Gus Bradley stressed simplicity and collaboration as two of the keys he used to build now-legendary defenses with the Seattle Seahawks a decade ago.
Some may assume Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” units, which led the franchise to its first Super Bowl victory in 2013, were complex schemes that baffled the rest of the NFL, but the team’s ex-defensive coordinator says that’s a misconception. Bradley says the basis of the Seahawks’ defense came out of an attempt to form the best fit for his personnel that allowed it to play freely and quickly.
“Some of us that came up with it went into a room and kind of designed it,” Bradley said. “There’s always things that are copied, but the foundation of the defense, really when it was brought to our attention, ‘Hey, try to design something that allows young players to come in and play early.’ It’s not a defense that you’re going to come say, ‘I’m going to need this 12-year veteran, I need this 13-year veteran because they understand the system.’ It was not brought up in that fashion.”
Bradley now hopes to bring a similar philosophy to Las Vegas. The Raiders announced Bradley, who spent the last four years with the Los Angeles Chargers, as their new defensive coordinator Tuesday morning.
The 54-year-old plans to spend the next couple months devouring Raiders’ game film from the past couple seasons to devise the best system suited to the team before the 2021-2022 league year starts in mid-March. It’s a massive reclamation project considering Las Vegas finished 26th in the league in giving up 6 yards per play this season, the fifth straight year the Raiders have ranked in the NFL’s bottom 10 on Bradley’s side of the ball.
lvsun.com
Some may assume Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” units, which led the franchise to its first Super Bowl victory in 2013, were complex schemes that baffled the rest of the NFL, but the team’s ex-defensive coordinator says that’s a misconception. Bradley says the basis of the Seahawks’ defense came out of an attempt to form the best fit for his personnel that allowed it to play freely and quickly.
“Some of us that came up with it went into a room and kind of designed it,” Bradley said. “There’s always things that are copied, but the foundation of the defense, really when it was brought to our attention, ‘Hey, try to design something that allows young players to come in and play early.’ It’s not a defense that you’re going to come say, ‘I’m going to need this 12-year veteran, I need this 13-year veteran because they understand the system.’ It was not brought up in that fashion.”
Bradley now hopes to bring a similar philosophy to Las Vegas. The Raiders announced Bradley, who spent the last four years with the Los Angeles Chargers, as their new defensive coordinator Tuesday morning.
The 54-year-old plans to spend the next couple months devouring Raiders’ game film from the past couple seasons to devise the best system suited to the team before the 2021-2022 league year starts in mid-March. It’s a massive reclamation project considering Las Vegas finished 26th in the league in giving up 6 yards per play this season, the fifth straight year the Raiders have ranked in the NFL’s bottom 10 on Bradley’s side of the ball.
lvsun.com