DMN: Good read on "Phillips 3-4"

Last season, the Cowboys used the NFL's most simplistic 3-4 defense. That's not debatable. You are, however, allowed to debate whether Bill Parcells or Mike Zimmer is at fault.
All we know for sure is Jerry Jones has grown weary of spending millions and using premium draft picks on a defense that has yet to join the NFL's elite. Jerry hired Wade Phillips, a noted defensive specialist, to fix this.
"The Phillips 3-4 is a little bit different than some of the other ones," Phillips said. "We slant more, we give our defensive lineman a little more chance to rush the passer."
Phillips has made a career of emphasizing his best defensive players. He uses an aggressive style that relies on stunts, zone blitzes and traditional blitzes to harass quarterbacks into making mistakes.
That was a foreign concept during the Parcells Era. Parcells didn't like using blitzes and stunts on a regular basis because he thought it gave the offense too many opportunities to make big plays. The Cowboys' conservative style frustrated many defensive players, who didn't have opportunities to make plays.
Think about this: In the last few years, Jerry has spent first- or second-round picks on players such as Roy Williams, Terence Newman, DeMarcus Ware, Marcus Spears, Kevin Burnett and Bobby Carpenter. All were dynamic college performers, playmakers.
That wasn't always the case with the Cowboys last season. It's not that they didn't dominate from time-to-time, but they didn't take over games like they did in college. Spears is a perfect example.
At LSU, he made plays by using quickness and strength to shoot gaps and make tackles in the backfield. Although Spears weighs 305 pounds, he's at his best using finesse, not power. The Cowboys asked him to be a power player by lining him up over the right tackle and asking him to consistently win one-on-one battles against players who routinely outweighed him by 20-30 pounds.
Does that make sense?
Phillips beat out Norv Turner to become the Cowboys' head coach because Jerry believes defense wins championships. Really, he does.
It's clear Jerry thinks this team has the personnel to dominate on defense, otherwise the good, old days with Norv and The Triplets would be the talk of the town instead of Phillips and the 3-4 defense.
Teams that don't sack the quarterback inevitably proclaim sacks are overrated. In the last 10 years, the Cowboys have routinely fallen into this category. Ware became the first Cowboys' player since 1996 to record double-digit sacks, when he notched 11.5 last season.
Traditionally, Phillips' teams sack the quarterback.
Shawne Merriman, a linebacker taken one pick after Ware in the 2005 draft, had 17 sacks last season, despite missing four games after violating the league's substance-abuse policy. Shaun Phillips added 11.5 sacks for the Chargers, who had a league-high 61 sacks while claiming the AFC's top seed.
Phillips loves attacking on first down in hopes of creating long-yardage situations on second and third downs.
Last season, San Diego blitzed 82 times on first-down pass plays, resulting in 15 sacks. Thus, Phillips could dictate the game's tempo because the opposition often found itself in predictable passing situations. Dallas blitzed 45 times on 206 first-down passes and recorded two sacks.
San Diego had 42 sacks on first or second down; Dallas had 18.
Now you know why the Cowboys' defensive players are so excited. You can hear it in their voices. And read it in their quotes.
They know Phillips' reputation. Twenty times, said Phillips, he's led a defense that ranked among the top 10 in sacks. He's reportedly an excellent teacher, who specializes in fundamentals.
"I think I improve players – and quickly," Phillips said. "What I try to do is get my best players in position to make plays. Then I put the pressure on the best players to make plays."
That's how it should be.