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We're only a couple days from the Minnesota Vikings pulling out a thrilling, last-second win over the New Orleans Saints on the final play of the fourth quarter.
On that play, Saints rookie safety Marcus Williams made a monumental mistake as he whiffed on his tackle attempt of Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs. During an interview with Mike Florio on Pro Football Talk Live, All-Pro safety Harrison Smith voiced his sympathy for Williams and his miscue.
“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.”
The 21-year-old rookie safety made a split-second decision that put him completely out of position to even make a play on the ball. Williams lunged a few seconds too early, which not only took himself away from Diggs, but also took out teammate Ken Crawley. With Williams and Crawley down, Diggs had a clear path to the end zone.
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Wiliams quickly came out to take full responsibility for his mistake, vowing not to let it happen again. He has also received much support from his teammates and fans alike since Sunday's crushing loss.
Although many fans and critics will point to this huge mistake, Williams played a major part in getting his team back into the game after a 17-0 deficit at the half. He made an impressive interception that helped fuel the Saints' comeback to ultimately take the lead. However, all of that will be overlooked by his miscue on one play that directly resulted in New Orleans being eliminated from the playoffs.
Williams is a huge part of the team's future, and the Saints should be right back in the mix in 2018 with so much talent on both sides of the ball. In fact, he is one of the key parts of a young secondary that can anchor the Saints' defense for many years to come.
