Frank Bush

When you try and get a feel for the defensive philosophy a position coach will employ if he gets promoted to Defensive Coordinator, you look to the DC’s he’s worked under in the past. Because Frank Bush has never been a DC, we need to look at the DC’s he’s worked under to get a feel for the kind of coach he’ll probably be.

When Bush moved from Scouting to Coaching in 1992, his first DC was Jim Eddy. All I know about Jim Eddy is that his defenses used a 4 man front. Jim Eddy had a pretty good Defense in 1992, with the 9th ranked defense overall and the 3rd ranked pass defense. Keep in mind that this was during Warren Moon’s heyday, and the run and shoot was in full force. The Oilers had the 6th best scoring offense. This means that other teams needed to score lots of points to have a shot at winning, which should mean lots more passing, and yet, they still have the #3 pass defense. I’m sure part of that is the players (including Jerry Gray at CB, another possible DC), but some of the credit goes to Eddy as the DC.

In 1993, Jim Eddy was replaced with Buddy Ryan. Buddy Ryan is famous for his aggressive 46 defense. Statistically, Ryan’s ’93 Oiler defense was great against the run, but poor against the pass. If Frank Bush had been a position coach under Buddy Ryan for a few more years, he probably wouldn’t have had to wait this long to get his shot at being a DC. As it is, Ryan was only in town for one year, and although this does mean that Bush knows what a 46 defense is, and how it should work (Unlike Richard Smith), he doesn’t really come from the Buddy Ryan coaching tree.

In 1994, Jeff Fisher was the DC for the Oilers, and he too ran the 46 defense. Under Fisher, the defense was probably more aggressive than it had been under Ryan. Fisher definitely comes from the Buddy Ryan coaching tree, which means that Frank Bush has two years of experience with this system. Despite the fact that two of his first three years as a coach were under 46 DC’s, I think his stop in Denver is where he really formed his identity as a coach.

From 1995 to 2000 Frank Bush worked for the Denver Broncos where Greg Robinson was the DC. This stretch is the first time that Bush had any consistency from the DC position, and this is one of the reasons why I think he gets his core defensive philosophy from this stretch. Matt at DGDB&D has a post where he goes over some of the potential DC’s. When he gets to Greg Robinson, he bases it off of the defense that Syracuse ran while he was the HC. Frankly, that’s more analysis than I could do. If anyone can find out the defense that Greg Robinson ran at Denver, I think that’s going to be the basic style of defense that Bush would run here.

From 2001 to 2003 Bush was the special teams coach for the Broncos. I don’t really see much to take from this stint. I guess it shows that he is capable of being in charge of an entire phase of the game, even if it is special teams.

From 2004 to 2006 Bush worked for the Cardinals under Larry Marmie and Clancy Pendergast. Hopefully by this time Bush already had a defensive philosophy and didn’t absorb too much from either of these DC’s, other than how not to do your job.

So, I’m now working under the assumption that if Frank Bush gets hired as the Houston Texans Defensive Coordinator, the defense will look a lot like the Denver Broncos defense did under Greg Robinson. So, with that in mind, how does our personnel stack up with what Denver had, particularly during the Broncos 1998 season when they won their second consecutive championship.

Houston Denver DE: Mario Williams DE: Neil Smith DE: Anthony Weaver DE: Maa Tanuvasa DT: Travis Johnson DT: Keith Traylor DT: Amobi Okoye DT: Trevor Pryce SLB: Zac Diles SLB: Bill Romanowski WLB: Xavier Adibi WLB: John Mobley MLB: DeMeco Ryans MLB: Glenn Cadrez CB1: Dunta Robinson CB1: Darrien Gordon CB2: Jacques Reeves CB2: Ray Crockett FS: Eugene Wilson FS: Steve Atwater SS: Nick Ferguson SS: Tyrone Braxton Ok, we’ll just work our way down the list.

• Left Defensive End: Smith was a 6 time Pro-Bowler, and he led the league with 15 Sacks in 1993 and he made the Pro-Bowl in his fourth year pro. Mario Williams doesn’t have the same body of work, but at this point, it looks like Williams will be at least as good at DE as Neil Smith. I give the Texans a slight edge here, but Neil Smith was a pretty good DE, and the Texans get the nod here based on the fact that Mario looks better than Smith did at the same age.


• Right Defensive End: Maa Tanuvasa had an inauspicious start to his playing career, getting drafted in the 8th round (209th overall) of 1993 and not becoming a starter until 1996, but in 1998 he led the team in Sacks with 8.5. The Broncos have a huge advantage at this position. Weaver has more interceptions than he does sacks, which means that DE is still a position that needs to be addressed. Bulman or Cochran could probably be about as productive as Tanuvasa though, so if we draft a stud DE in the draft, or acquire one in Free Agency, I’ll give the Texans the tentative edge. As it is, with Bulman and Cochran still on the team, I give the edge to the 98 Broncos, but it’s a lot less if you assume that Bulman or Cochran will be playing DE than if Weaver is.


• Defensive Tackle: Keith Traylor was drafted by the Broncos in 1991 as a Linebacker. He was cut from a few different teams, and in NFL Europe he began to add weight to his frame so that he could convert to a D-lineman. In ’97, Traylor was brought back to the Broncos as a Free Agent. He led the team in tackles for D-linemen twice during his second stint there. Despite the fact that he used to be a linebacker I’m assuming that Traylor was the run-stuffing Defensive Tackle for the Broncos. Right now, the closest player we have to this position is Frank Okam. Travis Johnson has been trying to play the same role as Traylor, although nowhere near as effectively. With Johnson playing in 15 games this past season, and starting 14 (nominally at least), Johnson only registered 28 tackles compared to the 49 that Traylor had. I still think Okam has the potential to be a good DT, and to be better than Traylor, but based on what we’ve seen, the Broncos have a huge advantage at this position.


• Defensive Tackle: Trevor Pryce seems to be the penetrating DT. Pryce was drafted in 97, and in 98 he tied for the team lead in sacks with 8.5. He’s the same type of player that Amobi Okoye is, but Pryce seems to be doing much better. Pryce is currently playing DE for the Ravens in a 3-4 scheme. Amobi has the potential to be at least as good as Pryce, but he’s got to do better than he did this past year. A new coordinator and a run-stuffing DT could be just what he needs. Right now, the Broncos have the edge based on actual productivity, but Amobi could change that in the upcoming season.


• Strongside Line Backer: This position isn’t even close. Romanowski was one of the best at his position for several years. Diles performed admirably until he injured himself, especially considering he was a 7th round draft pick, but he’s no Romanowski. Part of the problem is that under Richard Smith, there wasn’t any defensive philosophy to speak of, and the two Outside Line Backers were interchangeable. Under Greg Robinson, there was a Strongside Line Backer, and his duties and responsibilities were different than those of the Weakside Line Backer. As a SLB, Romanowski is head and shoulders better than anyone we have. If you were to give Greg Robinson from 1998 our defense to work with, he’d probably be ok until he got to this position. If we’re going to run the same style offense that the Broncos did, this is a position that we need to address, either in the draft (Orakpo) or free agency. Huge edge to Denver. If Chaun Thompson is healthy next year, he would be a sleeper to play this position. He’s got the size/strength to be a SLB, and he was an OLB in Cleveland’s 3-4 defense, so he should have some familiarity with dropping back into coverage, and general linebacking responsibilities.


• Weakside Line Backer: As a rookie in 1996, John Mobley played in all 16 games, and recorded only 61 tackles. In ’97 he recorded 132 and in ’98 he recorded 111. As a rookie, Adibi only played in 7 games, but he had 35 tackles. Adibi showed flashes of brilliance, and if he continues to improve, he could easily be as good as Mobley. Right now, the edge clearly goes to Denver, but Adibi has the skill set and the potential to be a very good WLB in this type of system.


• Middle Line Backer: In 1998, Glenn Cadrez had 74 Tackles in what appears to be his first year starting at MLB, despite having been drafted in 1992 in the sixth round. DeMeco has started since his rookie year, and has been one of the best MLB’s in football. Finally, based on everything, the Texans have a huge advantage at this position.


• Corner Back 1: At CB1, Darrien Gordon was pretty good. He had 63 tackles, 13 passes defensed and 4 interceptions. Dunta had 38 tackles, 6 passes defensed and only 2 interceptions, but he only started 6 games after coming back from a horrific knee/hamstring injury. Based on his earlier production, and the production he showed after coming back from the injury, I have to give the edge at this position to Dunta. If Dunta plays all season like he did at the end of the season, he’s the better CB.


• Corner Back 2: In ’98 Crockett had 51 tackles, 13 passes defensed and 3 interceptions. Jacque Reeves had 52 tackles, 19 passes defensed and 4 interceptions. Statistically, Jacque Reeves is the better corner. As infuriating as Reeves was at the beginning of the season, he showed progress as the year progressed, and if he continues to progress, and learns to turn his head and use his arms, he could be a pretty good CB2. Right now, without knowing how well Crockett actually played, I have to give a very slight edge to Houston. Reeves being a useful component of our defense is predicated on our continued use of man coverage and not zone coverage.


• Free Safety: To put it bluntly, if Greg Robinson, or any DC for that matter, had to go from Steve Atwater to Eugene Wilson, he’d need to be put on suicide watch. Atwater went to seven straight Pro Bowls from 1990-1996, went to an eighth in 1998 and was a huge leader in the locker room. By 1998, Atwater had lost a step though, and was only playing on first and second downs. His last great season was 1997, but he was still an above average FS. Eugene Wilson is the best Free Safety the Texans have ever had, and it’s still not even close. The Broncos defense has a monumental edge at this position, and if any DC is going to have success with our defense, this position is going to need to be upgraded.


• Strong Safety: While the comparison of this position isn’t anywhere near as lopsided as for FS, Tyrone Braxton is a better SS than Nick Ferguson. In ’98 Braxton was one year away from retiring, but he was still capable of playing at a high level as demonstrated by his performance in the Super Bowl. Ferguson’s play this year has been average. Nothing spectacular, but at least we aren’t cursing his name after every game. The edge goes to the Broncos at this position as well.

So, what did we learn from that long, and tedious exercise, besides how to make people quit reading what I write? We learned that the defense for the 1998 Super Bowl Champion Broncos is better than the Houston Texans defense. That’s not really a surprise though. The point of this exercise was to see how far away the Texans are from being able to field a defense similar to the ‘98 Broncos.

At three of the most important positions (CB1, LDE and MLB) I think the Texans have better players than the Broncos did that year. At two more positions (CB2 and RDE) it’s pretty close to a draw or there is only a slight advantage one way or the other. At two more positions (DT and WLB) we have players in Amobi Okoye and Xavier Adibi that look like they’ll be as good as, if not better than, what the Broncos had. That leaves DT, SLB, FS and SS as positions that need to be addressed if we’re going to try and run a defense like the one Denver had.

With Frank Okam, we might already have the DT that we need for this scheme. Chaun Thompson (assuming he’s still alive) has the frame and the measurables to be a good fit for the SLB position. I doubt he’ll ever get close to Romanowski, but he should be competent at the position. If these two improbable players pan out, this just leaves 2 positions to be addressed during Free Agency and the Draft. That seems eminently doable.