Steve Gleason discusses speech

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Retired New Orleans Saints special-teams player Steve Gleason tells HBO's "Real Sports" in an interview set to air Tuesday that he was surprised no one seemed shocked when former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams talked so harshly about opponents before last season's playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

"The real problem was no one seemed shocked," Gleason says in the interview, according to USA Today. "There was no discussion of, 'Wow, did we just hear that?'"

The interview with HBO is the first time he publicly has reacted to the nature of Williams' words, in which he seemed to urge Saints defenders to injure 49ers players.

"When he specified the other players' injuries, that to me was over the line," Gleason tells HBO, according to USA TODAY Sports.

Filmmaker Sean Pamphilon was following the Saints during the 2011 season while working on a documentary featuring Gleason, who is battling Lou Gehrig's disease. Gleason had previously expressed his disappointment with Pamphilon for releasing a portion of the audio of Williams' speech. Gleason said in April that he owned the rights to the tape and had not authorized its release.

Williams, now with the St. Louis Rams, was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for his role in the Saints' bounty program.

Information from ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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