forgive me if this has been posted already....but I found some interesting quotes regarding Wilks and his defensive system
"According to Football Outsiders, a media group that reports and explains advanced football statistics, the 2019 Arizona Cardinals operated out of the nickel for a league-high 84% of defensive snaps when Wilks was the Cardinals' head coach. However, the nickel back in this case plays much closer to the line of scrimmage and is expected to be able to defend run and pass plays."
"It's a lot more schematic, a lot more disciplined defense," safety Martez Manuel said. "We've really been preaching physicality and effort all summer," "Physical defense is something that I think the fans can be ready to see."
"Wilks said Tuesday he likes to use nickel backs for their versatility within his defensive scheme as players who have the ability to cover receivers, but can also blitz quarterbacks or rotate different coverages."
"No. 1, it is just about gap integrity," Wilks said of how to improve the run defense. "That is what our defense has been about for years. It is everybody having their gap. It is everybody doing their job. It starts with trust, great communication, technique and fundamentals"
"We are a 4-3 base. We are very multiple in what we are doing. I think you have to be in this day in age with all of the different things you are seeing. It can change week to week. I am aggressive by nature, but it is all about trying to put your guys into the best position to be successful."
Forgive the multiple sources for the quotes, they are from several different articles.... I was trying to get a feel for what he likes to do and really did not want to post the same thing over and over from each source. I also wanted to get the "coach speak" stuff out of the way...you know....the...we have to stop the run on first down type stuff...
It does appear, he very much puts players in a silo...ie....do your job and handle your area. If what he says is accurate, I think we will see more creative and aggressive defense on 3rd downs.
It also appears at least at some stops, he viewed the Nickel Back as almost like a hybrid linebacker or safety and used hm close to LOS....... I really hope Huff can meet his coverage requirements because it sounds ideal for Huff given he likes to blitz Nickel Backs.
One other thing, several places posted his ranking jumps, he quite often jumped 10-20 plus spots in pass coverage when he moved job to job and appears to be at least somewhat known for getting rookie CBs to play at an above average level. I don't know if that is just a normal improvement from moving to a base nickel defense, or if that is the actual improvement of the players. I guess the next most logical step to take is track what his run defense has looked like in all the places he ran heavy nickel.
one other thing I saw....this was from his time at Mizu.....
He has also gotten the players involved in teaching his defense to the point where the defensive linemen could tell the defensive backs what the secondary's responsibilities are.
it sounds like a guy with a clear blueprint and he drills his team to know the entire picture. Considering how complex coverage has been under Ryans, we had lots of instances of people out of place and not taking the same read on the offense, I wonder if we are in store for more basic coverages or if he just drills players harder on their assignments.
[ Edited by Dshearn on Feb 7, 2023 at 12:27 PM ]
