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LeBeau: Pressure brings payoff for his defense
Friday, February 03, 2006
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Matt Freed, Post-Gazette
Steeler defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau has been involved in the NFL for 46 years.
Click photo for larger image.
DETROIT -- When he went back to his hotel room after practice Wednesday afternoon, Dick LeBeau had a fax waiting from an old friend. The message was short, but very familiar.
Keep some pressure on the ball. Good luck.
LeBeau knew instantly who sent the fax.
Bob Knight.
"When we would pass through the years, if I'd get over to Indiana and Bobby wasn't in, I'd leave him a note," LeBeau said. "I'd say, 'Keep some pressure on the ball, coach,' and he'd know who was there."
Knight, the basketball coach at Texas Tech who coached 30 years and won 662 games and three NCAA championships at Indiana University, has been thinking about his long-time friend this week as LeBeau prepares the Steelers' defense -- the one that applies Knight-like pressure -- for Super Bowl XL.
Knight and LeBeau have much in common. Each grew up in a small town in Ohio -- Knight was born in Massillon, LeBeau raised in London, near Columbus -- and each attended Ohio State, where they became friends. Each coaches and preaches defense with a passion, emphasizing an attacking style that mandates pressure on the ball.
Knight just happens to show it a little more demonstratively than the quiet, soft-spoken LeBeau.
"I don't have to tell you, he's a very, very smart guy. That's what impressed me instantly about him," Knight said by phone from his office in Lubbock, Texas. "And he's a good guy. I liked him right away."
Knight was a freshman at Ohio State when LeBeau was a senior cornerback with the Buckeyes, and they met playing basketball in the gym. When LeBeau was drafted in the seventh round by the Cleveland Browns in 1959, Knight went to watch him play a couple exhibition games. Their friendship started to grow when LeBeau would come back to Ohio State in the summer to finish his education.
From there, Knight followed his career. LeBeau was cut as a rookie by the Browns and ended up in Detroit, where he played 14 seasons with the Lions.
LeBeau ranked third in NFL with 62 career interceptions at the time of his retirement in 1972 and still holds the record of 171 consecutive games played by a cornerback.
He has returned this week to Detroit, in search of perhaps his finest professional moment.
"He was such a good athlete," Knight said. "If I had to name the 10 best athletes I have ever been around, he would be one of them. He was good enough to play basketball at Ohio State."
Good athletes, smart athletes, are what LeBeau, who will be 69 in September, seeks to play the zone-blitz defense that has confused and terrorized some of the league's best quarterbacks in the playoffs. The defense revolves around two Pro Bowlers -- linebacker Joey Porter and safety Troy Polamalu -- and relies on pressure and disguise, keeping the quarterback guessing as to which player is blitzing and from what direction.
The mechanisms and intricacies are supplied by LeBeau, the father of the fire-zone blitz.
"It's obvious he's had a tremendous impact on the team and football in general," Knight said.
"He genuinely wants every player he coaches to succeed," said defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen, who also played four seasons in Cincinnati when LeBeau was the defensive coordinator. "He treats a rookie practice-squad player the same as he treats me. You trust him. He's honest as can be. And you just see the little things he does, things that he says. He's just a special man."
In LeBeau's two stints (1992-97, 2004-05) as a defensive coach with the Steelers, they are 99-45 including playoffs. Without him, they are 52-45-1 overall.
LeBeau's genius has been especially evident in the playoffs. They have registered 12 sacks, forced four interceptions and two fumbles, and held three of the top four offenses in the AFC to 52 points.
In other words, keep some pressure on the ball.
"The zone blitz is a conservative way to blitz, really," LeBeau said. "Percentage-wise, it's the safer way to blitz. That's what we were looking for all along when we started out. I think it comes from a fairly conservative guy. I'm going to be wearing khakis and a turtleneck and a sweater, probably eating scrambled eggs and a little bacon. I never played the lottery. I've never been inside a casino. But I will go for a par 5 in two."
LeBeau never got to play in a Super Bowl with the Lions, and his only other appearance in the game was in 1995 when the Steelers lost to the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX. That's why Knight, who won 11 Big Ten Conference titles and took his team to the Final Four five times at Indiana, said he was happy to see his friend get the recognition he deserves.
"I saw where the players all wore his old jersey number before the last [regular-season] game," Knight said. "I can understand that. The best [phrase] I can use to describe him is: He captivates your attention."
Still, it was LeBeau who was moved by the message waiting for him in his hotel room the other day.
"I wish I had the success coaching that Bobby Knight had," LeBeau said. "If my child wanted to go play big-time competitive athletics, I'd want Bobby Knight to coach him."
The other day, Knight read a newspaper story in which Le- Beau mentioned his friendship with the former Indiana coach.
"I got a copy and brought it home and showed my wife," Knight said. "For him to say that I was a good friend of his is as nice a thing that someone can say about me."
Before Knight hung up, he said, "Thanks for calling and giving me the opportunity to talk about him."
Friday, February 03, 2006
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Matt Freed, Post-Gazette
Steeler defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau has been involved in the NFL for 46 years.
Click photo for larger image.
DETROIT -- When he went back to his hotel room after practice Wednesday afternoon, Dick LeBeau had a fax waiting from an old friend. The message was short, but very familiar.
Keep some pressure on the ball. Good luck.
LeBeau knew instantly who sent the fax.
Bob Knight.
"When we would pass through the years, if I'd get over to Indiana and Bobby wasn't in, I'd leave him a note," LeBeau said. "I'd say, 'Keep some pressure on the ball, coach,' and he'd know who was there."
Knight, the basketball coach at Texas Tech who coached 30 years and won 662 games and three NCAA championships at Indiana University, has been thinking about his long-time friend this week as LeBeau prepares the Steelers' defense -- the one that applies Knight-like pressure -- for Super Bowl XL.
Knight and LeBeau have much in common. Each grew up in a small town in Ohio -- Knight was born in Massillon, LeBeau raised in London, near Columbus -- and each attended Ohio State, where they became friends. Each coaches and preaches defense with a passion, emphasizing an attacking style that mandates pressure on the ball.
Knight just happens to show it a little more demonstratively than the quiet, soft-spoken LeBeau.
"I don't have to tell you, he's a very, very smart guy. That's what impressed me instantly about him," Knight said by phone from his office in Lubbock, Texas. "And he's a good guy. I liked him right away."
Knight was a freshman at Ohio State when LeBeau was a senior cornerback with the Buckeyes, and they met playing basketball in the gym. When LeBeau was drafted in the seventh round by the Cleveland Browns in 1959, Knight went to watch him play a couple exhibition games. Their friendship started to grow when LeBeau would come back to Ohio State in the summer to finish his education.
From there, Knight followed his career. LeBeau was cut as a rookie by the Browns and ended up in Detroit, where he played 14 seasons with the Lions.
LeBeau ranked third in NFL with 62 career interceptions at the time of his retirement in 1972 and still holds the record of 171 consecutive games played by a cornerback.
He has returned this week to Detroit, in search of perhaps his finest professional moment.
"He was such a good athlete," Knight said. "If I had to name the 10 best athletes I have ever been around, he would be one of them. He was good enough to play basketball at Ohio State."
Good athletes, smart athletes, are what LeBeau, who will be 69 in September, seeks to play the zone-blitz defense that has confused and terrorized some of the league's best quarterbacks in the playoffs. The defense revolves around two Pro Bowlers -- linebacker Joey Porter and safety Troy Polamalu -- and relies on pressure and disguise, keeping the quarterback guessing as to which player is blitzing and from what direction.
The mechanisms and intricacies are supplied by LeBeau, the father of the fire-zone blitz.
"It's obvious he's had a tremendous impact on the team and football in general," Knight said.
"He genuinely wants every player he coaches to succeed," said defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen, who also played four seasons in Cincinnati when LeBeau was the defensive coordinator. "He treats a rookie practice-squad player the same as he treats me. You trust him. He's honest as can be. And you just see the little things he does, things that he says. He's just a special man."
In LeBeau's two stints (1992-97, 2004-05) as a defensive coach with the Steelers, they are 99-45 including playoffs. Without him, they are 52-45-1 overall.
LeBeau's genius has been especially evident in the playoffs. They have registered 12 sacks, forced four interceptions and two fumbles, and held three of the top four offenses in the AFC to 52 points.
In other words, keep some pressure on the ball.
"The zone blitz is a conservative way to blitz, really," LeBeau said. "Percentage-wise, it's the safer way to blitz. That's what we were looking for all along when we started out. I think it comes from a fairly conservative guy. I'm going to be wearing khakis and a turtleneck and a sweater, probably eating scrambled eggs and a little bacon. I never played the lottery. I've never been inside a casino. But I will go for a par 5 in two."
LeBeau never got to play in a Super Bowl with the Lions, and his only other appearance in the game was in 1995 when the Steelers lost to the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX. That's why Knight, who won 11 Big Ten Conference titles and took his team to the Final Four five times at Indiana, said he was happy to see his friend get the recognition he deserves.
"I saw where the players all wore his old jersey number before the last [regular-season] game," Knight said. "I can understand that. The best [phrase] I can use to describe him is: He captivates your attention."
Still, it was LeBeau who was moved by the message waiting for him in his hotel room the other day.
"I wish I had the success coaching that Bobby Knight had," LeBeau said. "If my child wanted to go play big-time competitive athletics, I'd want Bobby Knight to coach him."
The other day, Knight read a newspaper story in which Le- Beau mentioned his friendship with the former Indiana coach.
"I got a copy and brought it home and showed my wife," Knight said. "For him to say that I was a good friend of his is as nice a thing that someone can say about me."
Before Knight hung up, he said, "Thanks for calling and giving me the opportunity to talk about him."
