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Eagles defensive coordinator Billy Davis showing team tape on Steelers as they adjust to 3-4 defense

Eagles defensive coordinator Billy Davis was a defensive quality assistant under Bill Cowher and Dom Capers in 1992. After stints with several pro teams, he was hired as the Eagles defensive coordinator. He's showing his team tape of the most well-known 3-4 defensive team in the game.

By Neal Coolong
Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Name an NFL team. It's a good bet Eagles defensive coordinator Billy Davis has coached there, or has coached with a member of that team's staff.

After playing for the University of Cincinnati as a quarterback and a wide receiver, he served a stint as a graduate assistant with Michigan State.

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From there, he spent time as a quality assistant on the defensive side of the ball for the Steelers in 1992.

He learned under Bill Cowher, Dom Capers, Marvin Lewis and Dick LeBeau. Not a bad group of teachers.

From there, he went to Carolina with Capers. Then to Cleveland. Then Green Bay. Atlanta, the Giants, San Francisco, Arizona, back to Cleveland, and finally, in 2013, was named the defensive coordinator of the Eagles.

In all that time, having gained all that knowledge, he is showing his Eagles - who are transitioning into a 3-4 defense this season - film on the defensive players of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"If you want to teach a technique, the best way is to show somebody doing it correctly," Davis told Philly Mag's Sheil Kapadia. "Well, we don't have any padded film of that so we use other teams in the league that play similar techniques. And I've got a heavy background with the Steelers and a couple coaches so we just chose to use some of those."

Kapadia points out the Steelers brought five or more pass rushers on 32.7 percent of defensive snaps in 2012, the second-highest total in the league, according to Football Outsiders' 2013 Almanac. The highest? Capers in Green Bay at 34.7 percent.

Odds seem good, then the State of Pennsylvania will be the Blitz Capitol of the nation.

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