Slate Video

The Cobra Kai of the NFL

Imagining former Saints coach Gregg Williams as the Karate Kid’s cutthroat sensei.

Last month, former New Orleans Saints coach Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for his role as the ringleader of the team’s bounty program. This week, we got to hear what his ringleading sounded like. In a locker-room speech recorded by documentary filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, Williams tells his players to injure various San Francisco 49ers and regularly repeats the mantra “kill the head and the body will die.” The coach’s motivational tactics call to mind those of another no-holds-barred instructor: the Karate Kid’s ill-intentioned sensei, John Kreese. (Warning: The audio contains graphic language.)

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