New Orleans Saints Interview: The Sean Williams Story

The New Orleans Saints are an amazing franchise. Although they were unable to fulfill Sean’s initial request, they still provided him with something he’ll remember to this day.

Tyler: For those who don’t know, what did the Saints do for you specifically as you were fighting cancer?

Sean: I reached out to some players on twitter, such as Malcolm Jenkins, Roman Harper, Khiry Robinson, Junior Galette, and there were a few others. They took time out of their schedule to wish me well, and a few of them even went so far as to check on me during my treatments.

I have a niece and her husband, that I got my diagnosis in October and December the Saints played against the Cowboys in Dallas. My birthday being in January, and Christmas being exactly two weeks prior to my birthday, for Christmas and my birthday that year, they took my wife and I to Jerry’s World (AT&T Stadium) to the Saints and Cowboys game to give us an opportunity to get away for a little bit.

(For those who didn’t know, the game Sean Williams attended the Saints ended up defeating the Dallas Cowboys 23-21. Below is a photo taken during the game.)

Before we went I tried desperately to get in touch with the Saints organization to see if there was any way I could meet Drew Brees while we were in Dallas. Week after week of reaching out, finally about a week and a half before we went I got a call from the front office of the New Orleans Saints and they said, “unfortunately we cannot give you the request that you put before us because we can’t do that being the visitor at a venue, we can’t accomodate you there, but we have a package that is on its way to you now, and we hope this is something that can hold you until we can address your request later”.

A few days later I get this package in the mail, with an autographed picture from Drew Brees, a Saints wristband that I still wear, 2 T-Shirts, and I still have the Drew Brees photo to this day.

Tyler: What would you like fans to know about the Saints how they were there for you during your time of need.

Sean: Every team in the National Football League, every sports franchise’s team fan base believes that there’s no one else around who’s as in tune with their fans as their team. Having experienced what I have experienced, I can tell you that for my money there’s almost no team in the League who is more, “Hey, we’re in this together,” than the New Orleans Saints and their fans. They have come through such adversity, failed a lot, succeeded at a few things, but it never meant as much to many fans as it did for the New Orleans Saints. Having gone through the dark times and the bad days to eventually be allowed that crowning moment, standing on top of the mountain and saying, “We’re World Champions.” To enjoy that having experienced what we had to go through to get to that point, there’s no team fan base in the world that is as closely as tied to its players than the New Orleans Saints in my opinion.

Tyler: As a Saints fan for some time, what do you think of the team’s success next season?

Sean: That depends on what your definition of success is. I say that because I’m one of those people that I don’t feel like my team has to hoist the Lombardi Trophy every year for it to be considered a success. Now obviously 3 consecutive seasons of 7-9 records doesn’t exactly scream success. I would not in all honesty consider the last three season’s successful for the New Orleans Saints. But at the same time I think in my opinion we saw some improvements beginning to take shape. Last years 7-9 season was not the 7-9 team 2 years prior. Obviously, there’s issues that this team is facing that they are going to have to address to take that next step, and to either challenge for a Wild Card, or to win the South outright.

I believe that we’re at a critical juncture, there is always that narrative, which I completely despise, about the “window of opportunity with Drew Brees before he retires”, I think if you get too caught up in that, you’re losing sight of the big picture. We are going to have Drew as long Drew is able to stay healthy, stay relevant, and stay productive.

I think that depending on how this draft works out, quite possibly a few elements through Free Agency, this really could be a turning point year for the Saints. Ultimately it’s going to come down to what we see in August, early September when they go to Training Camp, and see exactly how well they are able to implement what they pick up. I believe that the upcoming draft is going to be essential in what happens over the course of the 17 weeks. We’re going to have to address the shortcomings of the defense as well as special teams from a year ago.

Unlike a lot of people right now, I think this team is really a lot closer than what some other people are willing to allow them. A year ago we lost 9 games, and 7 of those games were by 6 points or less. So that to me trickles down to one more first down, one more touchdown instead of a field goal at the end of a drive inside the red zone, one less turnover, one more turnover on defense, when you get down to where the intangibles make all the difference in the game over and over. You’ve got the people that you need.

Now there were issues last year, like the special teams baffoo week after week didn’t help, going down to our 6th and 7th string cornerbacks in the first two weeks of the season, that didn’t help. At the end of the day, all that matters is you’re able to adjust on the ply and get the win. Why you didn’t never matters. All that matters is results at this level. You either win or you lose. The Saints are just going to have to find their way of being able to win those close games. They are going to have to get into a position where they don’t have to depend on Drew Brees. We have to find a way to turn those corners.