Saints D-Coordinator: Taking It Too Far With Peyton Manning

There is no disputing that Gregg Williams, the Defensive Coordinator of the New Orleans Saints, did a wonderful job getting good hits on Vikings quarterback Brett Favre in this past Sunday's NFC Championship game. The schemes called led to Brett getting hit several times and even an ankle injury. We all understand that is part of the game.

The problem lies with Williams in an interview he gave in Nashville on "104.5 The Zone", where he talked about what is up ahead for his defense. The full article can be read on espn.com's AFC South blog.

Williams stated, “This guy’s got a great clock in his head. The big thing is that he throws the ball so early that we’re going to have to do a good job of finding ways to get to him and when we do get to him we’re going to have to make sure he gets a couple ‘remember me’ shots when we get there...”

When asked about the worry of penalties, he stated that he wasn't too worried about it because if you instill that into a players mind, he won't play at 100 percent. The disturbing thing is that he also added, "And the only thing you’d like for me to say is that if it happens you hope he doesn’t get back up and play again."

Is Gregg Williams being honest here? No doubt. However, it is sickening that he would hope for another player to get injured, no matter who it is. Injuries are part of football, we all understand that, but to wish injury upon another player is not only unsportsmanlike, it is just down right inhumane.

Reading through this interview, I came to one conclusion about the comments on the hopeful injury: The Saints are scared of Peyton Manning. It seems to me that they feel the only way they can beat the Colts circus is to take out the ring leader. Well, it may be the only way, as the Saints enter the Super Bowl with the 26th ranked pass defense in the league.

You can bet one thing, the Commisoner's office will be looking into this heavily. Comments like this don't go unnoticed, and in fact, comments like this should be punished. A suspension might be a bit too heavy, but a fine could certainly be heading Williams' way. We all know what defensive coordinators do to ensure that a quarterback is contained and feeling pressure, but you just don't come out and say you want to see a guy get hurt.