Wade Phillips press clippings

[superpunk]

Feel free to add your own. I found mine through the magik that is Googlez.

http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/5973179

New Orleans Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks was so exasperated by the pressure applied by the Atlanta defense during their Week 11 game, he was convinced the Falcons were blitz-happy marauders. Brooks was sacked three times and didn't get his team into the end zone until the fourth quarter of a 24-17 loss in the Georgia Dome.

Atlanta nose tackle Ed Jasper smiled wide at Brooks' visions of flying Falcons. Blitz? What blitz?

"We never sent more than five," Jasper said with a chuckle. "That's the thing with Wade Phillips' defense. You never know where the pressure is coming from. It comes from different angles, so you think it's a blitz.
"This 3-4 is a great defense, and we trust Wade to put us in the right play at the right time."


A year ago, Atlanta's defense had more holes than a yard sale blanket. The Falcons ranked 13th in the league in total defense and against the pass, and allowed 23.6 points per game.


Now look at them. Atlanta ranks fourth in the NFL in scoring defense (17.6 points per game), 15th in total defense, and has racked up 14 sacks in the last two games.


Quarterback Michael Vick has gotten most of the attention as Atlanta has soared to second place in the NFC South with an 8-3-1 record and an eight-game unbeaten streak heading into Week 14's showdown at Tampa Bay (9-3). But Phillips and his defense deserve some of the credit.

The 26-year NFL coaching veteran, in his first season as Atlanta's defensive coordinator, has transformed the unit in much the same way Vick has transformed the offense, which was a dropback, play-action pass scheme in 2001 with starting quarterback Chris Chandler.


Vick's speed has given the Falcons more options on offense and Phillips' 3-4 scheme has done the same for the defense in addition to instilling more aggressiveness.


"They were accepting of something new because the stats were so poor the previous year," Phillips said of his players. "It was easy to accept something new.


"I try not to have a three-year plan. After 26 years in the league, you learn it has to be for now, so we've got to get them ready to play."


The defensive transformation didn't happen overnight. Jasper said Phillips would make a call from the sideline early in the season and the players would scratch their heads.


"It took to about the fourth or fifth game to trust him," Jasper said. "He'd make a call on the sideline and we'd go ‘What's he doing?' Now we trust him and we play his defense and have stopped trying to be heroes."


The Falcons' defense may be short on heroes, but it does have playmakers. In 2001, Atlanta was a mere plus-2 in turnover ratio. This season, it's plus-11 and ranks third in the NFL behind Green Bay and Tampa Bay.


Phillips, to be sure, isn't working with stiffs. Cornerback Ray Buchanan and linebacker Keith Brooking have been to the Pro Bowl, and defensive end Patrick Kerney is on his way there, if not this year, then soon.


The Falcons' defense hasn't been perfect. It gave up a franchise-record 645 yards in a 34-34 tie with Pittsburgh and Atlanta ranks 20th in the league against the run. One of the knocks on the Falcons' defensive line is that it is undersized, but Phillips just shrugs that off.


"We get pushed some, we realize that, but we fight 'em," he said. "What teams find out is that maybe they can run for four yards (on first down) and then four yards (on second down), but then we're going to get them into third down. Most teams are not going to continue to do that with the league throwing the ball as much as they do. It's not a patient game anymore."


There is an interesting contrast between the Falcons' defense and its Tampa Bay counterpart, which is considered the best in the NFL. Jasper says the Buccaneers' front line charges upfield and "plays the run on the way to the quarterback. Their linemen are up-the-field guys."


The Falcons' defense emphasizes gap control and tries to hem in and slow the ground game rather than completely smother it.


Atlanta's defense has bought into both the approach and Phillips, who arrived with some impressive credentials. He was 29-21 as head coach of the Bills from 1998-2000 and Buffalo had the NFL's No. 1 defense in 1999.


"The defense creates a lot of confusion for the opposing offense, even though we're keeping it pretty simple when it comes to us," Brooking said. "We've stuck with what he put in from the very beginning and we haven't changed. We're playing with a tremendous amount of confidence."

Some Wade Phillips quotes

“I think my first [goal] is to get the team organized and make sure everybody is on the same page and try to get a system put in where we know what we're doing on and off the field and go from there.”


“We're all copycats in this league, ... There's nothing new in the NFL.”

http://espn.go.com/nfl/columns/garber_greg/1470483.html


The helmet-to-helmet storyline of Sunday's Atlanta-Tampa Bay tilt is the Falcons' irresistible Michael Vick versus the Buccaneers' immovable defense. Vick ran for more yards last week (173) than any quarterback since the merger and Tampa Bay has the NFL's top-ranked defense in terms of points and yards.


Something, in theory, must give.


One subject that has flown well below the radar of hyperbole this week is the 8-3-1 Falcons' surprisingly effective defense. And that is just fine with the architect of that distinguished but utterly anonymous group.


Earlier this week, when a certain sports Web site was leading with a story about Vick -- Mr. Excitement, the headline read -- Wade Phillips called from his office in Flowery Branch, Ga. Exciting? That's not Phillips' style. Still, he was in a good mood after the Falcons beat the Minnesota Vikings in overtime, 30-24. Atlanta won when the quarterback broke off a ridiculous 46-yard run. Even a few days later, the highlight never gets old; like the Vikings, the nation's football fans have been blinded by Michael Dwayne Vick.


"You can be blinded very quickly -- especially if you look too long," Phillips said.


Isn't it frustrating to be constantly buried in his wake, especially when the defense is playing so well?


"Oh, no," Phillips said in his soft Texas accent. "That's good, that's good."


And while Vick has been spectacular, the defense has been just that -- good. With four games left in the regular season, it is possible that the play of the defense will be more instrumental than even Vick in the Falcons' increasingly realistic playoff hopes. Disregard the official statistics that place Atlanta No. 15 among the league's 32 teams on defense, a figure based on the Falcons' 326.8 yards allowed per game. Consider, instead, the bottom-line number of points allowed: 211.


After Tampa Bay (12.4 points per game), Philadelphia (15.6) and Indianapolis (17.2) comes Atlanta, with a tidy 17.6-point average. This, despite a schedule that has already featured the incendiary New Orleans Saints (twice) and the Green Bay Favres.


"We've got a pretty good group," Phillips said. "We get turnovers, we get sacks and pressure the passer. We don't give up many points. We play pretty well together and right now we're playing with so much confidence."


Turnovers? Only Green Bay (38) and Tampa Bay (31) have more takeaways than the Falcons (29). Sacks? Atlanta already has 39, or two more than all of last season. The Falcons' defense has been on the field an average of only 27 minutes and 51 seconds, second in the league.


If you follow the NFL, you know this is not exactly a fluke. This is Phillips' fifth defense in 25 years of coaching in the league: New Orleans (1981-85), Philadelphia (1986-88), Denver (1989-92) and Buffalo (1995-97). All of those defenses enjoyed success.


Phillips, the son of colorful Houston Oilers head coach Bum Phillips, was a head coach twice -- in Denver from 1993-94, where he was 16-17, and in Buffalo, from 1998-2000. His record there was 29-19, but he was inexplicably fired by owner Ralph Wilson and sat out the 2001 season.


Apparently, the Falcons' defense followed his example. Under defensive coordinator Don Blackmon, the Falcons were ranked No. 30 in defense and allowed 23.6 points per game. Despite an aggressive recruitment by the New York Giants, Reeves and the Falcons were able to sign Phillips in February. His three-year, $2 million deal makes him the second-highest paid assistant in the league.


Phillips' first move was predictable. He scrapped the Falcons' lumbering 4-3 in favor of the 3-4 that has been the signature of his career. Not only did it take advantage of the Falcons' speed at linebacker, but it was a move, Phillips insisted, dictated by numbers.


"We don't have many defensive linemen in the first place," he said. "We've got five guys right now and you need more like seven to make the 4-3 work. Plus, I've had some success in the 3-4. We can make the adjustments to fit the players.


"We've got some guys nobody knows that are making a lot of plays."
Inside linebacker Keith Brooking, the 12th overall choice in the 1998 draft, isn't exactly a nobody; he made his first Pro Bowl a year ago and continues to dominate. Brooking's 83 tackles are more than twice the second-place total of linebacker John Holecek, who was signed for a league minimum $525,000 -- one of four former Bills that Phillips brought to the Falcons.
Brooking won the NFC's defensive player of the week award after the Nov. 17 game with the Saints. Defensive end Patrick Kerney had won the award two weeks earlier with a similarly muscular performance against the Ravens. On Nov. 24, defensive end Brady Smith became the third Falcons player to win the prize in a span of four weeks. Smith had a career-high 12 tackles and three sacks in a 41-0 victory over Carolina.


The only misstep in that streak came Nov. 10, when the Pittsburgh Steelers rolled up 645 yards of total offense -- the Falcons' worst effort in the franchise's 563 games. That Atlanta did not lose the game -- it was an overtime tie -- underscores the team's resilience.


Last week's winning effort at Minnesota is evidence that this young team continues to grow. While Vick got most of the credit, don't forget that the Vikings actually got the ball first in overtime.


During the kickoff, outside linebacker Sam Rogers told Brooking, "I'm about to abuse the guy who's trying to block me."


On second down, Rogers ripped through the line and sacked Daunte Culpepper. On third down, he slammed running back Moe Williams into Culpepper and then grabbed the 250-pound quarterback's collar with one hand and brought him down for another sack. The Vikings punted from their own 11-yard-line and two plays later Vick took it to the house.


The Falcons are unbeaten in their last eight games and haven't lost since Oct. 6, when the Bucs beat them at home, 20-6. Phillips, perhaps as much as Vick, could be the leading reason. And to think he spent last year at home in Texas watching his son Wesley, a senior, play quarterback for Texas-El Paso.


"We went to every game, home and away," Phillips said. "I got to see him some in high school (in Williamsville, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo), but this was really neat. It was something I'd never have gotten to do if I was working. After his season was over I started to get itchy. I started watching the pro games more on TV. I knew I'd have the opportunity to come back to the NFL.


"I'm happy with the way things turned out. This was the best situation for me, really."

 

[DipChit]

Heres something from when Marty first hired him at SD:

Marty Schottenheimer on Wade Phillips:

Wade Phillips brings to this organization the basic quality of being a fundamentally sound teacher of defensive football. All those teams that he’s been associated with have always been able to produce turnovers, which become a very, very important part of this game. They have been able to produce sacks, which of course is a big part of field position in our game. Another aspect of it that is interesting is he has a wealth of experience in his years as an assistant and another five as a head coach in working with both a 4-3 as well as the 3-4 defense. What we have here is a guy who can take the defense and be involved in any particular aspect of it that we’re involved with and provide the kind of instruction that I think is critical to the success of a National Football League defensive football team.

On what defensive set Wade prefers:

“I like them both as long as you have good players. We’ve had success in both of them. At Philadelphia certainly we had a dominant defense there with Reggie White, Clyde Simmons, Jerome Brown and those guys and had a 4-3 front. In fact, Marty was playing a 3-4 with Derrick Thomas (in Kansas City). They did a great job with that. We had some great success in Denver in a 3-4. I’ve been in both. Personnel dictates what you do. There isn’t a big difference. Everybody wants to say there’s a big difference. Actually, the end man on the line of scrimmage, if he puts his hand down, it’s a 4-3 and if he doesn’t, it’s a 3-4. It’s really how you utilize your personnel, whatever front you’re playing.”

On Turnovers:

“Our approach is, that’s our job, not only to stop the other team. Defensively, when you get into the philosophy of how you play a defense, it’s not to just stop them and make them punt, it’s to take the ball away from them and give your offense and opportunity. We work together; offense, defense and special teams. To be a part of that, you have to take the ball away. You have to change field position. When we address defense, it’s not just stopping them, those stats of how many first downs and how many times you stopped them, but it’s how many times you take the ball away, so that has to be an emphasis also.”

On whether it’s his preference to play bump and run:

“That’s the way you play if you can because you’re going to cut down the number of passes they catch. I’m big on percentages of defense and if you can bump and run, if you get a Ty Law that can bump and run their best receiver and shut them down, you certainly can play better. If you have those kinds of people, you certainly want to utilize them and one of the ways you utilize them is to play some bump and run.”

On how you’ll determine what kind of defense to play:

“It’s film work and really talking to Marty and the coaches about what the players can do. I can see them on film and it’s kind of like the Senior Bowl. You can see those players on film, but when you’re in the classroom with them and you’re on the field during the game with them, you know more about them. I’m going to find out from these guys really how they are and how they react to change and all those things. How smart they are, how quickly they learn football, those kinds of things. All that needs to be processed first before we decide what we’re doing.”

 

[jimmy40]

New Orleans Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks was so exasperated by the pressure applied by the Atlanta defense during their Week 11 game, he was convinced the Falcons were blitz-happy marauders. Brooks was sacked three times and didn't get his team into the end zone until the fourth quarter of a 24-17 loss in the Georgia Dome.

Atlanta nose tackle Ed Jasper smiled wide at Brooks' visions of flying Falcons. Blitz? What blitz?

"We never sent more than five," Jasper said with a chuckle. "That's the thing with Wade Phillips' defense. You never know where the pressure is coming from. It comes from different angles, so you think it's a blitz.
"This 3-4 is a great defense, and we trust Wade to put us in the right play at the right time."








Not to dog Phillips but you could send one and Aaron Brooks would be exasperated by the pressure.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

From Bill Belichick's press conference before their playoff game this year:

http://www.chargers.com/news/headlines/new-england-patriots.htm

Q: How do [Shaun] Phillips and [Shawne] Merriman affect how quarterbacks play? And how does a quarterback have to be aware of what they do?

BB: I think it's more of a problem for the guys who are blocking them. The quarterback can’t block them. Those are guys that most of the time you would have picked up, just like a defensive lineman, somebody is assigned to him. Having somebody assigned to him and getting him blocked is two different things. They have a good defensive system. Wade [Phillips] has been at it a long time. His teams have always played well defensively we ever he's been. Their linebackers are an outstanding group. They have a great front seven. Those two guys off the edge are tough, but they bring the inside people as well, Godfrey and Edwards, in different combinations. They bring sometimes one, sometimes the outside two, the inside two, two up one side, two up the other side. So they keep you off balance. You have to block all seven of them. They're hard to get blocked.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

On Turnovers:

“Our approach is, that’s our job, not only to stop the other team. Defensively, when you get into the philosophy of how you play a defense, it’s not to just stop them and make them punt, it’s to take the ball away from them and give your offense and opportunity. We work together; offense, defense and special teams. To be a part of that, you have to take the ball away. You have to change field position. When we address defense, it’s not just stopping them, those stats of how many first downs and how many times you stopped them, but it’s how many times you take the ball away, so that has to be an emphasis also.”

This should be music to the ears of most of us who hated the vanilla, bend-don't-break defenses here.

On whether it’s his preference to play bump and run:

“That’s the way you play if you can because you’re going to cut down the number of passes they catch. I’m big on percentages of defense and if you can bump and run, if you get a Ty Law that can bump and run their best receiver and shut them down, you certainly can play better. If you have those kinds of people, you certainly want to utilize them and one of the ways you utilize them is to play some bump and run.”

Hello, Newman.

More from that PC:

On the most important position you can add to through the draft:
“If you’re lucky and you can get it, I’ve coached Bruce Smith and Reggie White, if you have a player like that it changes what can happen in a ballgame. The defensive linemen certainly can be dominant, although I’ve had linebackers that have been dominant. Bryce Paup was the player of the year with 17 sacks and Rickey Jackson I had in New Orleans, but then I’ve had some great defensive backs like Steve Atwater and Dennis Smith. Any player that’s a great player you can utilize their talents and help yourself. It’s what they can do and you find what they can do and let them utilize that talent.”

On whether playmakers are coached or are they born:
“Hopefully coaching is a big part of it. I wouldn’t be in it if I didn’t think coaching had something to do with it. Once you have a great, great player like Bruce Smith or Reggie White, you have to be able to utilize their talent and let them do what they do well. That’s not hard to do with those guys. It’s not as much to do with a great player, but you really do have to coach great players. Some people back away from coaching great players and just kind of sponsor them and let them play, but actually you can help a great player more than you can help an average player. They have the talent to do almost anything you want them to do. If you get one, you’d like to try to help them be even better.”

On how you match personnel to the system:
“That’s what the system does. Your system has to be flexible. It’s not what I know, it’s what the players can do. I think that’s the key to it. You have to be versatile enough in whatever you’re in to get your best players doing what they do well. That’s why I’ve never been set on only playing this defense this way.”

On what bothers you about a player:
“I think it’s self-discipline really. We can discipline players, but if they don’t have self-discipline, that bugs me. We’re going to try to get them to do the things that we want done the right way. My dad always said there’s two kinds of players you don’t want, ones that do everything you say and ones that don’t do anything you say. Ones that do everything you say, they don’t have any initiative and the ones who don’t do anything you say are hard to coach. Anybody in between that, I’m alright with.”

 

[Kangaroo]

Well no one said he was a Bad D coordinator quite the contrary what you need to grab is the press clippings from his Head Coaching stints in Buffalo and Denver