short career? Wish that was my life. I also still notice that Payton gets on their @$$ when over the top play is poor. It's always poor, but why? Why cant this just get fixed? Why does it take us so long to fix glaring needs and or issues...

 

[guillermo]

I have to make a soccer comparison here. Free safety is the goal keeper of the team. When he plays well, he is unnoticed, but when he makes a mistake, it will cost the team the game.

I think there are several angles to evaluate our defensive back game. By players, by scheme, by results.

I do believe in Vonn Bell and Marcus Williams, I think both are good prospects, still learning, and I also think that the scheme has not benefit them at all.

I do believe that when you have young players, you go from simple too complicated. The saints tend to go from man to zone quite often. That is something normal. Teams tend to play cover 2, cover 3 and zones specially on third downs.

The problem I see is that players are not clear on who should be doing what on critical downs.

I think it is time to prioritize coverage over disguise. Make the quarterback beat us with a perfect throw.

For the future, I don't see the saints signing Bell to a second contract. He is a good player and will command a better salary that we can offer.

As for Williams, I think the intention is to keep him, but yes he has to play better, but also he has to be put in better situations.

As I see it, the priority right now is to spend on corners, not safeties.

 

[blackadder]

Man you ain't lying. I started to realize last year that it's quite frankly, on the Coaches, especially Allen and Glenn. As much faith as I have in Payton, I REALLY wonder why FS play has gotten overlooked as much as it has. It's so noticeable how bad Williams is. How is he able to keep his job after performing so poorly for the better part of his short career? Wish that was my life. I also still notice that Payton gets on their @$$ when over the top play is poor. It's always poor, but why? Why cant this just get fixed? Why does it take us so long to fix glaring needs and or issues...

I haven't played any football since high school. And I did play some corner and Safety.

But I won't pretend that what I was taught at that level is anywhere near the technical detail at this level, with hand placement inside 5 yards, press techniques, stance with hip rotation relative to your man coming off the line....all that stuff that the professionals are supposed to master...

As a casual fan sitting on the couch all I know is that for the Safety...as the Safety...NEVER LET ANYONE GET BEHIND YOU.

From the couch/TV view on the long completes over an over you see people behind Williams. You see him arriving late as the ball is already caught or just trailing along the CB. It's just not right.

What I can't know is what the scheme is for a specific play and what he is supposed to be doing per coaching. Maybe that is impacting where he can be on the field. But if he is being directed to do things or be in a position that makes it impossible for him to impact where the play is actually going to go then that gets back to coaching and asking him to do things where his strengths are and to have that complement the strengths of his teammates back there.

To say the least Allen has been inconsistent in scheming to the strengths of his players, especially at the start of the season.