By Jay Skurski
Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Mike Pettine met with the Western New York media for the first time this afternoon.
Here was his response when asked what the identity of the Bills' defense will be in 2013: "We're going to play smart, we're going to be tough, we're going to be relentless, we're going to put pressure on you. We're going to force quarterbacks, we're going to force offenses to make very quick decisions. We're going to take our best shot at you.
"We're not going to be a read-and-react defense. That is not in our vocablulary. I think in this league to be successful you have to be aggressive. I don't think you can be reckless, your aggresion has to be calculated, but if you want to sum up what we'll be, it's going to be an attack style."
Pettine was also asked what he envisoned for the Bills' base defense.
"We are a multiple front, multiple packages. We'll be in 3-4, we'll be in 4-3, we'll be in 46, if you can draw up a front, we'll probably be in it," he said. "The cornerstone of our system is its flexiiblity and its multiplicity, that you can mold it to your talent.
"Who is on the roster? What do they do well? That's what we are going to build the system around.
The way the league is trending with the spread offenses, you're in nickel defense, you're in sub defense more than you are in base anyway. I think it's getting to the point where your third-down defense is almost your base. We'll be as multiple in third down as we are in early downs. Offenses are too good to sit in one front and be categorized as a 3-4 or 4-3."
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