He was defensive coordinator from 1989-92, when Dan Reeves was winding down a stint that included three Super Bowls. Then Phillips became head coach when Reeves got fired. Then, six jobs later (eight if you count two of his stints as interim head coach), he returned at age 68 to become the defensive coordinator again, this time working for John Elway and Gary Kubiak.
"Just winning is the big thing," he said.
The testimonials from his current players are consistent.
Though Wade may be missing the 10-gallon hat and the cowboy boots, the coach with the Twitter handle @sonofbum really is a chip off the ol' block — sharp as a tack and quick with a quip. And, just like his dad, Son of Bum can coach a little, too.
Over the decades, he has been shoehorned into this classification: great defensive coordinator, but someone who cannot hold down the top job.
If that sounded familiar, it was a de-Texas-ized version of his dad's old homage to Don Shula: "He can take his'n and beat your'n, and take your'n and beat his'n."
"He said, 'My goal is to be the greatest defensive coordinator in the history of the NFL," Elway said. "I liked that statement."
He's learned to live with that, and it eventually led him to what is, officially, his third job with the Broncos.
But the next year, the Oilers lost in the wildcard round to the Raiders, who also went on to win the Super Bowl. By New Year's Eve of 1980, both Wade and his daddy were out of jobs.
No magic to it, he insists, as he gets ready for the season's biggest challenge — stopping Cam Newton and the Panthers. Essentially, Phillips says, the key to coaching — the key to life, really — is to keep things simple. And stay aggressive. And never forget, first and foremost,Scarpe Adidas Italia, this is a game about connecting with people.
It's possible that the close, personal connections he builds with players is the sort of thing that make a guy a great assistant but not so great as the head coach.
"My dad was my hero, not just my dad," Phillips said. "Everything I learned about football and about people, and about how to work with people, is from him."
If he can hatch something to stop Newton, Phillips will win his first Super Bowl ring. That missing piece would draw him one step closer to the career goal he articulated to Elway: best defensive coordinator in history.
Phillips has been fired from both positions more times than he can count.
Asked if that was his best game plan ever,Antonio Brown Jersey, Phillips demurred. He recalled other great plans that worked but came up short.
Won't be easy.
"That's when I realized that you've just got to coach as hard as you can, do the best you can," Phillips said. "Someone will recognize it if they want."
The plan Phillips concocted against Bill Belichick,Clearance Hockey Jerseys, Tom Brady and the Patriots two weeks ago is being widely hailed as a stroke of genius. Mr. Aggressive threw off the Pats by often rushing only three players, lining up defensive linemen and linebackers in awkward spots and keeping Brady off-balance. The Broncos hit Brady 23 times, one short of double the most he had been hit all year.
This season's Broncos are No. 1 in yards allowed,Wholesale MLB Jerseys, passing yards allowed and sacks. But Phillips' head-coaching record is 82-61, and he has a grand total of one playoff win. Of his three head-coaching stints,Allen Crabbe Jersey, in Denver, Buffalo and Dallas, none lasted longer than four seasons.
Phillips says he learned the most in Houston, where he teamed up with his dad in the late '70s to form one of the best teams in football. But the Oilers had the bad luck of being good at when Pittsburgh was putting the finishing touches on a dynasty. They lost two straight years to the Steelers in the AFC title game. After the second one, came what might have been Bum's finest moment.
"It's different with every quarterback," Phillips said of the challenge of stopping Newton. "But he is different than any quarterback."
"He's hilarious. He'll dance and goof around," defensive lineman Derek Wolfe said. "But then when it's time for business, it's time for business. We take on that personality as a team."
The old man couldn't have said it any better.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — A few weeks ago, Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips went to great pains to describe glowingly a certain coach with the initials "B.B." — a coach he would go on to out-scheme an