Sunday, January 18, 2009
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/steelers/
No one knows the Steelers' defense better than Dick LeBeau. No one knows Baltimore's defense better than Rex Ryan.And no one knows both defenses in today's AFC championship game like Marvin Lewis.
As head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals since 2003, Lewis must prepare for each of the two AFC North Division teams twice annually. It almost seems unfair because not only are the Steelers and Ravens normally among the NFL's best defenses, this season they ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
Some of that is Lewis' fault -- he coached both teams' defenses and helped formulate the style of play each uses to this day.
Lewis coached the linebackers on Bill Cowher's first Steelers staff, which included Dick LeBeau and Dom Capers, when they installed the defense still in use: the 3-4 zone blitz that LeBeau devised. Lewis left the Steelers in 1996 to become defensive coordinator of the Ravens, where he had built one of the greatest defenses in history, a defense still led by Ray Lewis, by the time the team won the Super Bowl after the 2000 season.
Marvin Lewis will watch today's game on television, but he has had a front-row view of these defenses for more than 15 years. Not surprisingly, he believes defense wins championships, and the winner tonight has a great chance to take home the next Lombardi Trophy.
"I think most teams that stay at the top think defense is the way to go," said Lewis, who graduated from Fort Cherry High School in McDonald and coached at Pitt before joining the Steelers' staff. "If you can run the football and play good defense, you have a chance to make your own way in November and December and deep into January."
Lewis declined to pick a winner today or even say if he's rooting for one over the other -- "Oh, I can't pull; they're my second- and third-favorite teams," he said. He made it clear, though, why both defenses have dominated in the league for so long: consistency and culture.
The consistency in Pittsburgh comes from ownership's ability to keep a head coach -- and LeBeau -- in place. In Baltimore, Rex Ryan, who worked under Lewis with the Ravens, has been defensive coordinator since Lewis left.
Culture is not as easy to pin down. It's something that develops and passes from player to player. Ray Lewis has had the major impact in Baltimore while the Steelers of today benefit from a baton that began in the Chuck Noll era -- from players such as Rod Woodson, Greg Lloyd and Carnell Lake down the line.
"In Pittsburgh, the [defensive] system has stayed in place," Lewis said, "so when you lose a player, you can plug others in and keep going. Look at the evolution at outside linebacker and inside linebacker, and the secondary has evolved. Aaron Smith and those up-front guys are probably the next evolution that has to occur.
"When only one or two new guys come in, you don't have to make wholesale changes if you don't change coaches and systems."
Lewis noted that what helped Greg Lloyd get better was the addition of Kevin Greene on the other side in 1993.
"Greg stepped up and wasn't going to let Kevin outdo him. I could talk until I was blue in the face and Greg didn't hear me until Kevin came. That's what happens and makes things go the way they go."
That developed in both cities and prompted a devotion to study that Lewis said is a primary reason each defense has succeeded.
"When you walked into the classroom and saw Lake and Woodson take notes, how could you not take notes? Those are the things that breed and they multiply."
It's like Santonio Holmes or Nate Washington watching Hines Ward block; how can they not want to block?
The same holds true with the Ravens. Ray Lewis, a first-round draft choice in 1996 off a 4-12 team, helped set the tone for what would follow. When Lewis invited teammates over to his house for extra study time at night, who was going to not show up?
"It's so important to him," Marvin Lewis said. "What he does and how he does it -- the way he trains, it's very, very important to him and that's never changed. Ray was the youngest of [former Ravens] Peter Boulware and Jamie Sharper. They got Bart Scott and he was able to come along and learn the right way, and they continue to plug guys in.
"Adalius [Thomas] was a puppy, a fly on the wall and learned from them. He was able to teach those other guys and went on and passed the torch.
"It's like those guys in Pittsburgh -- from Greg to Kevin to Jason [Gildon] to Joey [Porter]."
And now to a new generation of linebackers: James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons. In Baltimore, they added a big piece with linebacker Terrell Suggs in 2003 (and another starter, end Jarret Johnson) and with nose tackle Haloti Ngata in 2006. Suggs followed in the footsteps of defenders such as Boulware and Thomas; they could play end or linebacker, and the Ravens could switch between a 3-4 and 4-3 on the fly without changing personnel.
Both defenses have evolved, but the culture of greatness continues in both locker rooms and will be displayed at Heinz Field this evening. Lewis can't wait to watch it, although he prefers his coaches' tapes to television so he can witness the whole thing in all its intricacies.
The man who coached with LeBeau and Ryan and now against them knows he's in for a treat tonight.
"It'll come down to who makes the most plays on offense," Marvin Lewis said. "Someone will have to make some plays on offense, in the passing game down the field. Someone has to make a third down, and someone has to run the football."
Oh, really?
Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com.
First published on January 18, 2009 at 12:00 am
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