Gregg Williams gave the Seahawks some bulletin board material for their Week 14 game against the Jets.
The Jets’ defensive coordinator took a little swipe at the Seahawks’ defensive system, suggesting it is not as complicated as his system. It came in reference to safety Jamal Adams, who was traded to the Seahawks last month. Williams was asked if not having Adams will change how he uses his safeties.
“It really doesn’t. We’re very multiple with how we do those things anyway,” Williams said.
Then, he delivered a jab.
“Jamal may get bored there because they don’t use their safety-type things with all the complexities … maybe not showing what they’re doing as much as we do,” Williams said.
It is well known the Seahawks run their Cover-3 defense without many bells and whistles. They don’t disguise what they do pre-snap very much, choosing instead to just line up and play. The system has worked well for them. Coach Pete Carroll built one of the league’s best defenses with his “Legion of Boom” secondary in the early part of the past decade. It resulted in two Super Bowl appearances and one title.
Gregg Williams and Pete CarrollAP (2)Carroll fired back on KJR Radio in Seattle.
“We don’t make as many mistakes as he does,” Carroll said of Williams, according to Pro Football Talk.
Later, asked what Adams brings to the Seahawks defense, Carroll delivered another jab: “He’s not bringing Gregg Williams with him, that’s for sure.”
Williams praised Adams, but said his focus is on the players still with the Jets. He said he’ll fit his defense to the skill sets of the players he has. Marcus Maye, Bradley McDougald and rookie Ashtyn Davis are the team’s top safeties now.
Gregg Williams and Jamal Adams in 2019Bill Kostroun“We’ll do still the same patterns of things,” Williams said. “We’ll still do a lot of the same exact things. But we’ll highlight the people we have here. As you saw what we did there was he had maybe his most productive year here because of how we highlighted the skill set he has. I’ve had a lot of really, really good guys at that position. Over the years, I’ve had a lot of good safeties to be able to build things around. Now, it’s the next man up.”
Maye was Adams’ best friend on the Jets. The two played the same position and were drafted together in 2017. Maye said he supported Adams while he was going through his contract standoff with the team but sounds like he understood why the trade was made.
“That’s a situation between him and his party and the guys upstairs,” Maye said. “Obviously, he was my running mate for three years, a hell of a player. He was looking for other things. I guess they had to part their ways.”
With Adams gone, that may lead to more opportunities for Maye to do different things, such as play closer to the line of scrimmage.
“Jamal got hurt for a few games last year and I had to go down into the box,” Maye said. “I did that without any doubt. Playing in the box, playing in space back deep — I feel like I can do both jobs pretty well. I feel like I don’t have any limits when it comes to that.”
The Jets activated LB James Burgess from the COVID-19 list Thursday.
