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  3. Effectiveness Of 3-4 Vs. 4-3 Is Found In The Numbers

Effectiveness Of 3-4 Vs. 4-3 Is Found In The Numbers

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  • The GipperT The Gipper

    How about the old 5-2-4 that was run when I was in HS. You had 5 up front linemen, 2 LBs and 4 DBs. Of course, that was at time when a high school team probably threw only 6-8 passes in an entire game.

    Or what about using the 46 defense of Buddy Ryan. I believe the Jets under Rex Ryan still use this defense. As I understand it, it is a base 4-3 defense only it is hyper aggressive when it comes to rushing the passer.

    Why would this defense still not be in favor in the NFL?

    Riffer X Riffer XR Very Popular Conversation Starter Reacting Well Dedicated Posting Machine Collaborator First Post One Year In One Month Later Week One Done
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    Riffer XR Riffer X wrote on last edited by
    #7

    @the-gipper said:

    How about the old 5-2-4 that was run when I was in HS. You had 5 up front linemen, 2 LBs and 4 DBs. Of course, that was at time when a high school team probably threw only 6-8 passes in an entire game.

    Or what about using the 46 defense of Buddy Ryan. I believe the Jets under Rex Ryan still use this defense. As I understand it, it is a base 4-3 defense only it is hyper aggressive when it comes to rushing the passer.

    Why would this defense still not be in favor in the NFL?

    It is still used by teams in limited situations, but can be exposed if shown too often given the limitations in pass coverage. Basically, the advent of the WCO offenses made this defense obsolete as a staple given the efficiency of the short passing games used by many teams now.

    Is a pig's ass pork?
    The GipperT 1 Reply Last reply
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    • Riffer XR Riffer X

      @the-gipper said:

      How about the old 5-2-4 that was run when I was in HS. You had 5 up front linemen, 2 LBs and 4 DBs. Of course, that was at time when a high school team probably threw only 6-8 passes in an entire game.

      Or what about using the 46 defense of Buddy Ryan. I believe the Jets under Rex Ryan still use this defense. As I understand it, it is a base 4-3 defense only it is hyper aggressive when it comes to rushing the passer.

      Why would this defense still not be in favor in the NFL?

      It is still used by teams in limited situations, but can be exposed if shown too often given the limitations in pass coverage. Basically, the advent of the WCO offenses made this defense obsolete as a staple given the efficiency of the short passing games used by many teams now.

      The Gipper The GipperT In Memoriam Very Popular
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      The GipperT The Gipper wrote on last edited by
      #8

      @riffer-x said:

      It is still used by teams in limited situations, but can be exposed if shown too often given the limitations in pass coverage. Basically, the advent of the WCO offenses made this defense obsolete as a staple given the efficiency of the short passing games used by many teams now.

      Except, the WCO was in use long before the 46. I mean, the 49ers were running the WCO in the early 80s, and the Bears came along in 1985 with the 46 and blew the WCO up.

      ....or perhaps, is it the talent playing the scheme that caused the Bears to have success rather than the scheme itself? And is it the talent that gave the 49ers and Packers running the WCO that caused them to have success, and not the scheme?

      Schemes and coaching are important. The coaching ability of guys like Paul Brown, Lombardi, Landry, Noll, Belichick, Walsh, Gibbs, LeBeau and others absolutely makes a difference when it comes to winning and losing. But you have to have talent as well.

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      • Riffer X Riffer XR Very Popular Conversation Starter Reacting Well Dedicated Posting Machine Collaborator First Post One Year In One Month Later Week One Done
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        Riffer XR Riffer X wrote on last edited by
        #9

        Every team runs some sort of WCO version now, so if a team was to line up in a 46 exclusively the offense would just attack the intermediate areas that are exposed from the scheme's weak spots. I agree that you need to have a studly front seven for the 46 to work, and the Bears had that back in a generation where the WCO was basically run by a few teams---or variations of.

        Is a pig's ass pork?
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        • The GipperT The Gipper

          How about the old 5-2-4 that was run when I was in HS. You had 5 up front linemen, 2 LBs and 4 DBs. Of course, that was at time when a high school team probably threw only 6-8 passes in an entire game.

          Or what about using the 46 defense of Buddy Ryan. I believe the Jets under Rex Ryan still use this defense. As I understand it, it is a base 4-3 defense only it is hyper aggressive when it comes to rushing the passer.

          Why would this defense still not be in favor in the NFL?

          nickers nickersN Conversation Starter Dedicated Posting Machine Collaborator First Post Reacting Well One Year In One Month Later Week One Done Very Popular
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          nickersN nickers wrote on last edited by
          #10

          @the-gipper said:

          How about the old 5-2-4 that was run when I was in HS. You had 5 up front linemen, 2 LBs and 4 DBs. Of course, that was at time when a high school team probably threw only 6-8 passes in an entire game.

          Or what about using the 46 defense of Buddy Ryan. I believe the Jets under Rex Ryan still use this defense. As I understand it, it is a base 4-3 defense only it is hyper aggressive when it comes to rushing the passer.

          Why would this defense still not be in favor in the NFL?

          Fritz Shurmur,the late Uncle of Pat Shurmur (Our coach) Was Def Coord who ran the 5-2-4 with the Rams back in the mid/late 80's with limited success. I was never a huge fan of the 34 def. I always knew the 4-3 was easier to employ and it took the burden off the players with all of the technical Jargon and calls you had to make. Im just huge fan of stalwart bone crushing kill the QB type of Defensive linemen.

          Nickers...."There are no old running QB's in the NFL "~Sam Rutigliano~
          The GipperT 1 Reply Last reply
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          • nickersN nickers

            @the-gipper said:

            How about the old 5-2-4 that was run when I was in HS. You had 5 up front linemen, 2 LBs and 4 DBs. Of course, that was at time when a high school team probably threw only 6-8 passes in an entire game.

            Or what about using the 46 defense of Buddy Ryan. I believe the Jets under Rex Ryan still use this defense. As I understand it, it is a base 4-3 defense only it is hyper aggressive when it comes to rushing the passer.

            Why would this defense still not be in favor in the NFL?

            Fritz Shurmur,the late Uncle of Pat Shurmur (Our coach) Was Def Coord who ran the 5-2-4 with the Rams back in the mid/late 80's with limited success. I was never a huge fan of the 34 def. I always knew the 4-3 was easier to employ and it took the burden off the players with all of the technical Jargon and calls you had to make. Im just huge fan of stalwart bone crushing kill the QB type of Defensive linemen.

            The Gipper The GipperT In Memoriam Very Popular
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            The GipperT The Gipper wrote on last edited by
            #11

            @nickers said:

            Fritz Shurmur,the late Uncle of Pat Shurmur (Our coach) Was Def Coord who ran the 5-2-4 with the Rams back in the mid/late 80's with limited success. I was never a huge fan of the 34 def. I always knew the 4-3 was easier to employ and it took the burden off the players with all of the technical Jargon and calls you had to make. Im just huge fan of stalwart bone crushing kill the QB type of Defensive linemen.

            I am not sure I knew that about Fritz Shurmur. Thanks for the info.

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            • Harry Buffalo Harry BuffaloH
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              Harry BuffaloH Harry Buffalo wrote on last edited by
              #12

              The success of the defense you run has much less to do with what system it is and more to do with who you have teaching it and who you have finding players to fill it. The past how many years we tried running a system that no one could find the right players for and we only had an average D-Coordinator to teach it the last 2 years. I mean in how many season we ran it and we found maybe a handful of guys who had talent and fit the systems well to some degree (Basically Rubin and Benard in passing situations) and wasted how many draft picks trying to find guys to fit but they just never worked out. Now we have a front office who has a fairly good rep for finding players for a 4-3 and a D-coordinator who ran some top defenses in the league as a coordinator and head coach (even though he was never good at the head coach part) plus a defensive assistant who fits the same bill.

              I would also like to point out that every defense has it's own weaknesses. The 4-3 would be that it is probably worse against passing because it is not as sack focused like a 3-4 is, but a 3-4 is much more affected by a large passing formations that use 4-5 receivers due to OLB not being very skilled in coverage. The 4-3 isn't ass affect in these situations because all 3 LB in a 4-3 are expected to have decent cover ability.

              Ruining threads since 1897.
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              • Pumpkin Eater P
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                P Pumpkin Eater wrote on last edited by
                #13

                Yeah, Green Bay used large passing formations in the Superbowl and rendered many of Shittsburg's top D players helpless.

                :neutral_face:
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                • Riffer X Riffer XR Very Popular Conversation Starter Reacting Well Dedicated Posting Machine Collaborator First Post One Year In One Month Later Week One Done
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                  Riffer XR Riffer X wrote on last edited by Riffer X
                  #14

                  The 3 to 5 step drops are being used more predominantly to beat teams like Pitt. Renders the rush useless and spreads the defense, but you gotta the QB like Rodgers to really execute it.

                  Is a pig's ass pork?
                  Mr. TM 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • Riffer XR Riffer X

                    The 3 to 5 step drops are being used more predominantly to beat teams like Pitt. Renders the rush useless and spreads the defense, but you gotta the QB like Rodgers to really execute it.

                    Mr. T Mr. TM
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                    Mr. TM Mr. T wrote on last edited by
                    #15

                    @riffer-x said:

                    The 3 to 5 step drops are being used more predominantly to beat teams like Pitt. Renders the rush useless and spreads the defense, but you gotta the QB like Rodgers to really execute it.

                    And guys who can catch the ball. 😆

                    Head or Gut?
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                    • beefjerky B
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                      B beefjerky wrote on last edited by
                      #16

                      The Saints won the super bowl with a 4-3 system, and they not only had an explosive offense that year, but an explosive defense.

                      Any system works as long as you have good players for it, it doesn't matter what system you have if your players are lackluster.

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                      • Gips GipsG
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                        GipsG Gips wrote on last edited by Gips
                        #17

                        I tend to like bone jarring aggressive defenses rather they are a 3-4 or 4-3 does not matter to me as much as the quality and aggression of the players that are acquired to fill the roster and the aggression and decision making capability of the DC is equally important..

                        I am quite glad we are switching back to the 4-3 simply because that is the system our GM openly admits to being most comfortable recruiting for and working with..

                        The 3-4 system is already hard enough to get quality players that can effectively convert and with the growing trend in the number of teams switching to the 34 defense its going to get even harder to get these rare brutes, not to mention the browns last 2 GMs before heckert and their 3rd party scouts were so bad at bringing in quality 3-4 talent from drafts that they chose to build the defense with FA and old men instead and this was never going to get the team where it needs to go..

                        While savage and mangini both experimented around with utter 3-4 failure and an inability to bring in suitable players greenbay under McCarthy and capers and 2 other clubs successfully built talented 3-4 defenses from the ground up..

                        Now hopefully heckert and shurmur/jauron will reverse our fortunes by building a young 43 defense in which they have great knowledge and expertise with instead of keeping our failed 34 in place that only got marginally better but much older player wise in 6 years, i cant wait to see our young 43 develop and dominate!

                        We have been rebuilding since 1964, Why stop now? GO BROWNS!
                        1 more season1 1 Reply Last reply
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                        • GipsG Gips

                          I tend to like bone jarring aggressive defenses rather they are a 3-4 or 4-3 does not matter to me as much as the quality and aggression of the players that are acquired to fill the roster and the aggression and decision making capability of the DC is equally important..

                          I am quite glad we are switching back to the 4-3 simply because that is the system our GM openly admits to being most comfortable recruiting for and working with..

                          The 3-4 system is already hard enough to get quality players that can effectively convert and with the growing trend in the number of teams switching to the 34 defense its going to get even harder to get these rare brutes, not to mention the browns last 2 GMs before heckert and their 3rd party scouts were so bad at bringing in quality 3-4 talent from drafts that they chose to build the defense with FA and old men instead and this was never going to get the team where it needs to go..

                          While savage and mangini both experimented around with utter 3-4 failure and an inability to bring in suitable players greenbay under McCarthy and capers and 2 other clubs successfully built talented 3-4 defenses from the ground up..

                          Now hopefully heckert and shurmur/jauron will reverse our fortunes by building a young 43 defense in which they have great knowledge and expertise with instead of keeping our failed 34 in place that only got marginally better but much older player wise in 6 years, i cant wait to see our young 43 develop and dominate!

                          1 more season 1 more season1
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                          1 more season1 1 more season wrote on last edited by
                          #18

                          @gips said:

                          I tend to like bone jarring aggressive defenses rather they are a 3-4 or 4-3 does not matter to me as much as the quality and aggression of the players that are acquired to fill the roster and the aggression and decision making capability of the DC is equally important..

                          I am quite glad we are switching back to the 4-3 simply because that is the system our GM openly admits to being most comfortable recruiting for and working with..

                          You took the words right out of my hands... Scheme is only part of the equation. You can have the best defensive play calling in the world but if you don't have the athletes who can read react and make the right decisions quickly then execute it wont mean a thing.

                          Defense in any sport is about reacting, adjusting and execution.

                          Soccer, Futball, Fusball, Futsal, Foosball, Europe ... Mods are all gay.
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