Wade Phillips agrees to become Broncos DC

[NyCeEvO]

Looks like it's a big happy reunion for Kubiak. He's bringing all of his boys back.

Phillips had arrived in Denver on Monday night and met with Kubiak and executive vice president of football operations/general manager John Elway Tuesday as well as Wednesday. It comes two after the Broncos formally finished a up deal with linebackers coach Reggie Herring, who like Phillips is a former Texans assistant on Kubiak's staff in Houston.

Kubiak has also hired defensive line coach Bill Kollar from the Texans as well.

Phillips' hiring comes after the Broncos had also tried to hire Cincinnati Bengals secondary coach Vance Joseph for the job. However, the Bengals informed the Broncos Joseph, who had interviewed for the Broncos' head coaching job two days before team officials met with Kubiak, he would not be allowed to leave for the coordinator job.

The Broncos had hoped the Bengals would change their position, but the team held firm, even as the Broncos reached out to Phillips.

The Broncos have also made former Minnesota Vikings defensive backs coach Joe Woods their secondary coach. Woods had been the team's defensive backs coach since 2006.

via http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12244 ... oordinator

[NyCeEvO]

Article on Wade Phillips and how he wants to attack on defense:

With Wade Phillips as the Broncos' new defensive coordinator, expect the Broncos to turn loose their pass rushers.

Phillips and Defensive Backs Coach Joe Woods became the final pieces to the puzzle of the Broncos' defensive coaching staff Wednesday night. They joined Bill Kollar and Reggie Herring, who were named to coach the defensive line and linebackers, respectively, in the previous week.

"I want a defense where we can create our own identity," [Von] Miller said at the Pro Bowl. "You've got the Seahawks defense, the old Bears defense. I want to get back to the Broncos defense (as) the Orange Crush. I want for us to start developing our own identity."

And with the personnel on hand, that identity should be an aggressive one. That style has been a hallmark of Phillips' defenses since he spent three seasons on Buddy Ryan's defensive staff with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1986-88.

Ryan came to Philadelphia after leading the Chicago Bears to their only Super Bowl win on the strength of their famed "46" defense, the unit Miller referenced, which was arguably the best pressure defense in NFL history. Ryan took those principles to Philadelphia, where Phillips joined him to craft a swarming unit led by Reggie White, Jerome Brown and Clyde Simmons.

But Phillips knew he needed to step out of the long shadows in which he coached for his first decade in the NFL: first his father, O.A. "Bum" Phillips, and then Ryan. That led him to Denver for his first Broncos stint in 1989, where he revitalized the Orange Crush for a new generation, applying the aggressive tactics to a defense featuring two elite safeties -- Steve Atwater and Dennis Smith -- and a pair of premium outside linebackers in Karl Mecklenburg and Simon Fletcher.

The Broncos rocketed up the defensive table in Phillips' first season, going from 22nd to 3rd in yardage allowed, 18th to third in yards per play permitted and 14th to fourth in sack rate.

Massive improvement is typical for Phillips when he joins a new team. In his eight previous stops as a defensive coordinator or head coach, his defenses shot up the league rankings, improving by an average of 10.25 spots in yards per play, 9.5 positions in sack rate and 12.5 spots in yardage allowed per game.

via http://www.denverbroncos.com/news-and-b ... 05659ca63c

This is exactly what I wanted to hear. I want an attacking defense.

Statistically we were good but we never played with an intensity and no team truly feared us. That's why the Colts had no problem coming into Denver and beating us.

[Left*My*Heart]

Phillips is a great defensive coordinator, especially his first couple of seasons with a team. I think the hiring makes the re-signing of Knighton some what of a priority and he sounded very unhappy that the Broncos had not reached out to him.

I don't see Williams having the same impact and we will need a couple of solid NTs to rotate. Everyone is stating how wonderful our defense will be utilizing the 3-4, because of our linebackers and defensive ends, but without a solid front 3 that can occupy 5 offensive linemen, our smaller backs and ends will be dealing with the meat of the offense.

[NyCeEvO]

Agreed. 3-4 defenses are most effective when you have massive NTs that can put pressure on the OL all by themselves. Once the OL is contained that gives the DLBs to attack the holes/weak areas in or around the OL.