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http://www.blueandsilverreport.com/2008/05/11/how-strong-was-the-wade-phillips-effect/
May 11th, 2008 by Rafael Vela
How Strong Was the “Wade Phillips Effect?”
At this time last year the defensive players were taking some veiled and not to veiled shots at Bill Parcells and his straight up, two-gap version of the 3-4. New HC Wade Phillips was promising a more aggressive one-gap scheme that let his front seven attack across the line of scrimmage.
One year later, it’s time to assess how much of a “Wade Phillips Effect” the son of Bum produced. Last May, I looked at Phillips’ teams’ won-loss records and defensive performances at each of his five previous NFL stops. Note that in both Denver and Buffalo, Phillips was elevated to the head coaching role, so I’m not taking those two seasons into account. I want to see the difference in the year ones on Wade Phillips’ resume.
Stop One — Philadelphia, ‘86 through ‘88
Jeff Fisher and Gregg Williams come to mind when you think Buddy Ryan disciples, but Phillips was Ryan’s first DC when Buddy took over the Eagles.
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘85 Eagles 7-9 310 10th 5th 21st
‘86 Eagles 5-10-1 312 12th 15th 19th
This is the only stop on Wade’s itinerary where his team dropped in wins during his first year on the job. The defensive performance from Marion Campbell’s ‘85 team to Ryan’s ‘86 team was about the same, allowing 310 points the first year and 312 the second. Note that Phillips was running Ryan’s 46 not the 34 he and daddy Bum Phillips perfected in Houston during the “Love ‘Ya Blue” ’70s.
Stop Two — Denver, 1989 through 1994
Phillips gets control of a 34, taking over for long time 34 guru Joe Collier under Dan Reeves.
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘88 Broncos 8-8 352 20th 27th 7th
‘89 Broncos 11-5 226 1st 7th 3rd
Phillips deserves a ton of credit for this turnaround. He adds rookie Steve Atwater to a veteran defense that has already gone to two Super Bowls under Collier and cuts their points allowed by 126 points, almost eight points per game. Phillips makes a huge improvement in rush defense, pulling the Broncos from 27th to 7th.
Stop Three — Buffalo, 1995 through 2000
Phillips enters a situation similar to Denver’s. He takes over a veteran defense that has already gone to four Super Bowls under 34 DC Walt Corey. The Bills, much like the ’90s Cowboys, dominate on the power of their offense, which ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th its four Super Bowl years. The Bills’ defensive rankings those four seasons — in points allowed — were 6th, 19th, 14th and 5th. They had fallen to 22nd in Corey’s last year on the job.
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘94 Bills 7-9 356 22nd 8th 21st
‘95 Bills 10-6 335 12th 11th 20th
A modest improvement. Phillips got the aging defense to play at a slightly better level, as the Bills were 7-0 in games decided by six points or less.
Stop Four — Atlanta, 2002-2003
Phillips makes his second tour under Dan Reeves and revives the young Falcons D.
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘01 Falcons 7-9 377 24st 21st 13th
‘02 Falcons 9-6-1 314 8th 23rd 16th
Stop Five, San Diego 2004 - 2006
Phillips joins Marty Schottenheimer and contributes to an 8 win turnaround. Players like Drew Brees say he made the biggest difference in the transformation.
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘03 Chargers 4-12 441 31st 26th 23rd
‘04 Chargers 12-4 313 11th 1st 32nd
Brees might be right. The ‘04 Chargers D had nowhere to go but up, ranking next to last in ‘03. Still, Phillips made the change greatly on scheme. Shawne Merriman, Shaun Phillips and Luis Castillo were all still in college at this point. Phillips used NT Jamal Williams as the anchor in his league-best run defense, contributing to a 128 drop in points allowed.
Stop Six, Dallas 2007 to present
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘06 Cowboys 9-7 350 20th 10th 24th
‘07 Cowboys 13-3 325 13th 6th 13th
What can we conclude from this?
1. In his previous four stops, where Phillips ran his own scheme, his teams improved an average of four wins a season, adding three each in Denver and Buffalo, two and a half in Atlanta and eight in San Deigo.
Phillips kept to that pace, upping the Cowboys’ win total by four.
2. All his defenses reduced points allowed. Where the defenses were already pretty good, he improved them modestly. Where they were bad, he made vast improvements. The worst any of his first-year Ds finished was 12th in points allowed.
The ‘07 Cowboys followed the same trend, making a modest improvement in points allowed. Statistically, we saw the worst first-year defense ever, as this D finished 13th.
3. Phillips’ attacking style does not come at the expense of run defense. Notice the turnarounds in Denver and San Diego, where his teams went from terrible to excellent in rush defense and reaped the benefits in the standings.
The same was true last year. Even with Jason Ferguson gone all year, the Cowboys run D finished 6th.
4. Weak secondaries have bedeviled Phillips. He hasn’t had a top-notch coverage group since his Denver days, when he had Mark Haynes, Steve Atwater and Dennis Smith in deep patrol.
His Dallas team looked promising but suffered a lot of injuries at corner, with Terence Newman and Anthony Henry gimping for significant parts of the campaign. You can see Ken Hamlin’s value, however. The Cowboys jumped from 24th to 13th against the pass, even with Jacques Reeves starting at one corner spot for thirteen games.
Wade accomplished what he had at every previous spot. It’s all been overlooked by the playoff loss to New York but Phillips kept Parcells’ defense almost intact, added Hamlin, reaped the surprise of Greg Ellis’ strong return and got his guys home field for the playoffs.
A beefed up secondary and a few new position coaches better versed in his techniques offers the promise of better defensive play in ‘08. Phillips will need it, or he might be looking to reprise his first year magic at a new address in ‘09.
Posted in News |
http://www.blueandsilverreport.com/2008/05/11/how-strong-was-the-wade-phillips-effect/
May 11th, 2008 by Rafael Vela
How Strong Was the “Wade Phillips Effect?”
At this time last year the defensive players were taking some veiled and not to veiled shots at Bill Parcells and his straight up, two-gap version of the 3-4. New HC Wade Phillips was promising a more aggressive one-gap scheme that let his front seven attack across the line of scrimmage.
One year later, it’s time to assess how much of a “Wade Phillips Effect” the son of Bum produced. Last May, I looked at Phillips’ teams’ won-loss records and defensive performances at each of his five previous NFL stops. Note that in both Denver and Buffalo, Phillips was elevated to the head coaching role, so I’m not taking those two seasons into account. I want to see the difference in the year ones on Wade Phillips’ resume.
Stop One — Philadelphia, ‘86 through ‘88
Jeff Fisher and Gregg Williams come to mind when you think Buddy Ryan disciples, but Phillips was Ryan’s first DC when Buddy took over the Eagles.
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘85 Eagles 7-9 310 10th 5th 21st
‘86 Eagles 5-10-1 312 12th 15th 19th
This is the only stop on Wade’s itinerary where his team dropped in wins during his first year on the job. The defensive performance from Marion Campbell’s ‘85 team to Ryan’s ‘86 team was about the same, allowing 310 points the first year and 312 the second. Note that Phillips was running Ryan’s 46 not the 34 he and daddy Bum Phillips perfected in Houston during the “Love ‘Ya Blue” ’70s.
Stop Two — Denver, 1989 through 1994
Phillips gets control of a 34, taking over for long time 34 guru Joe Collier under Dan Reeves.
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘88 Broncos 8-8 352 20th 27th 7th
‘89 Broncos 11-5 226 1st 7th 3rd
Phillips deserves a ton of credit for this turnaround. He adds rookie Steve Atwater to a veteran defense that has already gone to two Super Bowls under Collier and cuts their points allowed by 126 points, almost eight points per game. Phillips makes a huge improvement in rush defense, pulling the Broncos from 27th to 7th.
Stop Three — Buffalo, 1995 through 2000
Phillips enters a situation similar to Denver’s. He takes over a veteran defense that has already gone to four Super Bowls under 34 DC Walt Corey. The Bills, much like the ’90s Cowboys, dominate on the power of their offense, which ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th its four Super Bowl years. The Bills’ defensive rankings those four seasons — in points allowed — were 6th, 19th, 14th and 5th. They had fallen to 22nd in Corey’s last year on the job.
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘94 Bills 7-9 356 22nd 8th 21st
‘95 Bills 10-6 335 12th 11th 20th
A modest improvement. Phillips got the aging defense to play at a slightly better level, as the Bills were 7-0 in games decided by six points or less.
Stop Four — Atlanta, 2002-2003
Phillips makes his second tour under Dan Reeves and revives the young Falcons D.
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘01 Falcons 7-9 377 24st 21st 13th
‘02 Falcons 9-6-1 314 8th 23rd 16th
Stop Five, San Diego 2004 - 2006
Phillips joins Marty Schottenheimer and contributes to an 8 win turnaround. Players like Drew Brees say he made the biggest difference in the transformation.
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘03 Chargers 4-12 441 31st 26th 23rd
‘04 Chargers 12-4 313 11th 1st 32nd
Brees might be right. The ‘04 Chargers D had nowhere to go but up, ranking next to last in ‘03. Still, Phillips made the change greatly on scheme. Shawne Merriman, Shaun Phillips and Luis Castillo were all still in college at this point. Phillips used NT Jamal Williams as the anchor in his league-best run defense, contributing to a 128 drop in points allowed.
Stop Six, Dallas 2007 to present
Team Record Pts. Allowed Rank Rush Rank Pass Rank
‘06 Cowboys 9-7 350 20th 10th 24th
‘07 Cowboys 13-3 325 13th 6th 13th
What can we conclude from this?
1. In his previous four stops, where Phillips ran his own scheme, his teams improved an average of four wins a season, adding three each in Denver and Buffalo, two and a half in Atlanta and eight in San Deigo.
Phillips kept to that pace, upping the Cowboys’ win total by four.
2. All his defenses reduced points allowed. Where the defenses were already pretty good, he improved them modestly. Where they were bad, he made vast improvements. The worst any of his first-year Ds finished was 12th in points allowed.
The ‘07 Cowboys followed the same trend, making a modest improvement in points allowed. Statistically, we saw the worst first-year defense ever, as this D finished 13th.
3. Phillips’ attacking style does not come at the expense of run defense. Notice the turnarounds in Denver and San Diego, where his teams went from terrible to excellent in rush defense and reaped the benefits in the standings.
The same was true last year. Even with Jason Ferguson gone all year, the Cowboys run D finished 6th.
4. Weak secondaries have bedeviled Phillips. He hasn’t had a top-notch coverage group since his Denver days, when he had Mark Haynes, Steve Atwater and Dennis Smith in deep patrol.
His Dallas team looked promising but suffered a lot of injuries at corner, with Terence Newman and Anthony Henry gimping for significant parts of the campaign. You can see Ken Hamlin’s value, however. The Cowboys jumped from 24th to 13th against the pass, even with Jacques Reeves starting at one corner spot for thirteen games.
Wade accomplished what he had at every previous spot. It’s all been overlooked by the playoff loss to New York but Phillips kept Parcells’ defense almost intact, added Hamlin, reaped the surprise of Greg Ellis’ strong return and got his guys home field for the playoffs.
A beefed up secondary and a few new position coaches better versed in his techniques offers the promise of better defensive play in ‘08. Phillips will need it, or he might be looking to reprise his first year magic at a new address in ‘09.
Posted in News |
