Gregg Williams Says Brett Favre Is So Good He Doesn't Need Practice

 Tongue planted firmly in cheek, New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams told reporters that Brett Favre is the only NFL player that can afford not to practice.

In response to a reporter's question regarding All-Pro safety Darren Sharper, who is recovering from post-season knee surgery, Williams said, "In the next couple of weeks, I do need to see him [Sharper] do some things but it's also foolish to think that you can walk in and play full speed without practicing. The only guy who can do that is Brett Favre."

The remark comes just two weeks after Williams told a local radio show that Favre surely still remembers some of the brutal hits the Saints defense administered to him in the NFC Championship Game - a 31-28 overtime win against the Minnesota Vikings.

On July 19th, Williams told WWL Radio's Bobby Hebert, "I've been a Brett Favre fan for a long time and I'm sure as he looks back on the game [NFC Championship] that we had a chance to play last year- I made the comment after the ball game, "Remember Me ." Well, I'm sure he remembers me and I'm sure he remembers all of us [the Saints defense.]"

Are these remarks coincidental? Are they just part of Williams' brash style?

Or is he playing mind games with the QB of the Saints first regular season opponent, the Vikings, who the Saints play in a nationally televised game on Thursday night, Sept. 9. 

Given the national controversy Williams created before last year's Super Bowl when he said of Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning, "We're going to have to make sure he gets a couple 'remember me' shots when we get there," it's hard to believe that the Saints popular defensive coordinator's comments in the last two weeks have been unintended slips of the tongue.

We're playing those mind games together,
Pushing barriers, planting seeds,

Williams is a master of mind games who likes to shoot from the lip. After last year's magic, never doubt his ability to plant some seeds of doubt in the head of an opposing quarterback.

As he is apt to do, Williams never uses 20 words when he can use 200 and he had a mouthful to say to Saints training camp reporters on Saturday.

On the need for a coach to be flexible: "Every single year, you have to adapt. I've done this for 30 years where I've adapted and had to be flexible each year to the trends of the league, to the new roles of the league, to whatever players that I'm coaching in whatever spot [city] it is.

"There's a chameleon part of the defense every year and basically when it comes down to it, it is this simple.   

"It's what fits the players, not what I like to do. It's what the players can do best. It would be selfish of me to say 'we have a way that we're going to coach defense, or play defense, and this is it or my way or the highway.'

"We're going to fit the scheme to you [the player] but, now, culture, philosophy, attitude, effort. It's going to me my way or the highway-our way or the highway." 

On new players adapting to the Saints defensive scheme:  "Terminology doesn't change and I laugh about that too when you guys [the media], when everybody talks about defensive systems. This is the same game it was in junior high.

In fact, we're going to have a new PR system today and the PR system is you guys [the media] have to ask me questions in Russian. O.K? Because football is football and you can only ask me a certain number of questions about football.

"How many ways can you line 11 guys up?

There's only a certain amount of ways you can do that. We've just got to get better at the fundamental part of it every single year."

Louisiana has not had a quote machine this good since former LSU Basketball coach Dale Brown.

Hang on for the ride Who Dat Nation.

Gregg Williams is just getting warmed up.