PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) \u2013 I think if reporters could have, they would have kept new Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham for hours talking about his thoughts on the Steelers defense. He got peppered with questions about schematics and personnel in his first group interview since being hired.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s April. I mean, trust me, we got some stuff cooking,\u201d Graham said with a smile.<\/p>\n
Graham is known for his ability to alter his defenses based on personnel. He\u2019s also got a little mad scientist in him finding unique ways to position players. What he is doing now in film work and meetings is figuring out exactly what he has. On Monday, field work debuts as the team goes through offseason workouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot every roster is built the same,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI have to do what’s best for the guys. It’s unfair not to play to the roster. That\u2019s why you hear in every press conference I\u2019ve ever done, there\u2019s no Pat Graham playbook.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe playbook evolves once I get around the guys.\u201d <\/p>\n
As he learns the roster, he starts with a 3-4 base and implements options depending on the strengths of his personnel. That could change as the offseason evolves, in training camp or even during the season. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have my principles, I have the things I want to do, but to truly get a grasp of<\/p>\n
the scheme, it evolves as we go along, figuring out the players and what they do best,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n
Graham then explained a little of how the process works.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I’ll do is narrow down what we’re going to do schematically on early down,\u201d Graham said Friday. \u201cI’m not big on having a lot of different schemes for early down. And we’ll find ways to be multiple within it. But I try to keep it in five buckets from there.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThen what I tell them is we’re going to get really good at this, knock out the run game, prevent shots on early-down passing game, and then we’ll get to second-and-long and third down. That’s when we get to the fun stuff. That’s where the imagination goes wild.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the funny thing I tell them all the time, you might forget something we installed on day one that had to deal with early-down base defense, but if we come up with some funky third-down blitz package that you might get a sack, they\u2019re not going to forget that. So, joking with them about that.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s my approach. But really, I’m not going to try to venture too far off from<\/p>\n
what this city has been known for. We\u2019ve got to play hard-nosed, physical football. We have to have an intimidating play style. And if I\u2019m honest, the first two weeks of meetings I\u2019ve had with the players have been more about how we\u2019re going to play, and the vision I have as the coordinator of how we\u2019re going to play, how we\u2019re going to get stuff done before we even get into the calls.\u201d<\/p>\n
There isn\u2019t a feeling from Graham that he feels they need to be completely different from recent defenses, at least in terms of structure. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey had such a good foundation here,\u201d Graham said. \u201cCoach Tomlin, TA [Teryl Austin], Denzel [Martin], I mean, I knew all these guys. And, one of my best football days of my life was meeting with Coach Tomlin for eight hours and talking about football. So, there’s a foundation established here, and he’s part of that. We’re all trying to earn our place in it this year.\u201d<\/p>\n