Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips is one of the most accomplished coaches in the NFL. Coming off his first Super Bowl title, the veteran assistant is also one of the most outspoken.
That didn’t change following Denver’s shutout win over the Chicago Bears in its preseason opener on Thursday.
After receiving criticism regarding his blitz packages in the exhibition game, Phillips lashed out against those who determined he broke some sort of unwritten rule.
“Five sacks were four-man rush — two sacks were five-man rush — five sacks were blitzes,” Phillips said Sunday, via a local ABC News affiliate. “Funny how ‘experts’ don’t know a blitz from a dog. There are also pseudo blitz and dog schemes.”
Phillips isn’t calling these skeptics dumb. Instead, he’s indicating they don’t know the difference from base defenses, blitz schemes and a combination of the two.
The old-school defense wiz also doesn’t fall in line with those believing that bland defenses should be the name of the game in the preseason.
It’s pretty funny that Denver is the team receiving criticism after the horrendous offensive performance Chicago put up on Thursday (more on that here).
On a related note, game film does indeed suggest that the majority of Denver’s seven sacks did not come on all-out blitzes.
Instead, it was a combination of fine-tuning the team’s scheme and giving its deep core opportunities to prepare for the regular year.
Criticism of this ilk is akin to someone saying a professional football team shouldn’t run the score up on its opponent.
If the Bears had the scheme and personnel to match Denver’s defensive domination, this would have all been a moot point.