Bush reveals how the defense will play football this year.
 

At Houstontexans.com, there was a one hour chat with Frank Bush. A lot of the questions were silly but he did reveal some interesting things. I'm going to list some nuggets below:

1. Base defense will have the DBs, particularly the CBs, playing tighter to the line of scrimmage.

2. Coverages will be mixed a lot. They'll play zone, man, and hybrid and attempt to disguise them pre-snap.

3. More effort will be put into understanding how opposing offenses are attacking us and making changes in response to it.

4. Primary goals of the defense include: getting to the QB and confusing the QB.

5. Bush is willing to risk giving up some big plays in order to make more plays on defense.

6. Bush acknowledges that last year the defense played "not to lose" but will play more aggressively in an effort to "win". His answer was in response to their lack of success on 3rd downs. He attributed it to a lack of agression.

How exactly will he be inducing this nap? That will be a sight to see . . .

Milk and cookies, followed by playtime on the jungle gym. I know I'm ready for a nap after that.

1,2,3 & 4 would seem to be DEFENSE 101. Numbers 5 & 6 would seem to more of a philosophy change than 1 - 4. Am I missing something?

what new defensive coordinator is going to come into a program and say "last year we played too aggresive, next season we are going to play not to lose"? all this is just talk until we see it on the field. i hope he means it, but i am a bit jaded on kubiak's defensive coordinator selections at this point.

If I remember correctly, Smith tried a couple of years ago to be more agressive, but the talent level of the front seven was so thin that the secondary was getting burned repeatedly. So Smith went the other direction.

Hopefully, the talent level of the front seven will be good enough this year to keep some pressure off our DBs.

Talent level of the front 4, I'm not so sure about, but the LBs should be significantly improved.

Last year I thought we got outcoached a lot on defense. If Bush can do a better job with the first four above, we should hold our own against most teams this year. Of course the proof will be in the pudding.

1. Base defense will have the DBs, particularly the CBs, playing tighter to the line of scrimmage. - This should help Molden and Bennett

2. Coverages will be mixed a lot. They'll play zone, man, and hybrid and attempt to disguise them pre-snap. - This is why they want interchangeable SS/FS.

3. More effort will be put into understanding how opposing offenses are attacking us and making changes in response to it. - Is this a verbal shot at the old Defensive Coordinator?

4. Primary goals of the defense include: getting to the QB and confusing the QB. - This has got to be accomplished by getting a pass-rushing specialist on 3rd down along with LBs who can blitz. Cato June isn't going to be registering too many sacks.

5. Bush is willing to risk giving up some big plays in order to make more plays on defense. - Will he be willing to blitz the FS and SS more often?

6. Bush acknowledges that last year the defense played "not to lose" but will play more aggressively in an effort to "win". His answer was in response to their lack of success on 3rd downs. He attributed it to a lack of agression. - I attribute most of it to piss-poor tackling. It would be nice to have defenders who put people on the ground when they wrap them up. It is infuriating to watch a Texan LB tackle a RB from behind and then get dragged 3 or 4 yards. This is why I am on the Clay Matthews, Chip Vaugh, Scott McKillop band wagon.

Nice to see some changes.

Eric Winston with more insight into the defense this season:
Someone sent this link to me apparently by Pete Carroll about the 4-3 under philosophy. Terrific read. Especially interesting when you think that Cushing is a Trojan needed to play the Sam in this defense PLUS the team added another former Trojan in Shaun Cody as well.

Do you know if Cody played the Nose or 3-Tech at SC?

USC linemen moved around a bit, but unless I'm mistaken, I think Mike Patterson played more nose and Cody more 3-technique in college. In certain blitz packages and passing downs, maybe Cody played nose? Not sure.

I noted this little tidbid and the fact that Carroll based his philosophy from Monte Kiffin.

"The Will linebacker can be a smaller player. He is generally protected in the defensive schemes and will not see as many blocks. All you want him to do most plays is flow and chase the football. We want our fastest linebacker at this position."

This makes sense considering Cato June played for Kiffin last year for the Bucs. This may make Xavier Adibi a more valuable asset. While I'm not sure a 4.69 in the 40 is exactly the "fastest linebacker" we could have at the position. I'm willing to to let this be decided on the field. However, I'm still targeting a LB playing at Missouri in next year's draft. He could be "Spoon" fed this defense.

Great read, thanks for sharing this Keith