Vikings’ Harrison Smith: As a safety, I feel for Marcus Williams

Getty Images

Vikings safety Harrison Smith was celebrating the missed tackle from Saints safety Marcus Williams that put Minnesota in the NFC Championship Game, but Smith has felt sympathy as he’s heard Williams turned into the game’s goat this week.

Smith said on PFT Live that the second-guessing of Williams has become a bit much.

“As a safety, I feel for him. Obviously I’m happy to be on this end of it, but, yeah, I don’t really know what to say,” Smith said. “It’s always easy to talk about it after the fact . . . you always hear what someone could have done.”

Although Smith never completely lost faith in his team, he acknowledges that he thought the best-case scenario would be the Vikings’ offense getting into field goal range, not scoring a touchdown.

“I had zero thought of us scoring a touchdown, so that’s what I think was most shocking to everybody,” Smith said.

Williams looked like he never thought giving up a touchdown was possible, either.

61 responses to “Vikings’ Harrison Smith: As a safety, I feel for Marcus Williams

  1. Just curious, if Smith had made the tackle (and lets assume the clock got stopped) what were the odds of nailing a field hoal from that spot?

  2. Coffeehog says:
    January 16, 2018 at 9:01 am
    Your comment is awaiting moderation.

    CORRECTION!! (Lol)

    Just curious, if Williams had made the tackle (and lets assume the clock got stopped) what were the odds of nailing a field goal from that spot?

  3. I am still wondering what Williams was thinking on that final play. Worst case you hit Diggs early and is pass interference. Tackle him in bounds and the game is over. Dive, miss and take out your own teammate is something special.

  4. Timeout called right before the fateful play, this never discussed. I believe that rookie db came out of the time out with two thoughts pounded into his head from coaches while he participated in the final play ZONE defense. One, no pass interference. Two, be sure to be positioned at sideline side so as to not push the receiver ob while pushing him into play to end game. Looking at replay, his technique was the issue. He ended up to far away from sideline, knew it, tried to get there late and in a horrible decision tried to hit larger Diggs on inside part of body rather than simply through the torso, as he would have in a normal situation. Yes, Williams whiffed on hit to Diggs, but amazingly he did not whiff completely as he took out his team’s #20 who surely would at a minimum taken Diggs OB (for Minnesota fg attempt) and might possibly have done better as he was coming quickly from behind at the sideline with a good angle should Diggs not have quickly stepped ob. My guess, no way to prove, Minnesota would have ended up with the FG attempt as Diggs surely skilled to fight to the side boundary–but that is assuming Diggs would have known there were still a few ticks on clock.

  5. I was a D-line guy, in the big show, you know Highschool…lol

    Wrapping up is so fundamental. You see it week in and week out, some DB comes up and tries a shoulder bump and the WR/RB just keeps right on trucking. If he would have broke down and wrapped him up, or just made contact, they would have been attempting a field goal. Would that have changed to outcome, probably not, but they would have at least had a chance.

  6. I did think it was funny how immediately they were talking about how hopefully Williams career Will survive. I’ve never heard that before when a player made a bad play especially for a rookie who has quite a few years left in front of him. I forget the name of the guy but this play was pretty similar to the one that Denver safety gave up to Pittsburgh in the playoffs few years back. Williams had a really good season as a rookie in a tough position to play. He should be okay.

  7. Williams nickname is now Ferdinand. Luckily there was no anvil on the otherside of that whiff.
    And Diggs didn’t have a red cape.

  8. It sucks, because it’s clear that Williams is trying to time that tackle so that he kept the receiver in bounds. Clock would’ve ran to 0, no field goal, game over. Obviously it didn’t work out that way, so he has to feel pretty terrible about that, but I mean… How about the entire defense doesn’t allow 17 unanswered points to start the game? Then you’re never in that situation. You can point the blame in a lot of places, unfortunately for Williams he just happened to be the most obvious offender.

  9. Don’t let the Vikings epic victory distract you from the fact that Sean Peyton was busy trolling Vikings fans with this own version of the SKOL chant while they blew the lead.

  10. I think there’s a lot of saints fans forgetting how big of a long shot this game was in the first place. If they didn’t get that Williams interception, block a punt, have kamara score that ridiculous wheel route touchdown, AND have Snead convert that 4th and 10, this wouldn’t have been a game.

  11. What’s his opinion on the lame Skol chant? They’re doing it wrong. It should have the cadence of rowing a longboat, not getting the bartenders attention at closing time.

  12. Bad play call. I’d place more blame on the NO coaching staff. To rush four down linemen in that situation is text book of what not to do in that situation. There is no need to rush any down linemen in that situation.

  13. I would have felt bad for him, but after seeing their cheating, whiny coach doing a choke sign to Carolina, and mocking the Skol chant in Minnesota, I’m glad it happened that way. Sean Payton is the most immature head coach in NFL history, and this exit couldn’t have happened to a better person, or team. The kid will be ok though, he has shown enough to not let that play define him.

  14. The look on Sean Payton’s face is something I’m going to cherish for the rest of my life. Seeing a trolling choke sign fan mocking clown like him getting jobbed at the end was priceless. Now if NO could do something right and cut ties with the d-bag who’s hampering Brees more then helping would quickly turn that Org around, but then again that’s the culture down there.

  15. heymister24 says:
    January 16, 2018 at 9:38 am
    Marcus Williams biggest bonehead play since Jim Marshall.
    ———————————

    Jim Marshall’s play was a regular season game that cost them 2 points and the Vikings won anyway. Not even in the same galaxy.

  16. mazenblue says:
    January 16, 2018 at 9:02 am

    Amazing ending to a game. I bet sports bettors were going crazy at the back and forth at the end there.

    =========

    Can confirm. The sports book I was in went crazy. Most people were going to lose their bets if the Vikings had only won by two with the field goal. Vikings bettors real happy, Saints bettors heartbroken. Great weekend to be in Vegas betting on and watching playoff games.

  17. stellarperformance says:
    January 16, 2018 at 9:33 am
    What’s his opinion on the lame Skol chant? They’re doing it wrong. It should have the cadence of rowing a longboat, not getting the bartenders attention at closing time.

    ***

    Its borrowed from Iceland. Its a war chant, not a rowing chant.

  18. Its hard to pin the entire game on Williams. Yes he wiffed on that final play, but there were so many factors the entire game that led to that moment. That’s why the game was so fun and didn’t feel like a fluke. From the first half shutout, to Theilen’s amazing catch, despite being held (flag was thrown) that allowed their go ahead FG, to Bree’s 4th and 10 play, to the Vikings stopping them on 3rd and 1 to force their final FG, to to the miracle. What a game!

  19. heymister24 says:
    January 16, 2018 at 9:38 am
    Marcus Williams biggest bonehead play since Jim Marshall.
    ———————————

    Jim Marshall’s play was a regular season game that cost them 2 points and the Vikings won anyway. Not even in the same galaxy.

    Nope. Vikings fans will say whoever was supposed to be covering Drew Pearson.

  20. I can feel badly for the fans and the current players. Brees is a class act. But don’t feel bad for Payton. He’s had this coming for a long time. Karma finally came around.

  21. I didn’t watch the game (any guesses why?)
    ——-
    So you could come on a football message board to tell everyone how the NFL is beneath you?

  22. Coffeehog says:
    January 16, 2018 at 9:01 am
    Just curious, if Smith had made the tackle (and lets assume the clock got stopped) what were the odds of nailing a field hoal from that spot?

    Tackle in-bounds where it would have been, no time-outs, the assumption isn’t a good one. Odds of getting the FG team on and kicking one in a matter of seconds would have been zero anyway.

  23. I don’t know. It seems like the coaches pounded so many warnings and instructions into Williams about that final play that he just started over thinking. The poor tackling was his fault but after watching the play multiple times it really looked like he had a brain fart. And I’m not blaming the coaches 100%…some players play best when they’re going on instinct and not have to over think (though I do question the defensive call. They had no safety back there and it looks like they were playing the sideline.)

  24. Williams made the wrong play but really the coach needed to remind him of the “ONLY” thing he needed to do in that time out just before that play which was to not let anybody get behind him. Kids only a rookie and the coaches imo are the ones to blame just as much if not more.

  25. ‘Jim Marshall’s play was a regular season game that cost them 2 points and the Vikings won anyway. Not even in the same galaxy.’

    A BONEHEAD Play is a bonehead play, same galaxy.

  26. I didn’t realize Payton was such an insufferable prick till this year — shoving that SKOL chant where the sun don’t shine truly was icing on the cake.

    And by the way Payton (and Stellar) — only Vikings fans are allowed to mock our lame chant.

  27. thetundraturf says:
    January 16, 2018 at 9:30 am
    I think there’s a lot of saints fans forgetting how big of a long shot this game was in the first place. If they didn’t get that Williams interception, block a punt, have kamara score that ridiculous wheel route touchdown, AND have Snead convert that 4th and 10, this wouldn’t have been a game.
    =========================
    So basically if the Saints didn’t execute and just laid down they had no shot.

    Vikes got 7 of one of their interceptions as well. Should we write that off to karma?

    Suffice it to say karma evened things out when Williams whiffed on the tackle that would have ended the game.

  28. The fundamentals of football appear to have vanished completely. Receivers can’t catch, d backs can’t cover without holding, nobody on defense can tackle, offensive lineman can’t block without holding. The list goes on and on.

  29. “Like the oars of a Gokstad ship building up to a battle-like momentum – when the synchronised clap and ‘Huh’ rise to a spine-tingling crescendo – Iceland is inspired and the opposition frozen.”

    It may be a war chant, but it represents rowing a longboat, hence the (correct) cadence.

  30. DrSteveBrule says:
    January 16, 2018 at 10:13 am
    mazenblue says:
    January 16, 2018 at 9:02 am

    Amazing ending to a game. I bet sports bettors were going crazy at the back and forth at the end there.

    =========

    Can confirm. The sports book I was in went crazy. Most people were going to lose their bets if the Vikings had only won by two with the field goal. Vikings bettors real happy, Saints bettors heartbroken. Great weekend to be in Vegas betting on and watching playoff games.

    ===========

    Actually, the line was Saints +5.5, so Saints betters were nervous when 11 Saints came back on the field for the PAT, and relieved winners when Case kneeled down after the snap.

    Which Vegas were you in?

  31. stellarperformance says:
    January 16, 2018 at 11:00 am
    “Like the oars of a Gokstad ship building up to a battle-like momentum – when the synchronised clap and ‘Huh’ rise to a spine-tingling crescendo – Iceland is inspired and the opposition frozen.”

    It may be a war chant, but it represents rowing a longboat, hence the (correct) cadence.

    ***

    Yeah that’s a description of what it sounds like to the writer of that particular article. It’s all stolen from Scotland anyway, so what do we know.

  32. if you look up Iceland doing the chant one of them is doing it incorrectly. I’d bank on the Americans being wrong. We are great at being wrong and never admitting to it.

  33. iejdaniel,

    The betting line for the game closed at +5.5 but I think throughout the week the line was changing so depends on when you place your bet.

  34. heymister24 says:
    January 16, 2018 at 10:41 am
    ‘Jim Marshall’s play was a regular season game that cost them 2 points and the Vikings won anyway. Not even in the same galaxy.’

    A BONEHEAD Play is a bonehead play, same galaxy.
    ————————————

    Not when one play is a trivia question and other may have changed the course of two franchises histories.

  35. This was just a case of perfect execution of a play and with a bit of luck sprinkled in.

    The ball was perfectly placed, the receiver did his job to perfection, and the defense was simply not playing that play at the same level. Receiver could have also fallen down just as easily but he kept his balance.

    Sometimes you just have to appreciate great play and then accept it.

    I’m no Minnesota fan, but I kinda like the season that Casey is having and it would be wonderful for someone like him who has paid his dues to win a Super Bowl.

  36. WWilliams will have a fine career. It is Payton that should have his end. Horrible decisions (lost two TOs on futile challenges, ran for FG position on 3rd and 1 instead of trying to get a 1st and end the game with a FG) culminating in a wretched defense call on the final play: 2 LBs in the middle of the field, 4 down linemen, and two DBs covering a sole receiver (Thielen) on the left side. Any child could have come up with at least on body to help in covering the 3 receivers on the right. Oh, and Payton tops his Atlanta choke taunt with a Skol taunt of the crowd. Should have been banned for life ater Bountygate; should be shunned for life now because of that lethal combination of arrogance and incompetence. i

  37. Are any of you Vikings fans wondering why zero national news outlets have picked up this ridiculous “Sean Payton was doing a skol taunt before the final play to make fun of the fans” story that your local radio show guys came up with? Do you even wonder why in a stadium of 80,000 people carrying 80,000 cameras in their pockets, let alone the TV cameras present, there isn’t one picture of it whereas the “choke” sign was easily recorded?

    Good grief. Stop being so ridiculous that it’s not enough to just be happy with a win over a team you despise, you have to invent a blatant BS story to feel even better, even more “right.”

  38. Yes, Sean Payton did a skol chant to mock the fans before the final play that somehow 80,000 cameraphones and however many TV cameras somehow missed. Get real. Try to be happy with just getting a big playoff win and not feel the need to invent BS stories to feel even better.

  39. Well, apparently I was wrong, I hadn’t seen the pictures today and figured since this game happened 2 days ago with nothing had been seen yet, it must not have happened. Oops.

  40. I feel bad for the rookie, saw him in an interview after the game and the kid still has acne for christs sake.

    And at least our Skol Chant is purely from the fans.
    Not pipped in ‘go back go’ crap like your pathetic franchise. A Lot of fans noticed how much more incredibly loud that became when the new audio system was installed in Lambeau a few years ago.

  41. The internet is destroying this guy. I feel terrible for him. And you have idiots like Stephen a smith, a guy who has never put on pads, talking like he knows what he should have done. Disgraceful.

  42. robsul82 says:
    January 16, 2018 at 12:24 pm
    Are any of you Vikings fans wondering why zero national news outlets have picked up this ridiculous “Sean Payton was doing a skol taunt before the final play to make fun of the fans” story that your local radio show guys came up with? Do you even wonder why in a stadium of 80,000 people carrying 80,000 cameras in their pockets, let alone the TV cameras present, there isn’t one picture of it whereas the “choke” sign was easily recorded?

    Good grief. Stop being so ridiculous that it’s not enough to just be happy with a win over a team you despise, you have to invent a blatant BS story to feel even better, even more “right.”

    ***

    Ben Leber said on Kfan he saw it. He isn’t the type of guy that would make something like that up….and there are pictures. Sooooooo.

  43. Uh, Sean Payton just said he did it, and it was just playoff fun. Soooo, go pee your pants somewhere else.

    _____________________

    Anyone else we could accept it as being done for fun. Payton has a history of mocking other teams and their fans to the point that it isn’t being done in fun – it’s boorish and immature. He wasn’t doing it when his team was behind 17-0. He won’t think twice about it over the off season, but it does give Vikings fans a little measure of added satisfaction with the way the game ended.

  44. Not pipped in ‘go back go’ crap like your pathetic franchise.
    ——-
    Even after a good win you can’t shut it off can you? While I’m actually rooting for MN next week, I’ve got to point out that our “pathetic” franchise has had more success in the last decade than yours has since it’s inception. We don’t need to pipe in any chants and in fact, you can hear go back go chants at most any away game too. You could only dream of having the nationwide fan support the Packers have.

  45. As a Viking fan, I have no love lost for the Saints, but I do not understand all the heat thrown at Williams about this play. Watch the play again; Williams was timing his hit to where he thought Diggs would be when the ball arrived. Williams ducked while Diggs jumped, slowing his momentum. If Diggs keeps running, Williams hits him and probably tackles him, ending the game. Yeah, Williams should have kept his head up and not doing so was a costly mistake.

    However, why was there NO ONE behind Williams? The Saints knew what was coming, but in a desperation situation like that, they also have to know that you keep someone between the deepest receiver and the end zone. They were basically playing one-on-one defense in a situation that called for flooding the field with defensive backs. I think the Saints defensive coordinator ought to be getting some heat for calling that defense as well.

  46. Marcus Williams int lead to a TD. He owned up to his mistake. Total stand up man. He didn’t run & hide into the locker room like his head coach. He’s a great player. If he hit Diggs without wrapping up, who’s to say Diggs wouldn’t have bounced off and scored anyway or fell out of bounds. Plus he was easily a second early. Easy PI. But would the refs have called it?

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Not a member? Register now!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.