Turning up the pressure

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Defense has defined Jim Johnson as a coach, and his tactics with the Philadelphia Eagles have been copied by many NFL teams. But Johnson's roots are on offense -- he was a collegiate quarterback and became a defensive specialist almost by chance.

"I've been involved with defense most of my career," said the Eagles' defensive coordinator yesterday. "When I went to Missouri Southern [in 1967], it was a small college and I had to do both offense and defense. Then, I went to Drake [in 1969] and became defensive coordinator, and it's been defense ever since. Things just sort of worked out that way."

But quarterbacking is still a part of Johnson's mind-set, and his sense of the position is a factor in how he defuses opposing offenses. Or is it?

"I don't know," Johnson said. "That was 30-40 years ago when I was playing quarterback. Things have changed quite a bit."

Johnson, though, appears to understand better than most the need to challenge a quarterback's concentration. The Eagles qualified for the Super Bowl with a dominating performance in a 27-10 win over Atlanta, almost completely negating Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. Johnson had defensive ends Derrick Burgess and Jevon Kearse keying on Vick, the line patiently commanding the line of scrimmage, some selective blitzing. Inevitably, Vick would be funneled into trying to make difficult plays. Johnson's defenses have confronted Vick twice in the playoffs and allowed one touchdown.

But Sunday's game against the Patriots will not be quite as simple for Johnson.

The Patriots defeated the Eagles, 31-10, Sept. 14, 2003. And the Patriots' addition of running back Corey Dillon this season complicates Johnson's strategy.

"Last year, we did a pretty good job of stopping the run game, and we didn't do as good of a job against the pass," Johnson said. "Now, all of a sudden, they are more balanced, and it sets up the play-action pass better for Tom Brady. They've got exactly what they want, a situation where they can run and it sets up their play-action passing, which they do as well as anybody in the league."

The Patriots totaled 62 yards rushing in defeating the Eagles in 2003. Dillon averaged more than 100 yards rushing per game this season.

"First of all, he is a pounding runner, which makes them twice as effective as a team from when we played them last year," Johnson said. "But Dillon can also get outside. He gained a lot of yards this year and had a lot of big plays."

As good as Dillon has been, Johnson is eager for the challenge of taking on Brady.

"It all starts out with Tom Brady, just the way he manages that offense," Johnson said. "He is in complete control and he doesn't get rattled.

"The thing that Brady does, even though you blitz him, he's 6-5, he gets rid of the ball, and I might even say he looks 6-9 back there. But he sees things, he's smart, and he manages the offense well. You still have to blitz and we will. We just have to make sure we disguise it well, which we will be working on, but he is a hard guy to blitz because he does see things so well, and he knows exactly what the offense wants to do, and he is the leader of it.

"I have great admiration for Tom Brady. He doesn't put them in bad situations. He doesn't turn the ball over and in two-minute situations he is as good as anybody."

Johnson has been an Eagles assistant since being recruited by coach Andy Reid in 1999. Four years later, when Johnson was being courted by San Francisco, Reid lobbied for him to receive a four-year contract extension to become the highest-paid coordinator in the league. Johnson, 63, probably signed away any hope of becoming a head coach.

"I was never angry about it," Johnson said of being bypassed for head coaching positions. "I get angry about other things, like mistakes on the field. I don't worry about it. I didn't want to work on being a head coach, where you get up and make sure you call this guy or that guy. I like coaching and I wanted to be able to devise my own system, and I am able to do that."

Johnson is a Midwesterner, born in Maywood, Ill., beginning his coaching in Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri. But with the emergence of the West Coast offense in the 1980s, Johnson has become a proponent of what could be described as the East Coast defense.

"It was around 1994 or '95, when I was with the [Indianapolis] Colts," Johnson said. "And we were playing against San Francisco with Steve Young running the West Coast offense, releasing receivers all the time, guys getting by you. The idea was don't let these people dictate to you. You have to put more pressure [on the quarterback], and every year we tried to figure out how to do that."

If Johnson's philosophy sounds similar to the Patriots', it's for good reason. Johnson and Patriots coach Bill Belichick have a close relationship. "We talk in the offseason," Johnson said. "What he is doing is very complicated, but it is very sound. What he does so well is, he gets the right scheme and gets the matchups right."