Is DA trying to recreate the 2009 defense?

Both defenses work but in different ways. 2009 unit gave up scads of yards, but was stiff as a board in the red zone, plus generated turnovers thanks in part to the offense creating large leads that made opposing units desperate.

That's a very hard combination to recreate. It's the only unit to have a defense ranked outside the top 20 in total defense (yards) win a Super Bowl. By far and away the most successful SB recipe ingredient is to have a very good defense in yardage terms. The average SB winner is ranked 6th in that category. Plenty of SB losers had top ranked offenses but not the complementary defense.