Now healthy, Saints defenders hope to rebound against Cards

METAIRIE, La. (AP) — From Gregg Williams’ perspective as the Saints’ defensive coordinator, last weekend’s high-scoring thriller between Green Bay and Arizona was as ugly as it gets.

“I thought defense was set back 100 years in the National Football League,” Williams said.

Williams meant no offense to Green Bay defensive coordinator Dom Capers or his Arizona counterpart, Billy Davis. Rather, he empathized.

“Dom Capers is a really, really, really good coach and a friend of mine and Billy Davis has been doing a good job, too, all year long,” Williams said. “You’ve got to feel for them when they go through something like that.”

Williams will try to avoid a similar fate on Saturday against Kurt Warner and the high-powered Cardinals, whose 51-45 overtime victory sent them through to play in New Orleans in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

If the Saints are going to slow down Warner, receiver Larry Fitzgerald, running back Chris “Beanie” Wells and Arizona’s other playmakers, they’ll have to do it with a defense that has struggled for weeks.

The Saints finished the regular season 25th in the NFL in yards allowed (357.8) and 20th in points allowed (21.3).

Warner, who torched Green Bay for 379 yards and five TDs on Sunday, could very will light up a Saints defense that last month allowed Washington’s Jason Campbell to throw for a career-high 367 yards or Atlanta backup Chris Redman to throw for 303 yards.

Yet Warner said his film study of the Saints’ defense reminded him of the various ways Williams can confuse an offense at critical times.

“I see a Gregg Williams defense, a defense that gives you a lot of different looks, that tries to keep you off balance, that you don’t just line up and get what you get,” Warner said. “I see a smart group of guys, playmakers that fly around that are able to change things up, to game plan differently and execute those game plans really, really well.”

Warner has played against Williams-coached defenses before, including in the Super Bowl at the end of the 1999 season. Warner triumphed that time, leading the St. Louis Rams over Tennessee 23-16 in a game that came down to the final play.

Now they meet in the postseason again, and this time Williams has the NFL’s top-rated offense on his side.