A near certainty for the 2017 Rams: Wade Phillips will improve defense

[bubbaramfan]

OK, I'm guzzling the Kool-Aid!ball:

 

[TSFH Fan]

I want to see how they use Lamarcus Joyner on the blitz. There are more places and angles to blitz him from at the FS spot than at corner. I hope he can become a moving chess piece of death.

Small RB's are able to duck behind big linemen to make it more difficult for defenders to spot and stop them. I'm hoping the same thing applies for Lamarcus running in the opposite direction -- can't block a blitzer you can't see.

 

[So Ram]

I would tend to agree with Alden Gonzalez. Talent is here but we have some questions to be answered.

*How will the two new outside Lb'ers (Barwin/Quinn) play after moving from 43 DE.
*Will Mark Barron adjust to playing ISLB'er after seasons as a weak-side OLB'er & strong safety posts.
*How will Lamarcus Joyner play deep free safety post after playing close to the LOS & SSLB'er.
^Will Mo Alexander continue to improve in his new Strong Safety post.

@ this time Wade's biggest weakness in his defense is depth @ outside corners.

I think in the end Wade will be successful on 4 of the 5 above questions.

Which one would that be ?

I think The Rams have enough depth & a couple players will surprise & step up.

 

[Florida_Ram]

View: http://www.therams.com/videos/videos/How_will_Wade_Phillips_improve_Rams_defensive_offseason_workouts/1e162e17-3e8a-4c5a-8ee5-81c1f0a1ff8d

 

[Zero]

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angele...-2017-rams-wade-phillips-will-improve-defense

A near certainty for the 2017 Rams: Wade Phillips will improve defense

Wade Phillips is heading into his 40th season in the NFL. It will come, for the 26th time, as a defensive coordinator, and he'll do it for the Los Angeles Rams, his 10th different franchise. In less than a month he will be 70 years old, four whole decades older than the vast majority of the players he will coach.

Last week, at the start of the Rams' rookie minicamp, Phillips was asked about his expectations for those players in 2017 and said: "We expect to do things well quickly."

You should believe him.

Phillips -- the unlikeliest of Twitter sensations -- brings to L.A. a sparkling track record as a defensive coordinator. Basically every defense he has ever inherited has performed significantly better in the first year, regardless of the scheme it ran before him. That includes the Broncos, who went from great (third in yards allowed in 2014) to historic (first in several categories in 2015). And it includes a Texans defense that didn't have a true offseason because of the 2011 lockout, yet still went from 29th to fourth in points allowed.

Before joining the Rams, Phillips had taken over as a defensive coordinator or head coach nine times. Only once did a team not improve significantly on defense in the first year. That distinction belongs to the 1986 Eagles, who fell from 10th to 17th in yards allowed during Phillips' first season. That year, though, Phillips, who specializes in running a 3-4 base set, ran the 46 defense under former Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan. And within three years, Phillips was replaced by none other than former Rams coach Jeff Fisher.

Every other defense -- the 1981 Saints, 1989 Broncos, 1995 Bills, 2002 Falcons, 2004 Chargers, 2007 Cowboys, 2011 Texans and 2015 Broncos -- was better with Phillips.

And not by a little, either.

"I’ve had a lot of good players, you know," Phillips said. "But I attribute some of that to our teaching, the way we teach them. We don’t make many mistakes. We make sure we don’t make many mental mistakes, as far as alignment, assignment, and then we work really hard on fundamentals and techniques and try to improve each player."

Below is a look at each defense before and after Phillips came in. They're listed with their rankings in defensive DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average), then yards and points allowed, followed by the number of Pro Bowl players from that defense. Phillips, who has coached 30 Pro Bowl players and has been a part of 20 top-10 defenses, started as defensive coordinator at all those stops except Dallas, where he was head coach. His defenses before 1988 are not listed because DVOA was unavailable for them.

2014-15 Denver Broncos

• Before Phillips: 4th in DVOA, 3rd in yards allowed, T-16th in points allowed; 5 Pro Bowlers.
  
  
• After Phillips: 1st in DVOA, 1st in yards allowed, 4th in points allowed; 5 Pro Bowlers.

2010-11 Houston Texans

• Before Phillips: 31st in DVOA, 30th in yards allowed, 29th in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.
  
  
• After Phillips: 6th in DVOA, 2nd in yards allowed, 4th in points allowed; 2 Pro Bowlers.

2006-07 Dallas Cowboys

• Before Phillips: 14th in DVOA, 13th in yards allowed, 20th in points allowed; 2 Pro Bowlers.
  
  
• After Phillips: 9th in DVOA, 9th in yards allowed, 13th in points allowed; 4 Pro Bowlers.

2003-04 San Diego Chargers

• Before Phillips: 30th in DVOA, 27th in yards allowed, 31st in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.
  
  
• After Phillips: 13th in DVOA, 18th in yards allowed, 11th in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.

2001-02 Atlanta Falcons

• Before Phillips: 26th in DVOA, 30th in yards allowed, 24th in points allowed; 1 Pro Bowler.
  
  
• After Phillips: 12th in DVOA, 19th in yards allowed, 8th in points allowed; 1 Pro Bowler.

1994-95 Buffalo Bills

• Before Phillips: 19th in DVOA, 17th in yards allowed, 22nd in points allowed; 1 Pro Bowler.
  
  
• After Phillips: 10th in DVOA, 13th in yards allowed, T-12th in points allowed; 2 Pro Bowlers.

1988-89 Denver Broncos

• Before Phillips: 27th in DVOA, 22nd in yards allowed, 20th in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.
  
  
• After Phillips: 4th in DVOA, 3rd in yards allowed, 1st in points allowed; 3 Pro Bowlers.

The Falcons, Chargers, Texans and Broncos (the second time around) each made the transition from a 4-3 to a 3-4 under Phillips.

The Rams will do the same.

Last year, under Gregg Williams, the Rams finished 15th in DVOA and 23rd in points allowed. But they were also ninth in yards, and a major reason for the lopsided scores was an offense that gave up way too many turnovers, never really dominated the time of possession and finished as the NFL's least productive unit by a wide margin. Since then, the Rams -- led by Aaron Donald, Alec Ogletree and Trumaine Johnson -- have added a couple of starters in linebacker Connor Barwin and cornerback Kayvon Webster. Robert Quinn (defensive end to outside linebacker) and Lamarcus Joyner (slot corner to free safety) will play different positions, at least in 3-4 packages.

They should all benefit from Phillips, who has a knack for keeping his scheme simple and adjusting it to fit the strengths of his personnel.

"I really like the group," he said of the Rams. "I think we have a lot of really good players. We have to utilize that talent, but I think we have a lot of talent to do some really good things. They had a really good defense last year. I think they were ninth, but they were 23rd in points given up, so we have to shore that up. We have an opportunity to do that with the personnel we have."

Sorry CG,but your post is a sham.We made a horrendous error in hiring this loser
and you should probably delete this thread.
Apparently you have not read MMQB.Peter the King sees this hiring as a negative.

"Key coaching/front-office moves: A new head coach, Sean McVay, is change enough, but how about importing a totally different approach on defense, with folksy Wade Phillips brought in to replace one of the hardest-edged coaches in the league, Gregg Williams, at defensive coordinator …"

Question: How can you cover football as long as King of the Peter has, and still be this stupid?
Maybe if Wade changed his last name to Favre or Brady.What a Moron.

 

[LARAMSinFeb.]

What's going on with Alexander?

 

[bubbaramfan]

Mo has an "abdominal muscle strain".

 

[So Ram]

I would tend to agree with Alden Gonzalez. Talent is here but we have some questions to be answered.

*How will the two new outside Lb'ers (Barwin/Quinn) play after moving from 43 DE.
*Will Mark Barron adjust to playing ISLB'er after seasons as a weak-side OLB'er & strong safety posts.
*How will Lamarcus Joyner play deep free safety post after playing close to the LOS & SSLB'er.
^Will Mo Alexander continue to improve in his new Strong Safety post.

@ this time Wade's biggest weakness in his defense is depth @ outside corners.

I think in the end Wade will be successful on 4 of the 5 above questions.

I think your reviews have merit , but reality is that players will improve & change from there past.

Roger Saffold did not get hurt really last season , so not always The does a trend stand true. I expect Robert Quinn to have 18 sacks again though with Wade Phillips. ---- Williams is so over rated as a Defensive coordinator around these neck of woods.

I'm real excited that The Rams are finally going to play a 3-4 defense. I think The Steelers have benefited from it for years. Going back to Chad Brown & Kevin Greene.
Back when Haselett was going to try it. He really screwed Scott Linehan & was a back stabber. Linehan is going to probably have the best offense in the NFL this year.
I like Olsen as our QB coach & his history with The Rams & NFL experience. Should be excellent in game time situations .
---Back to the Defense . There is so much talent there . I'm a Morgan Fox fan as well. I love how he gets after it !! Go back & look at preseason last year. 3/4 should be a pod fit as well IMO. D. Easley should be a Beast .

Connor Barwin has a great motor.Heck - he is the one player in the NFL that reminds me of Fred Dryer. He plays best rushing from Jack Youngbloods side. I know he is a LBer , but same size from back in the day of Dryer.It's the way they play to the whistle.

 

[LARAMSinFeb.]

Mo has an "abdominal muscle strain".

So is that considered a temporary condition or a bit of a concern?

 

[Merlin]

I think the bigger reason for an improved D, is an improved O. Dont get me wrong, I think Wade is the best DC in the league, but Williams is quite great himself imo and he wasnt the biggest reason why the defense was never as great as it could be.

I recognize that offense and defense affect each other, but at some point a defense has to be able to get itself off the field in order to become great. Ours never did that under Williams.

And don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Greg Williams. But I don't think he had smart enough players with the Rams' defensive roster, and his system requires guys who can do more than "me chase football."

The reason Wade is so good is that simplification. Just a different style, but one that allows for a greater range of personnel. If I had to rank them I'd say Wade is elite, right up there with the very best to include guys like Belichick back when he was a DC. Williams is more of a top 10 guy, as there are quite a few other DCs I'd rank with him group-wise.

 

[shovelpass]

I hope to see the amount of turnovers increase, that will help a young and developing offense out immensely. The Rams had their lowest total turnovers in the Fisher era last season at 18.

 

[Snaz]

The one statistic that proves the defense was better is Points Allowed. He improved in points allowed in many of those situations. So I disagree that garbage time reduction was the key indicator of improving statistics. If a defense posts a shutout, vs keeping it within 3 which is better? Statistically yards can vary by either, but how many points did they put up. I'm going for the one that doesn't allow scores.

Give me a defense that doesn't allow points, and causes turnovers, over one that allows long plays, and plays the keep it close and win in the 4h quarter style of play, any day.

 

[DaveFan'51]

I want to see how they use Lamarcus Joyner on the blitz. There are more places and angles to blitz him from at the FS spot than at corner. I hope he can become a moving chess piece of death.

Small RB's are able to duck behind big linemen to make it more difficult for defenders to spot and stop them. I'm hoping the same thing applies for Lamarcus running in the opposite direction -- can't block a blitzer you can't see.

Seems Logical! But nothing new there. William's Blitzed smaller safeties a lot. I think he did anyway!

 

[DaveFan'51]

I hope to see the amount of turnovers increase, that will help a young and developing offense out immensely. The Rams had their lowest total turnovers in the Fisher era last season at 18.

Just curious, do you know what Fisher's turnover Totals where each year he was HC with the Rams!? IDK!

 

[shovelpass]

Just curious, do you know what Fisher's turnover Totals where each year he was HC with the Rams!? IDK!

2016 - G. Williams, Int- 10, FR- 8, Total- 18, Sacks- 31
2015 - G. Williams, Int- 13, FR- 13, Total- 26, Sacks- 41
2014 - G. Williams, Int- 13, FR- 12, Total- 25, Sacks- 40
2013 - T. Walton, Int- 14, FR- 15, Total- 29, Sacks- 53
2012 - "G. Williams"/committee/?, Int- 17, FR- 4, Total- 21 Sacks- 52

I think just improving the pass rush and play at right corner will greatly improve the defense.

 

[DaveFan'51]

2016 - G. Williams, Int- 10, FR- 8, Total- 18, Sacks- 31
2015 - G. Williams, Int- 13, FR- 13, Total- 26, Sacks- 41
2014 - G. Williams, Int- 13, FR- 12, Total- 25, Sacks- 40
2013 - T. Walton, Int- 14, FR- 15, Total- 29, Sacks- 53
2012 - "G. Williams"/committee/?, Int- 17, FR- 4, Total- 21 Sacks- 52

I think just improving the pass rush and play at right corner will greatly improve the defense.

Thanks for the post Shovelpass!! I was really curious! It shows how quickly things " Went-South" in 2016!
It would be nice to see 17- Int's, 15- Fr's, for a total of 32 and "54" Sacks this Season!!:snicker::lifting::shades::cheers:

 

[Fatbot]

This is true -- unless of course the Rams can't stop the inside run! Seems like Phillips' scheme is about elite playmaking edge pressure, but that only works thanks to underrated inside LBs that do the job of stuffing the run. Not sometimes making a big play highlight on runs, but a workmanlike consistency stuffing all runs up the middle.

The scheme invites the inside run so the very first test of this new defense will be teams running it up the gut to see if Ogletree and Barron can do this lunch pail job. Phillips has a history of taking unknowns and plugging them into that role; here we have two very known commodities in Ogletree and Barron that lack the traditional MLB skillsets. But Phillips himself has said that he fits the scheme to the talent, not the other way around, so I expect that any worries about a lack of traditional MLB skills will somehow be turned into a strength instead of a weakness, but I will remain a little nervous about it until I see it.

 

[DaveFan'51]

This is true -- unless of course the Rams can't stop the inside run! Seems like Phillips' scheme is about elite playmaking edge pressure, but that only works thanks to underrated inside LBs that do the job of stuffing the run. Not sometimes making a big play highlight on runs, but a workmanlike consistency stuffing all runs up the middle.

The scheme invites the inside run so the very first test of this new defense will be teams running it up the gut to see if Ogletree and Barron can do this lunch pail job. Phillips has a history of taking unknowns and plugging them into that role; here we have two very known commodities in Ogletree and Barron that lack the traditional MLB skillsets. But Phillips himself has said that he fits the scheme to the talent, not the other way around, so I expect that any worries about a lack of traditional MLB skills will somehow be turned into a strength instead of a weakness, but I will remain a little nervous about it until I see it.

I don't see Ogletree and Barron having a problem at their ILB position's with Brockers at NT! But I am worried about Westbrooks at the LDE spot!!

 

[So Ram]

So is that considered a temporary condition or a bit of a concern?

During OTA's ? Right now I won't be to concerned . An injury is never a good thing , but unless that is what caused him to miss games last season ? I know he was hurt going into the season last year.

Interesting listening to J Joyner about playing FS. I like what he said about being the last line of defense & taking better angles.
Why Williams never had him play FS before is beyond me. Where John Johnson fits & back up SS ?? Cody Davis ??