Interesting nuggets on Jim Washburn’s philosophy, from Rich Hoffman:
“I know that Jason Babin is not a great run player,” he said. “But in this thing we’re doing, if he does it the right way, he can be adequate – or more than adequate.
“We could put a 300-pounder out there and he would be a whole lot better [against the run)] But this is 54 percent pass on first down in the NFL. So if you get some big stud out there that can play the run, crush the run, but can’t rush the passer, then you’ve conceded 54 percent of the time.
“[Babin] can be a whole lot better as a run player, but he wasn’t terrible. That’s the truth.”
Washburn says the goal is to hit the quarterback every pass play, and he says that his team’s performance tends to be more about what they do than what the opponent does, and that when he shows different formations and such – like when he has a player standing up and not in a stance – it tends partly to be about making the other teams waste time in practice on inconsequential stuff, and partly keeping his own guys interested. That last part, he says, is a big part of the job.