HarveyWallbangers
09-10-2009, 11:14 PM
As has been pointed out on this forum, not all 3-4 defenses are the same. Interesting article in the JSO shows that only three teams (Pittsburgh, Green Bay, and Arizona) are playing the Cowher/LeBeau/Capers version of the 3-4 defense.
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/58705122.html
The 3-4 defense is spreading like the flu around the NFL with more than a dozen teams actively using it. Like the flu, the 3-4 defense has a number of different strains. There is the classic Pittsburgh Steelers 3-4 created by Bill Cowher, Dick LeBeau and Dom Capers. Incorporating some of the principles Marty Schottenheimer used in Cleveland and Kansas City, it uses a heavy dose of zone blitzes and small, quick linebackers on the inside. An off-shoot of that system is the defense Marvin Lewis and Rex Ryan used with the Baltimore Ravens, in which the cornerbacks play more bump-and-run than zone. Then there's the Bill Parcells/Bill Belichick system, in which the ends play a strict two-gap system and the inside linebackers are big, physical types who can take on offensive guards.
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/58705122.html
The 3-4 defense is spreading like the flu around the NFL with more than a dozen teams actively using it. Like the flu, the 3-4 defense has a number of different strains. There is the classic Pittsburgh Steelers 3-4 created by Bill Cowher, Dick LeBeau and Dom Capers. Incorporating some of the principles Marty Schottenheimer used in Cleveland and Kansas City, it uses a heavy dose of zone blitzes and small, quick linebackers on the inside. An off-shoot of that system is the defense Marvin Lewis and Rex Ryan used with the Baltimore Ravens, in which the cornerbacks play more bump-and-run than zone. Then there's the Bill Parcells/Bill Belichick system, in which the ends play a strict two-gap system and the inside linebackers are big, physical types who can take on offensive guards.