Gregg Williams, virtually every day, will stand in front of his defense and display a photo of a lion, or a pride of lions, on a slideshow.
“You don’t have to tell lions to hunt — they just do it,” one player said the defensive coordinator told his Jets earlier this week. “I shouldn’t tell you to have to go out there and play football, you should just be able to do it.”
And so on opening day Sunday at MetLife Stadium against the Bills, he will expect his Jets to be lion kings.
“I guess the main narrative is as long as we’re all together, we’re a deadly pack,” C.J. Mosley told The Post.
Williams will include a motivational or inspirational quote from someone or somewhere.
“Some quote with like a badass lion picture or something like that,” Jordan Jenkins said. “It might be a herd of ’em, it might be one tearing apart like a zebra or something like that.”
These Jets defenders almost sound like cult followers, such is the force of Gregg Williams’ personality, such is his impact. He doesn’t have an elite pass rusher, a Mark Gastineau, a Joe Klecko, a John Abraham. What, Gregg Williams worry?
“I think there’s a lot of people here that people are gonna be shocked about by the time the season’s over,” Williams said. “You haven’t heard me say one thing about needs in that area. I’m not worried about that area.”
An elite pass rusher can be the deodorant for suspect cornerbacks. So can Gregg Williams, who with the Rams unlocked the best from Trumaine Johnson.
“We gotta keep ’em healthy, they’re playing solid,” Williams said.
Jets defensive players trust his knowledge, experience and wisdom. They love his intensity. He likes to shock them physically — with conditioning up-downs — and titillate then mentally.
“He just holds everybody accountable, man,” safety Jamal Adams said. “It’s very simple. We love to play for him.”
Here’s why:
“He makes you feel alive like every single day,” defensive lineman Steve McLendon said. “He don’t let a day go by that don’t make us remember where you have come from, like where you want to go, where you desire to go. That’s an amazing feeling when you have a coach that every single day he just wants you to be great.”
I ask Williams why players say they would run through a wall for him.
“I say what I mean, I mean what I say,” Williams said. “You don’t like fake, phony people. I’m not fake and phony.
“And they understand that I came to grips many years ago that I got placed on earth to mentor young men. Especially young men who don’t get things correctly, and convinced them to take ownership and do it. And we’re in this together. It’s not me versus them. It’s us at all times. It’s we at all times. And they quickly, OK?, find that out. And once everybody salutes and does everything the right way — they just want to know that hey, everybody is expected to be this way.
“If I want somebody to listen to me, I better set the right example. And every single day, that trust and that respect is earned, not given. I have to earn it, they have to earn it. … When I can’t walk into a room anymore, or walk into a field anymore, and get someone to pay attention to me, adios, I know it’s something else to do. Maybe I’m gonna go take one of your jobs. … I don’t think so! [Laugh].”
Of course not. The chess game with quarterbacks and offenses remains an addiction for him.
“I tease all the time about I might have a beer or two once in a while, never had a tobacco product in my mouth, no drugs, no nothing. … but I’m a competition-aholic. Not only me, every one of these cats. These guys love to compete. … I love being inside the white lines in practice every day, and on game days especially.”
The game day version of Gregg Williams?
“Like a firecracker,” McLendon said, and smiled. “Ready to explode. It’s gonna be a beautiful sight to see.”
Roar, Jets, roar.