Based on the current results of the poll I put up yesterday, many of us are in agreement that shutting down Brett Favre will be more important for the Saints to win than letting Adrian Peterson run wild. That task, of course, undoubtedly falls on the shoulders of the defense; a defense led by coordinator Gregg Williams.
The other day I was having a conversation about the team with Larry, my stores regular UPS driver and a season ticket holder. Larry mentioned he had heard somewhere that Gregg Williams was pretty successful at shutting down Brett Favre in the past. My interest was piqued so I decided to dig deeper.
Gregg Williams and Brett Favre have been active in this league for quite some time so naturally their paths have crossed a few times. By my calculations there were four games in which Williams was on the coaching staff, whether as a defensive coordinator or head coach, of a team that faced Brett Favre. Below are those four games and Favre's statistics in those games. Check it out.
December 20, 1998
Tennessee Oilers 22 @ Green Bay Packers 30
Defensive Coordinator
Date
Opponent
Att
Cmp
Yds
Cmp%
Yds/Att
TD
TD%
INT
INT%
LG
Sack/Lost
Rating
12/20
Tennessee
22
14
253
63.6
11.50
3
13.6
0
0.0
68t
2/10
142.6
Dec. 22, 2002
Buffalo Bills 0 @ Green Bay Packers 10
Head Coach
Date
Opponent
Att
Cmp
Yds
Cmp%
Yds/Att
TD
TD%
INT
INT%
LG
Sack/Lost
Rating
12/22
Buffalo
33
15
114
45.5
3.45
1
3.0
2
6.1
20
2/10
39.2
Oct. 31, 2004
Green Bay Packers 28 @ Washington Redskins 14
Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator
Date
Opponent
Att
Cmp
Yds
Cmp%
Yds/Att
TD
TD%
INT
INT%
LG
Sack/Lost
Rating
10/31
@ Washington
32
20
289
62.5
9.03
1
3.1
3
9.4
48
1/16
63.2
Oct. 14, 2007
Washington Redskins 14 @ Green Bay Packers 17
Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator
Date
Opponent
Att
Cmp
Yds
Cmp%
Yds/Att
TD
TD%
INT
INT%
LG
Sack/Lost
Rating
10/14
Washington
37
19
188
51.4
5.08
0
0.0
2
5.4
60
2/19
43.5
The first thing you'll notice, and this is the bad news, is that Gregg Williams has never found a way to beat Favre. Plain and simple. Every single time Favre has played a team coached by Williams, he has won. There isn't much arguing with that. But the second thing you'll notice is that one of these games is not like the others. Obviously, Favre had a pretty good day against the Tennessee Oilers over eleven years ago. The other times though? Not so much. Gregg Williams has owned Brett Favre in the last three games he has had to plan for him.
In those three games since 2002, Brett Favre was sacked five times and had an average passer rating of 48.6. That's got to bode well for the Saints. The most important stat, however, is that in those three games Favre has thrown a total of seven interceptions. Seven!
So can we expect that kind of production in the interception department from Williams once more, this time with the Saints defense? All signs point to yes; the Saints average interception rate of 4.53% is third best in the league this season and markedly better than any of the other Redskins defenses that Williams used against Favre in the past.
We all know how important of a role turnovers will play in the outcome of Sunday's NFC Championship game - the winner of the turnover battle is almost always the winner of the game - so if the past is any indication of the type of production we will see from a Williams-led defense, then it stands to reason that the Saints offense need only to hold onto the ball and avoid making the very same mistake for victory to be almost assured.