He made it clear....albeit indirectly....that he is not Dave Wannstedt. Dave believed in running the ball and playing defense. He believed your QB could be a caretaker. That the it didn't matter how many points you scored, just as long as you had the lead in the 4th quarter. He was an out-and-out conservative offensively.
Heck, he was that way on defense too. He went to the Jimmy Johnson school of "you line yours up, we'll line ours up and we'll see who makes the first mistake". No frills. No blitzing. Just base defense and man-to-man coverage.
That's a tough defense to run in the salary cap era, as you need superior players to run it and great coaches to coach it. You also need a competent offense to support it, as there is a lot of pressure placed on each man individually. But that's the contradiction that was Wannstedt.
Saban, on the other hand, believes in balance. He believes in an explosive offense and an unpredictable defense. He believes that your QB must be the catalyst. That Trent Dilfer was the exception and not the rule (although people forget Dilfer was a 28-year old three years removed from a Pro Bowl and could make plays down the field). That the best way to protect a defense is to increase the lead on offense.
He also believes that you can't just line up and let an offense attack you. You've got to make them think and work. This puts added pressure on your opponent's coaching staff and the offensive players in preparation, as they have to prepare for everything. Even things they haven't seen before (which means they can't necessarily prepare for it). And it makes turnovers far more likely. I especially liked that little story about his days at Cleveland when they were facing the Phins and his defense believed they (the defense) were going to score with the game on the line.
This is such a welcomed change. And best of all, he's a superior coach to Dave Wannstedt to begin with. So we win all around.
