Fox: How did Phillips' 3-4 work in Houston?

[CCBoy]

How did Phillips' 3-4 work in Houston?
by Bob Sturm


http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/01/11/12/How-did-Phillips-3-4-work-in-Houston/landing_cowboys.html?blockID=644028&feedID=4679




Discussing defenses around the league is a fun thing to do this time of year on all mediums. On Monday, it was time to sort through why the New York Giants seemed to have so many great defensive lineman and a relentless pass rush that did not depend on one player (answer: they have committed to building a core of depth in New York and they have been successful in doing so).

I have been asked by a few different readers to examine what is going on down in Houston, with Wade Phillips and the Texans installing an entirely new scheme to their personnel and finding great success in year one. If I am going to allow Rob Ryan the mulligan on account of not having an offseason program to make sure everyone was comfortable with the scheme and familiar with what was expected of them, then certainly Houston could have the same excuse for moving from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense.

In fact, much of the offseason, the narrative in Houston was based on the idea that they had players -- most notably one of the very best players in the NFL, Mario Williams -- that would not fit the 3-4 scheme. He was exceptional as a 4-3 defensive end, but perhaps without a home in Phillips' new scheme. He weighed nearly 300 pounds, and as much versatility as the OLB position required seemed to suggest that this move would have been crazy. But, they tried it with brave faces....

[67CowboysFan]

But Wade's defense is so predictable peoples wives and grandmothers can call the play before it happens! :laugh1:

[DFWJC]

Houston poured all of their resources into fixing that D by using all their top draft picks, signing a shut-down corner, and adding Wade.
Mission accomplished.

[ninja]

I'd say Wade's defense did better than Jason's offense. And Wade had less firepower to work with than Jason.

Wade's in the playoffs and has an interview for a head coaching job. Jason is still learning both offensive coordinating and head coaching and can thank his guaranteed contract he didn't get canned this year. And no, not only no, but heck no, would Jason have even sniffed a head coaching job interview after his dismal performance this year.

[Vertigo_17]

Houston poured all of their resources into fixing that D by using all their top draft picks, signing a shut-down corner, and adding Wade.
Mission accomplished.

Dallas spent a lot of resources on defense during Wade's tenure too.

Just saying...

[fairviewfarmer]

I'd say Wade's defense did better than Jason's offense. And Wade had less firepower to work with than Jason.

Wade's in the playoffs and has an interview for a head coaching job. Jason is still learning both offensive coordinating and head coaching and can thank his guaranteed contract he didn't get canned this year. And no, not only no, but heck no, would Jason have even sniffed a head coaching job interview after his dismal performance this year.
I hadn't heard that Wade has an interview. Where?

[mldardy]

By playing some of the worst offenses in the NFL: Indy, Tenn, Jax twice, Cincy twice, Tampa, Miami, Cleveland. It's funny the good offense they played Carolina, New Orleans, and Oakland all top 10 in total offense torched Wade's defense. It's still the same just opponents made it look really good.I'll give them a little credit for holding down Pittsburgh and I guess Atlanta.

[67CowboysFan]

I hadn't heard that Wade has an interview. Where?
Tampa Bay

[Yakuza Rich]

The big difference is really in interceptions. The fact is that we've struggled to get interceptions since 2008. Not by coincidence...that's the same year that Campo took over as DB coach.

Here's a look at our INT's by DB's over the years:

'05 - 13
'06 - 12
'07 - 19
'08 - 7 (Campo's return to the team as DB coach)
'09 - 9
'10 - 16
'11 - 10

In 2010, the interceptions really came once Wade was fired. Also, our best year of the bunch was '07, Wade's first year with Todd Bowles at DB coach.

We had more INT's in '05 from our DB's, despite moving to the 3-4 that year and having players like La'Roi Glover and Greg Ellis woefully out of position. And in '06, Zimmer couldn't figure out how to get the LB's to cover anybody (tailback or fullback) coming out of the backfield. And we still had more INT's from our DB's.

We have to do an entirely better job at getting INT's from our DB's, period.









YR

[hmcorp]

finishing in third and fourth place for 10 straight years gets you a lot of nice draft picks. we rarely finish with a 2-14 to 5-11 record to get those top spots.

we have won the division a couple of times and gone to the playoffs 4 times in the past 8 years and just missed the playoffs like 2 of the other 4 years.

houston finishes last or in 3rd all the time and not with a good record like 7-9 or 8-8 in a lot of those years.

they have a lot of top first round and second round talent. it helps.

[burmafrd]

By playing some of the worst offenses in the NFL: Indy, Tenn, Jax twice, Cincy twice, Tampa, Miami, Cleveland. It's funny the good offense they played Carolina, New Orleans, and Oakland all top 10 in total offense torched Wade's defense. It's still the same just opponents made it look really good.I'll give them a little credit for holding down Pittsburgh and I guess Atlanta.


like our D in 2003. It was run over when it met a top offense.

[Flinger]

This is an excellent article - kudos...

[TheCount]

But Wade's defense is so predictable peoples wives and grandmothers can call the play before it happens! :laugh1:

That was said of the offense, not the defense.

[Aven8]

Wades defense was really never the problem here. It was talent. That became obvius this year. Wade just sucked as a coach. Jerry thought rob could get these players turned around by scheme alone, back to 2009 form.

The problem is the ILB's outside of Lee suck. And I mean suck bad! Jenks was hurt half the year and Newman is done.

Houston has been picking defensive players for years. There ILB's are 50 times better then ours. They also got the top CB in FA and drafted all studs from big time schools in the past draft. If Rob would have gone there instead he would have similar results as Wade.

It's really simple folks- our talent on D sucks!

[DFWJC]

Dallas spent a lot of resources on defense during Wade's tenure too.

Just saying...
Nothing close to what they did in one year....especially with the Jonathan Joseph signing and the top 10 drafting of Watt.

Anyway, Dallas' D was ranked fairly high until that last season.
Just one year before the collapse, the team was 2nd in the entire NFL in least points allowed.

Just saying