Wade Phillips' 3-4 scheme might not be a big adjustment for Rams

By Alden Gonzalez

LOS ANGELES -- Wade Phillips wore his Super Bowl ring as he made the rounds in Houston last week. As he did interviews, Phillips explained that the Denver Broncos, his former team, were defending champions right up until the end of Super Bowl LI. And though their one-year reign ended with the Patriots, who beat the Falcons by orchestrating the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, Phillips is bringing a championship pedigree with him to the West Coast, as the Los Angeles Rams' new defensive coordinator.

Phillips, 69, was the first hire made by 31-year-old rookie head coach Sean McVay. Phillips has nine seasons as a full-time head coach and was a defensive coordinator for 25 other seasons. Since joining the NFL in 1976, Phillips has been part of 20 top-10 defenses and coached 30 Pro Bowlers, five of whom are in the Hall of Fame. And in each of his last six stops as a defensive coordinator, Phillips has overseen drastic improvement. When he took over the Broncos the first time, they went from 27th to fourth in DVOA in one season. The Bills went 19th to 10th; the Falcons: 26th to 12th; Chargers, 30th to 13th; and Texans: 31st to sixth.

In his second stint with the Broncos, they went from fourth to first.

Phillips' Broncos were the NFL's best defense each of the last two seasons, one of which ended in that Super Bowl 50 title. Though perhaps not as dynamic and deep, Phillips inherits another solid defense with the Rams, led by arguably the game's best interior lineman in Aaron Donald. Phillips will convert the unit from a 4-3 to a 3-4, but it might not be all that different.

We'll isolate three key traits from Phillips' defense in Denver in 2015 to '16. You can find the same for McVay's offense with the Washington Redskins in this post.

A 3-4 that acts like a 4-3

A lot has been made about the Rams going from four down linemen to three under Phillips, but Phillips himself has stressed that "those who can rush are going to rush."

Under Phillips these last two years, the Broncos used three pass-rushers on only 41 offensive snaps, lower than all but four teams during that time. ESPN Stats & Info has the Broncos ranking fourth in the amount of times they utilized five pass-rushers during that stretch, slightly more than Gregg Williams' defense with the Rams. But ESPN Broncos reporter Jeff Legwold, who charts every defensive play, will tell you that Phillips used four pass-rushers the vast majority of the time, continually varying which linebacker he used to get to the quarterback.

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