MOBILE, ALA -- The Detroit Lions will run a 4-3 defense next season, but don't expect it to be vanilla under new defensive coordinator Teryl Austin.

Austin wants an aggressive defense that attacks opponents a variety of ways through multiple looks up front.

"I think it's important that you give different looks, give them different ways to block, give them problems in both the run and the pass," Austin said. "I think it's detrimental to your defense if you line up in one thing and they know exactly where you are every time and how they are going to block you every time."

Under Jim Schwartz and Gunther Cunningham, the Lions have been near the bottom of the league in blitzing. Austin is still in the early stages of familiarizing himself with the team's personnel, but indicated blitzing will have an important role in his defensive philosophy.

"The thing that I think that I've learned, a lot of times when an offense has a hard time IDing which way you're coming from, they have a hard time blocking," he said. "If we can create some mismatches and things like that, that will be one thing to shoot for."

At his most recent NFL coaching jobs, Austin has been part of a 3-4 defense scheme. That won't be the case in Detroit, but coach Jim Caldwell doesn't want people caught up in the definition.

"We can morph and adjust," Caldwell said. "We're obviously based out of the 4-3 -- that's without question what our personnel dictates -- but within that context, you can also have a variety of different looks.

"There may be some odd looks out of that -- some overs, some unders and all those kinds of things. When I'm talking about multiple, that's what I'm talking about. You're not limited to the fact you call yourself this or that."

Austin points out that Baltimore was labeled a 3-4 primarily because of the way the team labeled the positions on its roster. But unlike many 3-4 defenses, the linemen rarely defended two gaps.

In Detroit, Austin also doesn't expect many two-gap looks, based on the personnel.

"There are different ways to play the 3-4. You can two-gap them, you can stunt them, you can move them. There are all kinds of different things," Austin said. "I don't think we have the two-gap people, so I don't think that's going to be something that's going to be a big issue."

No matter what shape the Lions defense takes though the offseason, Austin's primary goal is a simple one shared by every coach.

"We'll try to do some different things, give them some different looks, try to put our players in the best position to make plays," he said. "At the end of the day, that's what you really want. You want to put your guys in position to make plays. If they feel confident in what they're doing, and make plays for you, it's just going to grow."

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