As new Indianapolis Colts’ safety Cam Bynum gets acclimated to Lou Anarumo’s defensive scheme, one of the qualities of that system that sticks out to him and that he’s a big fan of is the aggressiveness.
“Really the aggressive mindset,” Bynum said of Anarumo’s defense when asked how it compares to Brian Flores’ defense. “That’s one thing that they share and they have in common, and that’s the mindset that I love to have on defense.
“That we’re going to send pressure, that we’re going to mix things up, variations of everything, but at the end of the day we want to go down with our best guys being aggressive and that’s the mindset I like to have. I don’t want to sit back and just let things happen in front of us, I want to be able to command the offense to be able to do what we want them to do.”
Under Anarumo, we are going are to see more blitzing from this Colts‘ defense than what we have in previous years. The cornerbacks will also be asked to play man coverage more regularly, and a key element within this system is the need for versatility in the secondary in order to disguise coverages.
Having an attacking play style gives the defense the opportunity to do the dictating, rather than reacting to what the offense is doing. The disguising of coverages, meanwhile, puts a lot on the plate of an offense, both from a preparation standpoint during the week and in-game as the quarterback deciphers what is coming.
As Anarumo has often talked about, this can then keep the quarterback, and therefore the offense as a whole, off balance, which is the ultimate goal.
“This is a defense, even just hearing from the offense,” added Bynum, “them giving us our flowers and be like, yeah, this defense is going to be really good this year because they’re going against us. Hearing that from the offense is really reassuring for us to know that we trust it and going against the offense, they’re saying the same thing, so we know that Lou’s defense is going to pay us really well this season as far as making plays.”
In his career, Bynum has operated in several different defensive schemes, which allows him to handle a variety of roles as needed, and fits well with what Anarumo wants to accomplish. Bynum also brings a ball-hawking presence to the back end of the secondary, totaling seven interceptions and 13 pass breakups over the last three seasons.
As Bynum and the defense continue to get comfortable operating in this new system, the most important thing right now is the on-field reps in order to apply what they are learning and discussing in the meeting rooms. During this time of the year, it’s about building towards September with the emphasis often on playing with the proper fundamentals, techniques, and sound communication.
“There’s nothing more than reps as far as more important,” said Bynum. “Getting reps with people is going to be the main thing that helps you guys get closer on the field.”
Bynum then added: “You’re always going to have a new teammate and new people to talk to, so you really just treat every single year regardless like it’s Year 1, where you’re really striving to get closer to the guys on and off the field, just so you can know that, I know how you play, I know your strengths and I know your weaknesses, and how can we help each other? We’re doing a good job of that so far.”
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Cam Bynum weighs in on Colts’ new defense under Lou Anarumo