Shawn Williams’ comments on Georgia’s ‘too soft’ defense poorly stated but on target
Shawn Williams gets there too late to stop a Tennessee receiver from scoring. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
Anyone who’s watched the Dogs this season knows safety Shawn Williams was on point Monday night when he called out the Georgia defense for playing “too soft” and without “the same attitude we played with last year.”
It’s understandable that the senior is frustrated with the way the D has been playing this season, especially after getting shelled in the South Carolina game and then coming out of a bye week looking meek against the lowly Kentucky Wildcats.
The Bulldogs’ defense deserves to be called out and maybe Williams’ rant will have the same sort of galvanizing effect as Mizzou’s “old man football” insult did on the team overall earlier in the season in what was, probably not coincidentally, the best game the Georgia defense has played to date.
But as is frequently the case with the overly aggressive Williams, who’s been flagged for a few unnecessary penalties in his career, No. 36 went too far when he started suggesting which of his fellow defenders should get more playing time, indirectly pointing a finger at others.
Williams noted, “I’m sitting here and I’m giving all I got, and I feel like I’ve got some guys that’s not,” but that comment would look a lot better if his own play had been exemplary, which it hasn’t. Too often this season he’s bitten on play-action fakes or been out of position in coverage and wound up getting burned by opposing receivers.
It won’t be helpful if there’s dissension on the team caused by his comments.
And Williams definitely crossed the line when he invoked the New Orleans Saints’ bounty system. More personal foul calls is definitely not what the Georgia defense needs against Florida, but you can bet the SEC officiating crew will be quick with the flags if there’s even the hint of a late hit by anyone in a red jersey Saturday.
Still, despite the ham-fisted way he went about it, I’m hopeful Williams going public with what he was already saying to his teammates on the sideline will produce a positive result.
It’s now or never, basically.
As Mark Richt said to his team, with the cameras rolling, after the Kentucky game, “It’s going to be a war in Jacksonville. … You leaders, I want you to think about what this game means. You’ve been talking about it all offseason since January. ‘Our team, our time, no regrets.’ Well, here we are. We’re at the moment of truth.”
In other words, put up or shut up.
Got something you want to discuss concerning UGA athletics? Or maybe a question you want the Junkyard Blawg to tackle? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.
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126 comments Add your comment
Moondawg
October 24th, 2012
12:00 pm
It’s not about playing soft or lack of emotion. Our defense can’t tackle properly. They try to deliver a hard hit hoping it will knock the runner off their feet, when they should be wrapping them up and putting them on the ground. Good defense is not about hurting the opponent. It’s about stopping their forward progress.
atl dawg
October 24th, 2012
12:33 pm
the toghest dawgs on the defense is s.williams, tree, rambo, and our corners and some time jarvis jones……c.robinson neds to get moved to scout team becaue he jus dnt have the ability to me
Hines Word
October 24th, 2012
12:42 pm
Here’s hoping Gilliard goes all Charles Jefferson in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” against FU.
That said, Alec Ogletree is the one whose manhood should be called into question. He plays like he’s scared, and that was against Kentucky jelly.
NCDawg
October 24th, 2012
2:14 pm
Ok… another of my posts didn’t make it through… SEE I am not whining about filters. It happens to me about every 5th or 6th post no matter what blog I’m on. I don’t know why but I know it isn’t Bill King or Chip Towers flipping the switch… it just happens. Deal with it folks.
NCDawg
October 24th, 2012
2:21 pm
Anyway… the post that was eaten was about this: The soft Williams is talking about is intensity…not physical softness. Tackling is a function of intensity. Stick and drive is all about intensity. Our tackling has been spotty and that corresponds directly to lack of intensity. If the guys get pumped I fully expect that the tackling will be crisper. If the tackling is crisper we won’t see 6-7 yard runs up the middle. That will be a big help.
dawgfacedboy
October 24th, 2012
3:00 pm
Bill- “Giving it all you got” does not imply laziness. Williams is accusing his colleagues of being lazy and not giving 100%. YOu can be out of a position and still be giving a 100%. They will make mistakes but laziness or lack of effort is completely different and unacceptable.
I-DOG
October 24th, 2012
3:45 pm
Braves Fan 77:
So, you don’t want to make a change of coaching staff’s because you fear going 7-5? How many times has UGA gone 7-5 in the last 30-40 years? Not many and with four different coaches.
All a coaching staff has to do with this year’s schedule is beat the teams that have less talent and they go 10-2 or 9-3 at the absolute worst.
Georgia has a 90,000 plus seat stadium, great facilities, academics are strong with an average SAT of like 1200 for all students. One more thing: UGA has the greatest recruiting advantage in the entire country.
Stephenson high school produces more D1 football players than some ENTIRE STATES do (Idaho and Colorado combined don’t produce the D-1 talent that Stephenson HS does and we lost to CO and Boise State recently)
All a coach has to do is keep a dozen of the top 20 players in the state of Georgia and they will be a top 10 class (enough talent to win 8-9 games every year with average coaching). Most of the top 20 kids in state will have grown up being Georgia fans and/or want to play within a 4-5 car or bus ride from where they live. We haven’t had recruiting problems since the early 90’s and that was mostly defensively. Heck, the 1992 team was an offensive juggernaut. If they had an average defense and hadn’t turned the ball over 5 times at home against TN, even Goff would have had a team in the national title game.
I don’t see how paying $5,000,000 or so to a coaching staff would leave us with the only option being a really bad coach who can’t beat more than 7 teams. Heck, 3 of them are gimmees this year and then add Vandy and KY and it doesn’t take the next Bear Brant to rack up 5 wins a year.
I-DOG
October 24th, 2012
3:54 pm
Brown Dog:
Nice to see some optomism. Georgia has the better roster this year, but I’m not sure we will even be in the game against FL. Nothing about the last three weeks shows us that UGA can stay on the field with a top 20 team.
On paper, I like our chances against FL. However, the game will be played in real life and that is a problem. Florida’s chances of scoring on their opening drive are about 90% unless they commit penalties or make a dumb turnover.
From there, we will likely struggle with special teams (watch how many times we don’t field a punt correctly or take the ball out of the end zone on a kickoff and lose 10-15 yards of field position.
If we get behind, we will likely throw 9 straight passes from the shotgun formation like we did against the top pash rush in the nation at South Carolina.
If we get the ball 1st and goal at the 2, we will likely try three straight passes from the shotgun like we did against Missouri since Todd Gurley isn’t much of a runner and has no nose for the endzone.
We will probably run one toss sweep out wide and it will gain 6-7 yards and we will tuck that play neatly back in the playbook where it will rest for 2-3 games so as not to be predictable.
The Rest of the SEC
October 24th, 2012
4:05 pm
Flo-Ri-Duh
October 23rd, 2012
1:16 pm
“What UGA needs this week is a lot of REPTILE DISFUNCTION!”
I agree. The only way Georgia will back into a division championship is to back into a win over Florida. If the Gators don’t defeat themselves, then they have nothing to worry about.
I-DOG
October 24th, 2012
4:15 pm
What has the coaching staff done with Malcom Mitchell?
I think we can all agree that Mitchell is a top 10 if not top 5 athlete in the country. Elibility goes by quickly and next season will be his last and he will likely be a top 10-15 draft pick just based on what he does at the combine alone.
This coaching staff moved him from offense to corner, which I don’t have a problem with given the boneheaded suspensions by our senior class of defensive backs. Then, they added punt return responsibilities and some offensive snaps and he showed that he was not prepared properly to return punts.
Then, we took him off of a struggling defense punt return and ADDED kickoff return duties as if his head wasn’t spinning enough. He has had one nice kickoff return and several hold your breath moments. I’m not sure if he has had a net positive impact on Georgia Football this season when you factor in the turnovers and other bad plays versus his contributions.
What would Boise State’s staff do with an athlete like Mitchell? Same thing or something different? All due respect to that program, but I would think he would be the single greatest athlete to ever play for Boise by a large margin. What would Oregon or USC do with him? Heck, what would Spurrier do with him?
Some of the blame for his lack of impact this season can be placed on Mitchell, but this coaching staff has misused him and they need to take responsbility for that. They only have one season left before he ooohs and aaaahs people in the NFL and the talking heads are left saying “why didn’t Georgia use him more when he was there?”
dale
October 24th, 2012
4:20 pm
It’s going to be the South Carolina game all over again. For both teams.
Ed
October 24th, 2012
4:41 pm
testing
The Rest of the SEC
October 24th, 2012
4:44 pm
1 2 3…
MackDaddy
October 24th, 2012
7:48 pm
EVERRYBODY ON DIS PAGE
ALL THE SAME DUDE
WITH A BUNCH OF FAKE NAMES
DON’T FALL FOR HIS FAKE NAMES.
ED = REST OF SEC = DALE
jIM
October 24th, 2012
7:48 pm
MACDADDY, SO TRUE,
ALL THESE FAKE NAMES
ALL JUST 1 PERSON ON THIS BLOG
DUH!
AJ
October 24th, 2012
7:49 pm
Yowsa
ALL THESE FAKE NAMES
Flat tire = BMO
ALL THESE FAKE NAMES
SAY SAME THING OVER AND OVER
ALL THE SAME GUY
MackDaddy
October 24th, 2012
8:01 pm
ALL THE FAKE NAMES ON THIS PAGE
ALL THE SAME GUY
HE POSTS HUNDREDS OF POSTS
ANTI UGA
TRIES TO GET TO A 100 NEGATIVE POSTS PER DAY
HE AIN’T BRIGHT
Ed
October 24th, 2012
8:34 pm
I feel disrespected as a fan having to justify my team’s dreadful defense.
Tampa Dawg
October 24th, 2012
9:22 pm
It’s a shame Shawn Williams had to step up and state the obvious. He cares more about winning than the coaching staff. This should have been the job of CMR. Why don’t you give him some of your outrageous salary MR? UGA has sent more players to the NFL in the past 5 yrs than Alabama, and what do we have to show for it? NOTHING! Imagine if Saban, Miles, or even Muschamp would have had this level of talent for the past 5 years.
joe jenkins
October 24th, 2012
10:03 pm
I blame tree and rambo for mitchell’s slow progression at WR……because of them mitchell had to spend the first 5 games DB….when he should of only been working on becoming the best WR in uga history….. I was thinking today of how good we could of been with this lineup of mitchell…t.king and bennett!! I hope bennett recovers well for next year….like i said before our running game has not been the same without him….his blocking out on the edges is surely missed
dale
October 24th, 2012
10:12 pm
It’s not even that we lose, it’s the way Georgia loses. From the opening drive against willful teams, you can see the Bulldogs know they’re beaten and accept it. And years ago, thinking Shockley vs WV and even the blackout game, the Georgia teams came back and showed some heart. Now, the team just submits as soon as they get ‘punched in the mouth’ (as the players like to say).
McGarrity has a real short fix-it-list
October 24th, 2012
10:16 pm
Bring back the Grambling Uniforms.
7576DAWG
October 25th, 2012
1:03 am
I hate for a game to be influenced by the weather but they are calling for 25 MPH winds and 80% chance of rain.
PigIron
October 25th, 2012
7:23 am
If Georgia is lucky, they’ll cancel this game. Then UGA can spend even more time being overrated in the polls.
DirtyDawg82
October 25th, 2012
6:28 pm
Well here it goes . . . Discipline and execution, that wins games. Unfortunately for our 2012 version of the Dawgs, when we play teams of lesser talent we still lack the first but execution is easier to achieve because of the talent gap. However, our records against ranked team the past four years it reflective of what happens to discipline and execution when the talent gap is minimal. It’s not that our dawg players don’t care, it is just that those ranked teams at the leadership and coaching staff level have a lower tolerance for failures in those two areas than our staff. Accordingly, the losses continue to pile up. You can change game plans and players, but culture, that is harder to change and won’t on a weeks notice. Long drive back to Georgia again I am afraid. That long drive is getting old and tiring.
Pcoladawg
October 27th, 2012
9:56 am
Need some Old Man Coaching