Last week, the Giants were the toughest challenge on the ground to date for the Saints, that’s now the case heading into game six. “We thought we had kind of a two-headed monster last week when we were playing the Giants, and I think that this one stat wise right now is ranked in front of them. I think that Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are both very, very, very dynamic runners in no matter what kind of offense you put them in,” says Williams.
Fundamental football will rule for Williams this week. The Dolphins flat out are a running team. They like to run it, and don’t care that you know you run it. The ‘Fins will try and wear down a defense and hope for mistackles that lead to big gains.
The Saints have been preparing for this game since before the season started in two ways. First, Williams says they’ve practiced defenses for Wildcat looks every week including training camp. Then, by having a defense that routinely rotates players in and out of the lineup, the Saints have a number of players that will be ready to go.
“If coach lets us dress seven, we play all seven on game day. If coach lets us dress eight we play all eight,” says Williams of the philosophy to rotate players. “We’re trying to play as many packages of people as we can to keep as fresh as we can, and you know what moral stays high as long as everybody thinks they’re involved. What we try to do is, we don’t have any starters. We have the Saints defensive football team and we’re going to try and play them as much as we can an even number of snaps as we can in certain positions. You know that helps you in you in Week 14, Week 15, Week 18 if you get a chance to play it helps, because you’re taking some of those crashes off their bodies earlier in the season.”
Having a rested defense could be one of the main reasons the Saints are so far accomplishing one of their goals heading into the season. Head coach Sean Payton wanted his team to start fast and finish strong in every game. Through five games coach is happy, “We spent a lot of time on finishing. Finishing in the second half of games which obviously means the fourth quarter and we’ve been able to do that, ” says Payton. “In our league it’s hard to ever have a margin where you feel comfortable and your always working on really playing efficient football late in the game eliminating mistakes and the things that can get you beat and that’s the one area we tried to work and focus on.”
BUMPS AND BRUISES
TE Jeremy Shockey (shoulder), CB Leigh Torrence, and LB Jonathan Casillas (hip), all were limited.
LB Scott Fujita, and CB Malcolm Jenkins (ankle), did not practice.
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