I live in the world where if the coach of the defense to which you are contrasting the object of your ire tells you its a 4-3 with 3-4 personnel and three or more people have spotted the fourth lineman in a two point stance, then you concede that the following statement:
is incorrect. Twice over.
Far more interesting is why is Capers still running a 3-4 with two standing OLBs rather than the 4-3 all the time? I presume its to get Matthews back on the LOS, but I would like to know more.
Bud Adams told me the franchise he admired the most was the Kansas City Chiefs. Then he asked for more hookers and blow.
The point about the 2-4 is we don't have the personnel to run it - so the coaching staff is asking them to execute an alignment for which they are completely ill-suited. That is lousy coaching.
The same applies to one of the supposed fixes dunderdummy and MM dreamed up - the 2-5. We have terrible ILB's, yet the coaching staff refuse to acknowledge that. Instead, they dream up a scheme that keeps those poor players on the field full-time. That is lousy coaching.
TT has done a horrible job of acquiring players that fit the style of play that Capers wants; and at the same time, Capers has done a terrible job of using the talent that TT has acquired. As I've been saying for a few years now - there is a complete disconnect between the GM and the coaching staff, and we can see the mess on the field.
On the other side of the ledger, in the world were 2+2=4; they've incorporated the Elephant, which for my money is a 3-4 that uses 4-3 principles; and they've been using more base 3-4, even though it is not a standard 3-4, as it uses 4-3 principles as well. So they have adjusted a little bit from last seasons endless debacles.
The Elephant is progress... a step in the right direction. Any 4-3 they throw out there is progress; and playing some actual 3-4 is progress - even though now we don't have the personnel to run a base 3-4 any longer. As long as it is a base 3-4 that uses 4-3 principles, we can get by with it, but it is not ideal given the players we have.
Now that we have 2 games under our belt to see what the dummies at 1265 have been up to this offseason, I can envision a middle of the pack finish in defense - don't think that's good enough to get past the good teams in the playoffs. Dunderdummy still wants to play as small as possible; our ILB's are still complete junk... the bottom line is, dunderdummy is still our DC - that alone is too much to overcome to get back to the SB.
wist
Every scheme needs a second level of linebackers at least to some degree you'll have to sink or swim with what's on the roster.
In pretty much any formation you can displace one of them by moving Clay into a second level role, but now you're building a scheme around getting your worst player in a position to sit on the bench rather than get your best player in a position to play their best. Is our ILB play so poor that its worth sacrificing a pro bowl pass rusher to mitigate? Any scheme that gets Hawk or Jones/Lattimore off the field without going into dime is basically saying yes to that question.
These questions are way above the paygrade of even the most infallible armchair coaches and GMs but I'd say no, the highest paid pass rusher in the league needs to be rushing the passer most of the time.
Last edited by 3irty1; 09-16-2014 at 09:14 AM.
70% of the Earth is covered by water. The rest is covered by Al Harris.
Not at all. We just need to get past the idea that a Defensive lineman must also be a Down lineman. A down lineman is not as important a distinction in a defense as a lineman having LOS responsibilities.
And that standing elephant is clearly playing a D lineman's role.
Second better question, why are they never in a 3 point stance across the board. Why that technique?
Bud Adams told me the franchise he admired the most was the Kansas City Chiefs. Then he asked for more hookers and blow.
What I thought for sure was coming this year was a 1-gapping 3-4 scheme. Ted loaded up on 1-gap 3-4 players, all the hints MM dropped hinted at a 1-gap 3-4 scheme, players talked about a more attacking style of defense. I'm happy with the 4-3/3-4 elephant/2-5 whatever-you-want-to-call-it as the answer, right now my issue is play calling.
Moving to a 1-gap scheme changes your whole defensive philosophy, the math up front is different. I don't care if your nickel is a 2-4, 3-3, 4-2, or 1-5, in a 1-gap front you can't trot that out against a balanced set and expect to stop the run with 7 vs 6 the way you can in a 2-gap front. On the other hand your base defense evens the math against the run and will be much better against the pass than its 2-gap counterpart. Plus with all the athletic lineman its zone-blitzing heaven. Against run-heavy offenses especially when your own offense is sucking balls we should have a front 7 more often than a front 6 so the back doesn't have a path to the secondary every play. I won't speak in absolutes, I think a Boyd-Guion 2-4 is fine once in a while as would be a base defense against a 3 WR set.
70% of the Earth is covered by water. The rest is covered by Al Harris.
But Rodgers leads the league in frumpy expressions and negative body language on the sideline, which makes him, like Josh Allen, a unique double threat.
-Tim Harmston
I've seen that argument but I think that's the wrong way to look at it. Jordy was getting his yards no matter what, their boundary corners are just not good enough to stop him. The guy who had the most to gain from the Jets sitting in base was Cobb and he only gained 39 yards while being mostly covered by linebackers and safeties. Also our tight ends did nothing. They shut down a lot more than just Lacy.
70% of the Earth is covered by water. The rest is covered by Al Harris.
31, in some respects, would you agree that MM shut it down by not showing it? They can't defense what you don't throw at them. Only MM can explain why.
As for Cobb, it may have been you, possibly someone else, but I agree regardless, that he needs more YAC if he has a more favorable coverage matchup. I imagined that they would get even more imaginative with Cobb's touches, but so far have played it fairly straight, save for the running play I recall. How about a Percy Harvin-like jet sweet Cobb style?
"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." -Daniel Patrick Moynihan
I've got no issues with how MM refused to run against a stacked front. A stacked front vs Aaron Rodgers is the kind of thing we've dreamed of ever since we got Lacy. But the fact that we still couldn't get much going, especially with Cobb in what would appear to be a great matchup for him shows the merit of a 1-gap defense perfectly IMO.
I think Cobb is way too slow to pull of the Harvin sweep type plays. I'd like to see Cobb outrun a linebacker before I ask him to outrun an entire defense.
70% of the Earth is covered by water. The rest is covered by Al Harris.
LIFE IS ABOUT CHAMPIONSHIPS; I JUST REALIZED THIS. The MILWAUKEE BUCKS have won the same number of championships over the past 50 years as the Green Bay Packers. Ten years from now, who will have more championships, and who will be the fart in the wind ?