The Saints Exploited Gregg Williams's Strengths to Beat His Rams Defense

Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, he of Bountygate fame, paid a visit to New Orleans on Sunday with the Los Angeles Rams. The Saints put a figurative bounty on his defense, and the price would be paid in points. Prior to playing New Orleans, Los Angeles had given up 17 or fewer points in their last four games.

On Sunday, the Saints scored 49 points.

It was, uh, not a coincidence. Even the players admitted it, with right tackle Zach Strief telling ESPN's Mike Triplett that "it means something. There's more there. So, good for Coach."

So how did they do it? Well, there were some mitigating factors in the way of an easy, matter-of-fact answer. One way they did it was by going after corner E.J. Gaines, who finished Week 12 dead last among all qualifying corners in Sports Info Solutions'/Football Outsiders's success rate, and in the bottom seven of qualifying corners in yards per pass allowed.

But the general answer is: the Saints knew that Gregg Williams defenses are hyper-aggressive, and they played to that. Willie Snead's touchdown pass to Tim Hightower was the final embarrassment, and one that was primarily created off the initial motion of Drew Brees's pass to Snead. That left Hightower completely uncovered for an easy throw from Snead.

It was hardly the only time the Rams were caught flat-footed.

The action on this run to Mark Ingram sold the middle linebacker (52, Alec Ogletree) just long enough for him to get chop-blocked, and when Maurice Alexander (31) was supposed to be helping in space, he instead ran himself right out of the play to the edge.

And then, there's this Ingram run. There are three Rams linebackers at the line of scrimmage on this play. All of them charge forward directly at the snap. None of them come anywhere close to Ingram. He found his way all to the free safety, winding up on the opposite 15 from where he started.

It's never been incredibly difficult to figure out how to beat a Gregg Williams defense. But on Sunday, the Saints did it with the cool, clinical hand of a team out for revenge. They knew exactly what was going to happen, often encouraging Williams to be himself. Then they gutted his hapless Rams right out of the playoff race.