BTB Vela: Wade Phillips Bears Down... showed 46 look

WoodysGirl

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by Rafael Vela on Nov 17, 2008 7:35 PM CST
Early in the game, with Washington facing a 1st and 10 at the Dallas 20, Wade Phillips called a special package, in an attempt to break the Commanders' rhythm. After lining up in their base 3-4, DEs Marcus Spears and Chris Canty slid inside, facing up to the Washington guards. At the same time, Bradie James walked from his inside linebacker position to a spot on the line of scrimmage inside of SOLB Greg Ellis.

In an instant, the Cowboys had moved from their "Phillips 3-4," with speed and gap control, into Buddy Ryan's old "46" scheme, which terrorized defenses in the mid '80s and early '90s. Ryan called it for the '85 Bears, who are considered one of the best defense ever. He built another fearsome version in Philadelphia, with Reggie White anchoring a stellar unit.

star-divide.jpg.v5547


Phillips needed a schematic adjustment to help his run defense, which had been ripped by Clinton Portis, Stephen Jackson and the Giants runners in the last six weeks.

Phillips learned the scheme first hand. He was Ryan's defensive coordinator from '86 through '88. The scheme creates mismatches along the line of scrimmage. It's core concept is to take your best pass rusher and put him between the tackles in a 4-3 line, putting three defensive linemen over the three interior offensive linemen.

The smallest and weakest pass blocker on a line is usually a center and the 46 matches him up against your best rusher without help; with the guards covered they can't slide inside. Your star then has the most direct path to the QB. End Dan Hampton thrived in this scheme at Chicago and White tore up pass pockets for the Eagles.

To replace the DE who has moved inside, Ryan moved both his outside linebackers to the strong side, placing one on each side of the tight end. He then rushed both of them frequently. The overload compromises a team's passing options. Teams can use their tight end to block one linebacker and their strong side OT to block the other. If the tight end goes out on a pattern, however, the running back has to cover the rusher, meaning that the left tackle has not help.

This is the other key rusher in the 46 front. Richard Dent played this spot for the Bears and Clyde Simmons made several Pro Bowls for the Eagles in this role.

When Dallas make the adjustments it placed its best rushers in one-on-one match-ups. Ratliff got to rush against Casey Raback and Demarcus Ware went solo against Chris Samuels. The only difference is cosmetic: Dent and Simmons played with their hands down, while Ware plays in a two-point stance.

The scheme paid immediate dividends. Ratliff wasted Raback the first time the scheme was called and sacked Jason Campbell for an eight yard loss.
Campbell was rushed into incompletions another couple of times. Washington beat it only once, when Zorn called for an eight-man, max-protection scheme in the 3rd quarter and sent out just two receivers in a post/deep in combination. Antwaan Randle El beat a gimpy Anthony Henry for 23 yards on the play, but in every other instance the matchups favored Dallas.

The last key personnel switch came at middle linebacker. The scheme calls for an all-purpose pivotman, who can chase down running plays, drop into the deep middle on zone calls and turn and track tight ends when the secondary plays man-to-man. Dallas used Kevin Burnett in Zach Thomas' place, because he's the team's best coverage 'backer. He blanketed Chris Cooley. The tight end caught several passes, but they were against other packages and were for very short gains.

Burnett lists at 232 lbs. which is light for a 3-4, especially one that lacks a massive nose tackle. (Ratliff and Tank Johnson list at 290 and 305 respectively.) With three linemen covering him, his weight is not an issue. Burnett is free to chase running plays wherever they go.

The 46 was a simple changeup last night. I counted eight plays where Dallas used it. Because it worked so effectively, I think we'll see it more in the weeks to come.

Tomorrow: How Terence Newman improved the Cowboys' run defense.
 

big dog cowboy

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I really wish Wade were our DC. This is a great example why. Noticeably absent is Brian Stewarts name. Makes you wonder..........
 

ABQcowboyJR

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I wish we would have looked more at mike singletary. I was hoping that with him would come a 46 D.
 

Kilyin

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I'll give Wade props for last night. Stewart is still a worthless leech of a coach though.
 

chinch

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Chocolate Lab;2427111 said:
What an ignorant bumpkin moron Wade is.
How'd it work against NYG? Lets see how he does against real offenses the rest of the season. Even if he's god's gift to the 3-4 he needs to go. He's a terrible head coach.
 

theebs

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it really is fun to watch this team play good defense.

I dont think they can continue to use that look but it was fun to see it.

When I rewatch the game tonight I need to really pay attention to it.

I bet it really screwed up campbell.
 

theebs

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chinch;2427136 said:
How'd it work against NYG? Lets see how he does against real offenses the rest of the season. Even if he's god's gift to the 3-4 he needs to go. He's a terrible head coach.


he is a coordinator.

he didnt hire himeself.

blame the guy who hired him.

And in the meantime hope he stays 100% involved in the defense cause they need him to dig deep keep finding ways to create looks that give us an advantage like he did yesterday.

We have some large battles coming and one large war on december 14.
 

theogt

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theebs;2427137 said:
it really is fun to watch this team play good defense.

I dont think they can continue to use that look but it was fun to see it.

When I rewatch the game tonight I need to really pay attention to it.

I bet it really screwed up campbell.
Indeed. And we've seen absolutely dominant defenses in 2 of the last 3 games. I think we might be seeing a trend starting.
 

theebs

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theogt;2427144 said:
Indeed. And we've seen absolutely dominant defenses in 2 of the last 3 games. I think we might be seeing a trend starting.


it seemed last year that when the offense started struggling, the defense started playing better. In december the defense was very good, or at least it seemed to me.

So hopefully that continues.

it would be fantastic if the defense really turns it up a notch and leads a december turnaround.
 

chinch

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wonder how the D would have looked if Jason didn't let Barber win the game.

theebs;2427141 said:
he is a coordinator.

he didnt hire himeself.

blame the guy who hired him.
he accepted the interview and thinks he is a HC. then he took the HC job.
 

Chocolate Lab

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What's kinda cool is, if you remember when Wade was first hired and some of us downloaded his Atlanta defensive playbook off that one website that had a bunch of old NFL playbooks, there was a whole section of 46 looks.

I never thought they'd ever get used, though.
 

theebs

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chinch;2427152 said:
wonder how the D would have looked if Jason didn't let Barber win the game.


he accepted the interview and thinks he is a HC. then he took the HC job.


I am glad we didnt have to find out, but you would have to think they would have come through. They kicked their tails in the second half.

I didnt say wade didnt want to be, I said IMO he is a coordinator.
 

Nors

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Wade Phillips Bears Down

Tiny by Rafael Vela on Nov 17, 2008 7:35 PM CST

Early in the game, with Washington facing a 1st and 10 at the Dallas 20, Wade Phillips called a special package, in an attempt to break the Commanders' rhythm. After lining up in their base 3-4, DEs Marcus Spears and Chris Canty slid inside, facing up to the Washington guards. At the same time, Bradie James walked from his inside linebacker position to a spot on the line of scrimmage inside of SOLB Greg Ellis.

In an instant, the Cowboys had moved from their "Phillips 3-4," with speed and gap control, into Buddy Ryan's old "46" scheme, which terrorized defenses in the mid '80s and early '90s. Ryan called it for the '85 Bears, who are considered one of the best defense ever. He built another fearsome version in Philadelphia, with Reggie White anchoring a stellar unit.



Star-divide

Phillips needed a schematic adjustment to help his run defense, which had been ripped by Clinton Portis, Stephen Jackson and the Giants runners in the last six weeks.

Phillips learned the scheme first hand. He was Ryan's defensive coordinator from '86 through '88. The scheme creates mismatches along the line of scrimmage. It's core concept is to take your best pass rusher and put him between the tackles in a 4-3 line, putting three defensive linemen over the three interior offensive linemen.

The smallest and weakest pass blocker on a line is usually a center and the 46 matches him up against your best rusher without help; with the guards covered they can't slide inside. Your star then has the most direct path to the QB. End Dan Hampton thrived in this scheme at Chicago and White tore up pass pockets for the Eagles.

To replace the DE who has moved inside, Ryan moved both his outside linebackers to the strong side, placing one on each side of the tight end. He then rushed both of them frequently. The overload compromises a team's passing options. Teams can use their tight end to block one linebacker and their strong side OT to block the other. If the tight end goes out on a pattern, however, the running back has to cover the rusher, meaning that the left tackle has not help.

This is the other key rusher in the 46 front. Richard Dent played this spot for the Bears and Clyde Simmons made several Pro Bowls for the Eagles in this role.

When Dallas make the adjustments it placed its best rushers in one-on-one match-ups. Ratliff got to rush against Casey Raback and Demarcus Ware went solo against Chris Samuels. The only difference is cosmetic: Dent and Simmons played with their hands down, while Ware plays in a two-point stance.

The scheme paid immediate dividends. Ratliff wasted Raback the first time the scheme was called and sacked Jason Campbell for an eight yard loss. Campbell was rushed into incompletions another couple of times. Washington beat it only once, when Zorn called for an eight-man, max-protection scheme in the 3rd quarter and sent out just two receivers in a post/deep in combination. Antwaan Randle El beat a gimpy Anthony Henry for 23 yards on the play, but in every other instance the matchups favored Dallas.

The last key personnel switch came at middle linebacker. The scheme calls for an all-purpose pivotman, who can chase down running plays, drop into the deep middle on zone calls and turn and track tight ends when the secondary plays man-to-man. Dallas used Kevin Burnett in Zach Thomas' place, because he's the team's best coverage 'backer. He blanketed Chris Cooley. The tight end caught several passes, but they were against other packages and were for very short gains.

Burnett lists at 232 lbs. which is light for a 3-4, especially one that lacks a massive nose tackle. (Ratliff and Tank Johnson list at 290 and 305 respectively.) With three linemen covering him, his weight is not an issue. Burnett is free to chase running plays wherever they go.

The 46 was a simple changeup last night. I counted eight plays where Dallas used it. Because it worked so effectively, I think we'll see it more in the weeks to come.



BINGO BINGO BINGO

Someone gets the 3-4 can be used and is not that different than the old 46! Semantics on if Wares hand is up or down.
 

khiladi

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Chocolate Lab;2427111 said:
What an ignorant bumpkin moron Wade is.

Nobody disputes Wade's coaching knowledge. As you pointed out when he was first hired, there were a bunch of 46 looks. Yet, he never really used it until tonight.

The problem with Wade is his apathy and unwillingness to change, until it is too late. He has a tendency to play scared. Let's not forget that he also played a lot of man-to-man, which he hasn't ever done since being here.

If he continues this way, I think coaching will do it. I'd love to see wade succeed, because he has smarts.
 

Biggems

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id love to see Wade pull a Coughlin....

sit there roasting on the hot seat for much of the first half of the season, then have the team turn it around and make a huge push late....including winning the SB.
 

chinch

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theebs;2427159 said:
I am glad we didnt have to find out, but you would have to think they would have come through. They kicked their tails in the second half.

I didnt say wade didnt want to be, I said IMO he is a coordinator.
very glad we didn't have to find out. :) we need superb D to do anything useful this year. maybe they can get some confidence playing bad teams the rest of Nov.

the gashing dumpoffs on 3rd down were scary though... campbell misfires & bad plays helped us too (that 4th down was bledsoe like - 4th & 4, WR blanketed and throw 3 yards short of 1st down marker.)
 

Bob Sacamano

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Chocolate Lab;2427111 said:
What an ignorant bumpkin moron Wade is.

I gave my props to him last night and will keep on if Wade keeps the game calls aggressive on D
 

CF74

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It was a quick fix but with preparation, teams can exploit it. It's a relic but it worked. We need to implement the 4-3 minus the huge gap in the middle...
 
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