Not that Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams would strike you as somebody who puts anything less than 100% in to his defensive game plan, but if ever there was a week where he might dial it up a notch, it would be this Monday night against the Cleveland Browns.
From 2015 through the mid-way point of the 2018 season, the Cleveland Browns posted an incomprehensible win/loss record of 6-49-1. Yes, you read that right, the Browns won six games to 49 losses and a single tie over three and a half years. When the Browns relieved head coach Hue Jackson of his duties last season, Williams took over and went 5-3 the rest of the way, meaning he was one win shy of matching the team’s 3 1/2 year win total in just half a season.
One would think that such a performance would have made Williams a lock to take over at the helm for Cleveland on a permanent basis, but the Browns saw it differently. They promptly showed Williams the door and hired unknown Freddie Kitchens.
Williams is only human, and no matter what he says leading up to the game, you know he’ll have revenge on his mind when the two teams meet. And as if being passed over by the Browns wasn’t enough, former New York Giant Odell Beckham threw a few logs on the fire himself this week, claiming Browns players told him that Williams instructed his players to knock OBJ out of a preseason game last year.
Given his history with bountygate, this is sure to raise a few eyebrows and draw the ire of Williams who has worked to clean up his reputation as a coach who encourages his players to cause injuries to opposing offenses.
As angry as he may be, and as much as he may want to slow down Beckham and the Browns, the fact of the matter is that Williams may not have the talent he’ll need on defense to make Beckham and the Browns regret their words and actions.