Cottrell to bring new wrinkles with little change

Thursday, Apr 12, 2007
By Tom Shanahan, Chargers.com

Chargers fans should expect difficulty spotting changes in the team’s 3-4 scheme next season under new defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell.

“We’re not making drastic changes,” Cottrell said. “The defense has been good here. We won 14 games last year.”

But for the Chargers’ opponents, Cottrell has some deception in mind. He wants opponents to think they see some changes that aren’t really changes. Or see a defense that looks the same as last year that is actually a little different.

It’s called disguising your defense, and it’s a tactic Cottrell said he learned first-hand under Buddy Ryan, the legendary NFL defensive mind. Cottrell served on Ryan’s staff with the Arizona Cardinals.

“Buddy had a way of making people think he was doing something he really wasn’t doing,” Cottrell said with a mischievous chuckle in his office. “He was disguising the defense.”

Cottrell spends his days studying video tape in his office in preparation of bringing his 22 years of experience coaching NFL defenses to his new role with the Bolts.  He’s spent eight of those 22 seasons as a defensive coordinator: three with the Buffalo Bills, 1998 to 2000; three with the New York Jets, 2001-2003; and two with the Minnesota Vikings, 2004-2005.

Cottrell has coached both the 4-3 and the 3-4 schemes and likes the flexibility a 3-4 scheme provides. One difference is in a 4-3 scheme, the quarterback can spot where the rush is coming before the snap. But in the 3-4, the quarterback doesn’t know which linebacker is the fourth man rushing.

“It gives the quarterback a little hesitation,” Cottrell said. “There is more flexibility with the 3-4.”

But in addition to favoring the 3-4, Cottrell said the Chargers’ personnel is ideally suited to run the 3-4. Jamal Williams is a Pro Bowl nose tackle playing with defensive ends in Igor Olshansky and Luis Castillo and a strong cast of linebackers.

“Jamal Williams is as good a guy as I’ve ever seen playing that position,” Cottrell said. “Everyone knows (outside linebacker) Shawne Merriman. Shawne has great ability.”

Cottrell said one focus of improving the Chargers’ defense in 2007 is better play on third-down situations.

“We want to get off the field a littler quicker and more often on third down,” Cottrell said. “We’re looking to improve our third-down defense.”

Cottrell’s defenses have consistently ranked among the NFL leaders whether his teams featured Pro Bowl picks or not. The 1999 Buffalo unit led the NFL in total defense despite no Pro Bowl picks.

Another highlight to his career as a defensive coordinator came in the 2001 season playoffs when the Jets intercepted two Peyton Manning passes and beat the Indianapolis Colts 41-0.

Cottrell, who played two years in the NFL as a linebacker after he was a seventh-round draft pick by the Atlanta Falcons in 1969, said he is looking forward to getting back on the practice field for the start of upcoming mini-camp workouts followed by training camp and the season.

“I really enjoy getting ready for a game and the feeling of winning after a game,” Cottrell said. “Coaches don’t make a lot of money, but we get our rewards watching the faces after the games when the guys come off smiling and high-fiving. Those things you can’t put a price tag on when you have that type of success.”