If Sean McVay gave Rams fans major pause, hiring Wade Phillips had to feel like a second Christmas. Gregg Williams was fine for a few years but he and Fisher had a penchant for allowing dumb penalties at the worst possible time and last year his unit flat out quit on him getting blown out in five of their last six games. On top of that it never sat well with a lot of people that Williams got another coaching gig so soon after ratting out the Saints during Bountygate. He had to go and the Rams did the right thing for the first time in a long time by hiring Wade Phillips. It is baffling that he was available in the first place because his Broncos defenses were absolutely stellar. They were the number one pass defense in the league by a wide margin and were even rated among the top ten pass defenses of all time according to Football Outsiders.
For a Rams defense that ranked 15th in DVOA, 16th in pass defense, and 6th against the run, Wade Phillips will feel like Manna from Heaven. For linebacker Alec Olgetree he will be the next great disruptive linebacker in Wade’s defense as Phillips has made stars out of Shawn Merriman, DeMarcus Ware, and Von Miller. The defensive line should also greatly benefit as his defensive schemes utilize the line this should make the destructive tandem of Robert Quinn and Aaron Donald even better. Donald especially will continue his ascent to being one of the five best defensive players in the league. Phillips will be the best defensive coach Donald has ever had and considering the kind of destruction he’s put on opposing offenses already, this should strike fear in the hearts of many next season.
[youtube id=”Enter video ID (eg. USHZZ5bwASU)” width=”620″ height=”360″][youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElWBU1k-jRk&w=560&h=315]Wade’s impact is likely to be immediately felt and this will also be of benefit to new head coach Sean McVay because Wade has been in the league for over forty years as both a coordinator and head coach. He can pass on all the wisdom he’s acquired through his many decades and Wade is already looking forward to that mentor role given his tweet about the Rams coaching staff.
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js“>http://<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Rams have the only staff with DC on Medicare and HC in Daycare</p>— Wade Phillips (@sonofbum) <a href=”https://twitter.com/sonofbum/status/827224820169441284″>February 2, 2017</a></blockquote> //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The Rams made a great hire and hopefully this is a sign of smarter decision making to come in the future. There’s still a lot of work to be done but this is definitely a step in the right direction.
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