Pettine discussed his plans for the Bills' defense with BuffaloBills.com Thursday. (photo credit: BuffaloBills.com)
"I think the fans will be excited about it because we’re going to be high energy and we are going to be an attacking style of defense," Pettine said. "We’re going to dictate to the offense. We’re not going to sit back and let offenses dictate to us, so if you’re going beat us it’s because you’ve taken our best punch.”
Minus the guarantees, that quote just as easily could have been heard coming from Ryan's mouth in 2009 when he and Pettine joined the Jets. OK, I know. Enough with the comparisons.
Pettine said the way he configures Buffalo's defensive scheme will be "player-driven." He ran a multiple defense in New York with more 3-4-based personnel, but this time around, he'll be working with personnel more fit for the 4-3.
"We’ll be a multiple front, multiple coverage defense," he said. "The trademark of our defense is we’re going to be smart, tough and relentless.
"... I’ve always believed that you don’t fit your players to your scheme, but you fit your scheme to your players. What I see here is a group of explosive athletes and playmakers and we’re going to put them in a position to do just that. We’re going to be in the configuration that gives us the best opportunity to win football games.”
Pettine made it clear he wants to wreak havoc on opposing signal-callers. He'll have a pretty formidable tool to work with in that regard in Mario Williams.
“We’re going to take advantage of not just his, but every player on this team’s skill set and find opportunities for them to generate situations to get after the quarterback," Pettine said.
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