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"God helps those who help themselves." - Algernon Sidney
The quote above is frequently attributed to Benjamin Franklin. I won’t bore you by debating its origins, but it came to mind when reviewing Leonard Williams’ interception on Sunday.
The best way I can describe the play is to tell you Leonard Williams’ interception was set up by Xavier Coleman’s QB pressure....which was set up by Leonard Williams.
Take a look at the attention Williams commands.
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As he wins on a swim move, he forces a second blocker to contain him. In turn, look how much room Coleman has to make an inside move and get to the quarterback.
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Coleman doesn’t have to do anything special to get through that hole. Almost any sort of inside move will do because the Saints have to use so much resources to contain Williams.
Coleman finds his way through that canyon...
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...and gets into Brees’ face forcing the errant throw Williams intercepts.
It was easy to walk away from that play and say Coleman was the reason Williams got the interception. It isn’t incorrect to say that. It is worth noting that Coleman had a relatively easy job doing so because of the space opened by the attention Williams demanded. Sometimes a player dominates a game in ways that aren’t obvious or easy to quantify.
In this case, Williams made a big play because he set himself up for one.