Chris - Brenham, TX, US: Coach Bush, The Indianapolis Colts always have a high-powered passing attack, largely because of the great relationship between Peyton and his WRs. When playing them, what specifically will you do to try and disrupt that relationship (blitzing, bump and run, press coverage, etc)?
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush:
I want to thank all of the fans for sending in questions. The response has been overwhelming.
Chris, to answer your question, all of the above. The one thing about Peyton and his wide receivers is that if they're allowed to predict what you're doing on defense, they have a good chance of being successful. So the key for us will be to show different looks and think out of the box. That could be blitzing when they think we're playing zone, or playing zone when they think we're blitzing. It's showing multiple looks more than anything. We have to frustrate them and try to get them disjointed so that they're on different pages. When defenses do that, they tend to have more success against the Colts.
Michael - San Antonio, TX, US: Coach, I have been frustrated with the lack of success getting third down stops. I have even prayed "For the love of God can someone anyone make a stop on third down?' What will be the keys to consistantly making stops on third down(or 4th and 8)?
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: Wow, I share your sentiments. I've been frustrated and have prayed myself:) To answer your question, we're going to study more and work on how we do things and how offenses see us so that we can get ahead of the curve. We want our secondary to be more aggressive in coverage and get closer to the receivers, whether that's in man or zone. With Antonio and Mario on the defensive line, along with Amobi and the defensive tackles, we want to be more aggressive up front and pressure the quarterback. Everything goes hand-in-hand. We want to make more plays this year and get off the field on third down and fourth down.
Austin Perry - Boquete, PM: Will you blitz more this year? Especially against Indy?
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: Great question. I think that you have to have that bullet in your gun, so to speak, and blitz when it's time to blitz. I see us being aggressive, and that does not necessarily mean blitzing more often. We're going to bring a lot of people to the quarterback. As far as Peyton Manning, he is extremely talented. If you blitz him, you better be right or you will pay. So we have to be right when we blitz the Indianapolis Colts or any team for that matter.
Ronald L. Smiley - DEER PARK, TX, US: WHAT DO YOU SEE THAT IS THE TEAM'S BIGGEST WEAKNESS?
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: We've got a lot of areas that we need to improve. To say one thing is weaker than another, I don't think that's productive. We have bright spots with Mario, DeMeco, Antonio, Dunta Robinson, who is one of the most aggressive cornerbacks in the NFL. So we're going to focus on our strengths, not our weaknesses. We're going to build around those guys and then go from there.
Pattrick - Port Arthur, TX, US: Will the cornerbacks play alot of man defense, zone or mix it up.
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: We're going to mix it up. You have to. We're going to try to show similar looks and disguise our coverages and then make the quarterback think we're doing one thing and then we'll do another. We just want to make our coverages look the same and hopefully we'll trick the receiver and quarterback and force them into a mistake.
Kyle Baker - Federal Way, WA, US: How do you plan on addressing opponents rushing game in the upcoming season, based on last year's difficulties at times in stopping the run?
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: First things first, we have to take care of ourselves. We want to upgrade our talent. We started that by signing Antonio Smith and we're making some progress on other moves. The draft will be important as well. But we need to work on our scheme and put our guys in position to win. We need to be more aggressive, get faster and tackle better. So we need to focus on us and then talk about what teams are trying to do to us.
Ken - Katy, TX, US: 1st congratulations on getting the job. Secondly, how do you see the addition of Smith changing our ability to get QB pressure?
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: Thank you for the congratulations. With the addition of Antonio Smith, we have a nice 1-2 punch with Mario. They are two guys who are athletic, who get upfield and can pressure the quarterback. It's not always about sacks. Of course, we want to improve our sack totals, but it's also about pressuring the quarterback and forcing bad decisions. Antonio will complement Mario really well. He's very athletic . He has the power and speed to get upfdield. He can flush the quarterback to Mario or vice versa. Also, Antonio can help in the run game. His work ethic is excellent and he's a really good athlete.
Roger Britz - League City, TX, US: Congratulations Frank on your promotion. When describing your style of defense, what NFL teams defense would it most closely resemble? Thank you
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: Thanks for the comment. I appreciate it. That question is hard to anwer. I would say that I'd like our defense to resemble any defense that attacks, that applies constant pressure, that is aggressive up front and puts pressure in the run game and passing game. I like defenses that swarm to the football, that gang tackle, etc. To pick one team, that would be tough to say. But we want to be an aggressive unit that takes the fight to the offense. That's what we're trying to accomplish.
Jeff Obenhaus - Katy, TX, US: Mr. Bush, I am excited to see if Barber makes the starting roster this season, I think he has great potential as a safety for this team. What do you see him accomplishing this year and beyond for that matter?
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: Barber is another kid that we're excited about. He played some quality minutes last year and I believe that he had a sack in the last game. He showed constant improvement as the season went on. Next year he has to come in and compete. Hopefully, he comes in to training camp in great shape and forces us to make a tough decision. His future is bright. Hopefully he makes the decision really, really hard on us.
Johnny B. - Houston, TX, US: Hi Frank, congrats on the promotion! What are your thoughts on DT DelJuan Robinson? Do you think he will be seeing more playing time?
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: Thank you for the congratulations. We are excited about DelJuan. We like his prospects and think he's capable of being a big contributor. He's shown constant improvement. To be honest, we would like to see him get more playing time. We see him as a player on the rise.
Keith Bostic - Stafford, TX, US: Best wishes ,Frank! I just wanted to say hello and congratulations on your new position. Keep up the good work. Former team mate
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: Wow, thanks. It's good to hear from you. Actually, I'm trying to find guys that fit your model. You were a Pro Bowl safety for us and you weren't afraid to knock someone's block off. So we'd love to have some players like you here. Some of the coaches and I were just talking about you the other day, Keith.
Josh - San Francisco, CA, US: What attributes are you looking for in a Nose Tackle? For instance, is getting upfield more important than holding the point against a double-team.
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: Josh, thanks for the great question. You have to have a combination. I put a premium on players that get upfield. I like big, quick and explosive nose tackles that get upfield and penetrate to create a new line of scrimmage.
Lee - Panorama Village, TX, US: Frank, does your coaching have any of the Jerry Glanville "House of Pain" mentality in it?
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: Thanks for the question. Absolutely. We're looking for guys to run fast and hit hard. I won't say we'll have penalties, but we'll push the envelope. So yes, I would say that we're going to have some of Jerry's stuff in it.
Allen Danna - Round Rock, TX, US: What is it that you like about the way the defense has been playing?
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: There are a lot of positives about the way the defense finished last season. First of all, the players never quit. They played hard in every game. They experienced some trying times and they came together. They constantly tried to improve. As a result, we went 8-8 and finished strong in December. Individually, guys like DeMeco and Mario kept improving, and we're excited about the way Dunta finished coming off an injury. So I'm really excited about the way that the players showed heart and believed in what we were selling them. They constantly fought to win.
Frank Allwein - Katy, TX, US: Coach Bush, I've been a season ticket holder since day 1 and I've seen the Texans "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" too many times. (Mostly on defensive let-downs. How is your defensive package going to differ from what we've seen in the past?
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: Football is football, so we'll still do some things similar to last year. As I've stated previously, we want guys to play faster, more aggressive, more violent with more passion and a heightened sense of urgency. We want guys that have fun playing football. We're going to focus on finishing. Our main emphasis will be on playing to win, not to lose. So we're going to force the issue and try to close the deal this season.
rg - conroe, TX, US: frank, how the heck can we get amobi going?seems to me theres not much fire there.
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush:
We here at the Houston Texans are still Amobi Okoye fans. We think that he's got tremendous upside and tremendous talent. There are some maturity things that have to happen in the process. He's going into his third year and we're excited about where he's going to be as a football player. Not to make excuses for him, but he's 21 years old, I believe, and going into his third year of pro football. So he's going through a maturation curve as we speak. We like what he has a chance to do. We hired a football coach in Bill Kollar who knows how to light a fire in his players. We think that Amobi will benefit from Kollar.
john - austin, TX, US: Coach, Do you see Diles as a better fit to play Weakside LB? I know a lot of teams like a guy a little bigger and more athletic to be lined up over the TE. I think Chaun Thompson fits that description better and wonder if you think Thompson has an opportunity to compete to start at the SAM? I don't mean to disparage Diles. I thought he was the team's best LB for about a month of last season. I just think perhaps he should compete with Adibi on the weakside.
Defensive coordinator Frank Bush: Last year, Zac earned that starting spot because of competition. He proved that he belonged. We just wanted the best football player on the field. As far as Chaun, we're excited about him. He's been here for a year and we think that the second year will make him even better. With Zac coming off an injury, that situation is a little tenuous. We like having two guys like Zac and Chaun in our corps of linebackers and we're excited about the competition. Both guys have started in this league, so hopefully we'll get a good football player out of that situation.
