Wade Phillips is known for his aggressive style of defense, rarely playing it conservatively on the outside with his cornerbacks or up front on the defensive line. He likes to have his corners match up and play man coverage while also sending extra rushers on blitzes.

That trend continued last season in his first year with the Los Angeles Rams, leading the team to the sixth-most interceptions and fourth-most sacks in the NFL. Unfortunately, the run defense was abysmal and the Rams gave up too many big plays, but Phillips did a great job in Year 1.

He leaned heavily on the blitz last season, particularly on first and second down. According to Pro Football Focus, Phillips sent at least one extra rusher 37 percent of the time on first down, which ranked fourth in the NFL.

The most interesting team here is the Rams, who blitzed on 37 percent of first downs despite having the most dominant interior pass-rusher in the NFL in Aaron Donald. Donald racked up 91 total pressures in the regular season and with the addition of Ndamukong Suh on the defensive line, along with Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib tightening up the cornerback position, don’t look for the Rams to be any less aggressive this coming season.

The Panthers and Texans led the way at 44 percent, followed by the Dolphins (38 percent), Rams and Jets (37 percent). With Donald and Michael Brockers rushing on every play, as well as a rotation at nose tackle, the Rams consistently added two edge rushers in Robert Quinn and Connor Barwin to the mix. Barwin dropped into coverage more often than Quinn did, but the two were rushing the quarterback frequently each week.

The story was much of the same on second down with the Rams ranking second at 44 percent of the time. That number trailed only the Browns (45 percent) and was more than triple the least-aggressive team on third down (Chiefs, 14 percent).

The Rams could conceivably be less reliant on the blitz in 2018, given the talent they have up front. With Donald, Brockers and Suh on the interior, the Rams shouldn’t need to send extra rushers very frequently.

Phillips will likely stick to his blitzing ways, which has obviously worked well in the past.