Caper's Crusader: Analysis of the 2-4 alignment and other tidbits

[woodbuck27]

mraynrand, good job and good idea for dicussion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Bringing data into the discussion will be helpful.

I just found this article that talks about sub-package nickel coverages from base 4 or 3 man fronts. I found it interesting, I hope you do too. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...-go-to-defense The well informed will probably know all this stuff already. There's a nice nod to Fritz Shurmur and the "Big Nickel" or "Wolverine", but they do talk about the 2-4-5 and 1-5-5 alignments as well.

http://static.espn.go.com/nfl/column...n/1331188.html This is an interesting article written by John Clayton of ESPN about when Capers took over the Texans, focusing on what it takes to run a good 3-4. There is one quote from this article that I have heard from many of you here: "For a 3-4, the defensive linemen don't have to be stars. They have to just be decent, solid players because the system is set up for the linebackers to dominate the game." Capers, obviously, is not the only 3-4 DC to run the 2-4-5 nickel. Dick LeBeau runs it in Pittsburgh. When they had Casey Hampton, Ziggy Hood and Brett Keisel and all those stud linebackers and Troy going great guns a few years back, that was how you build that personnel grouping.

So, the real question is, what's a DC supposed to do? What nickel package is supposed to be run if we either don't have the personnel to run the 2-4-5 or if as Wist indicates, the alignment doesn't make sense to run. I would disagree that it can't be run successfully. There have been teams that have run it well, obviously, including at times, the Packers.

Thanks.