This Sunday the 2014-15 NFL season will officially come to an end, and Wade Phillips didn’t set foot on a single sideline. Let’s make a pact to ensure that never happens again as long as he’s willing and healthy.
The Denver Broncos just did their part by hiring Phillips, and he’ll now be the defensive coordinator as part of a shiny new coaching staff. Before long we’ll look back on that decision as the best move during this hiring cycle.
Phillips has been a full-time head coach three times (and an interim coach three other times), seeing his most success in that role with the Buffalo Bills. Over three years he had two double-digit win season, and his teams advanced to the playoffs twice.
But that’s not the Phillips who needs to be employed at all times in football. The head coach version of Phillips can become distracted from his true calling: orchestrating a 3-4 defense that’s always among the league’s best.
Phillips has been a coordinator for seven different teams, starting with the New Orleans Saints way back in 1981. He’s totaled 24 seasons as a coordinator, and his results have been routinely staggering. During 11 of those years he’s fielded a top-10 defense in average yards allowed per game.
That sort of consistency can only be accomplished by an advanced defensive mind. In either a coordinator or head coaching role Phillips has also put together 15 defenses that rank among the top 10 against the run, and 11 top-10 units against the pass.
In summary then: He’s regularly a top-10 defensive coach. Often much better than that too, and yet somehow Phillips remained unemployed for an entire season. That was a crime against football.
In Denver he’ll work alongside new Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak again. The two last shared a sideline when they both held the same positions with the Houston Texans from 2011 to 2013. All Phillips did over that three-season stretch was lead a defense that ranked fourth overall in yards allowed per game (308.8), sixth in yards per play (5.0) and 10th in points per game (10.6).
Now with the Broncos Phillips is blessed with a defense that just sent five players to the Pro Bowl. His aggressive one-gap hybrid system allows defensive ends to focus on rushing the passer, which is a mighty fine approach when DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller are on your roster. Miller has logged 49 sacks over only 56 career games, while Ware has eight double-digit sack seasons.
A move to Phillips’ 3-4 defense will be a transition for the Broncos, though only a slight one. Former coordinator Jack Del Rio used a base 4-3, but like Phillips he still incorporated plenty of different fronts. So the Broncos already have a group of versatile defenders to suit Phillips’ preferences, and the focus will be on Miller and Ware.
The Broncos already had a quality defense in 2014, but it lacked in one critical area: pressure. Despite the presence of two scary edge rushers Denver still ranked 21st in sack rate. The most glaring inability to collapse the pocket came during a divisional-round loss to the Indianapolis Colts, when Del Rio blitzed only eight times.
The Broncos’ wealth of pass-rushing talent is ideally suited for Phillips and his defensive approach. He’ll unleash Ware and Miller quickly, making them the anchors of surely another top-10 unit.
The concern in Denver going forward lies on the other side of the ball, with Peyton Manning uncertain about his future, while both Julius Thomas and Demaryius Thomas are pending free agents. But with Phillips aboard the defense is in highly skilled hands.
