A near certainty for '17 Rams: Wade Phillips will improve the D...

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A near certainty for the 2017 Rams: Wade Phillips will improve defense

Wade Phillips is heading into his 40th season in the NFL. It will come, for the 26th time, as a defensive coordinator, and he'll do it for the Los Angeles Rams, his 10th different franchise. In less than a month he will be 70 years old, four whole decades older than the vast majority of the players he will coach.

Last week, at the start of the Rams' rookie minicamp, Phillips was asked about his expectations for those players in 2017 and said: "We expect to do things well quickly."

You should believe him.

Phillips -- the unlikeliest of Twitter sensations -- brings to L.A. a sparkling track record as a defensive coordinator. Basically every defense he has ever inherited has performed significantly better in the first year, regardless of the scheme it ran before him. That includes the Broncos, who went from great (third in yards allowed in 2014) to historic (first in several categories in 2015). And it includes a Texans defense that didn't have a true offseason because of the 2011 lockout, yet still went from 29th to fourth in points allowed.

Before joining the Rams, Phillips had taken over as a defensive coordinator or head coach nine times. Only once did a team not improve significantly on defense in the first year. That distinction belongs to the 1986 Eagles, who fell from 10th to 17th in yards allowed during Phillips' first season. That year, though, Phillips, who specializes in running a 3-4 base set, ran the 46 defense under former Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan. And within three years, Phillips was replaced by none other than former Rams coach Jeff Fisher.

Every other defense -- the 1981 Saints, 1989 Broncos, 1995 Bills, 2002 Falcons, 2004 Chargers, 2007 Cowboys, 2011 Texans and 2015 Broncos -- was better with Phillips.

And not by a little, either.

"I’ve had a lot of good players, you know," Phillips said. "But I attribute some of that to our teaching, the way we teach them. We don’t make many mistakes. We make sure we don’t make many mental mistakes, as far as alignment, assignment, and then we work really hard on fundamentals and techniques and try to improve each player."

Below is a look at each defense before and after Phillips came in. They're listed with their rankings in defensive DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average), then yards and points allowed, followed by the number of Pro Bowl players from that defense. Phillips, who has coached 30 Pro Bowl players and has been a part of 20 top-10 defenses, started as defensive coordinator at all those stops except Dallas, where he was head coach. His defenses before 1988 are not listed because DVOA was unavailable for them.

2014-15 Denver Broncos

Before Phillips: 4th in DVOA, 3rd in yards allowed, T-16th in points allowed; 5 Pro Bowlers.

After Phillips: 1st in DVOA, 1st in yards allowed, 4th in points allowed; 5 Pro Bowlers.
2010-11 Houston Texans

Before Phillips: 31st in DVOA, 30th in yards allowed, 29th in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.

After Phillips: 6th in DVOA, 2nd in yards allowed, 4th in points allowed; 2 Pro Bowlers.
2006-07 Dallas Cowboys

Before Phillips: 14th in DVOA, 13th in yards allowed, 20th in points allowed; 2 Pro Bowlers.

After Phillips: 9th in DVOA, 9th in yards allowed, 13th in points allowed; 4 Pro Bowlers.
2003-04 San Diego Chargers

Before Phillips: 30th in DVOA, 27th in yards allowed, 31st in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.

After Phillips: 13th in DVOA, 18th in yards allowed, 11th in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.
2001-02 Atlanta Falcons

Before Phillips: 26th in DVOA, 30th in yards allowed, 24th in points allowed; 1 Pro Bowler.

After Phillips: 12th in DVOA, 19th in yards allowed, 8th in points allowed; 1 Pro Bowler.
1994-95 Buffalo Bills

Before Phillips: 19th in DVOA, 17th in yards allowed, 22nd in points allowed; 1 Pro Bowler.

After Phillips: 10th in DVOA, 13th in yards allowed, T-12th in points allowed; 2 Pro Bowlers.
1988-89 Denver Broncos

Before Phillips: 27th in DVOA, 22nd in yards allowed, 20th in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.

After Phillips: 4th in DVOA, 3rd in yards allowed, 1st in points allowed; 3 Pro Bowlers.
The Falcons, Chargers, Texans and Broncos (the second time around) each made the transition from a 4-3 to a 3-4 under Phillips.

The Rams will do the same.

Last year, under Gregg Williams, the Rams finished 15th in DVOA and 23rd in points allowed. But they were also ninth in yards, and a major reason for the lopsided scores was an offense that gave up way too many turnovers, never really dominated the time of possession and finished as the NFL's least productive unit by a wide margin. Since then, the Rams -- led by Aaron Donald, Alec Ogletree and Trumaine Johnson -- have added a couple of starters in linebacker Connor Barwin and cornerback Kayvon Webster. Robert Quinn (defensive end to outside linebacker) and Lamarcus Joyner (slot corner to free safety) will play different positions, at least in 3-4 packages.

They should all benefit from Phillips, who has a knack for keeping his scheme simple and adjusting it to fit the strengths of his personnel.

"I really like the group," he said of the Rams. "I think we have a lot of really good players. We have to utilize that talent, but I think we have a lot of talent to do some really good things. They had a really good defense last year. I think they were ninth, but they were 23rd in points given up, so we have to shore that up. We have an opportunity to do that with the personnel we have."