Switching To A 3-4 Defense Would Be A Huge Mistake Right Now!

[E. T.]

I know there were times when the D played a 3-4 this season and it did not look pretty. I feel that switching to a complete 3-4 will totally set this defense and maybe the team back until this form of defense is somewhat mastered.. Even to go and get some personel that can play in that type of defense, you still will have to give a good season to gel. Plus, if you think we have problems stopping the run now..., just wait!

Leave the 4-3 and get the personel you need. They just played an entire season with a new good coordinator! Next season should be nasty!!

Edited January 21, 2013 by E. T.

[Dharma Initiative]

I feel like we ran the 3-4 a lot really. Abe and Biermann would both stand up and move around, just like a 3-4 linebacker

[roll falcons]

we didnt have a NG. that is one of, if not THE most important part of the 3-4.

[Volunteer Falcon]

With all due respect I don't believe the coaches would make the transition to a 3-4 if they didn't believe they had/could get the personnel to do it.

Edited January 21, 2013 by Volunteer Falcon

[Mid-Nite-Toker]

It doesn't matter what scheme you run when you miss tackles and blow assignments.

Just focus on getting more talent on the defensive side and executing the scheme(whatever we run)

[E. T.]

I feel like we ran the 3-4 a lot really. Abe and Biermann would both stand up and move around, just like a 3-4 linebacker

True, but having them in coverage will not work...

[DonOfThemBirds]

I think that it is easier to find talent for a 3-4 than it is for a 4-3.

[LookAboutFalcon]

It doesn't matter what scheme you run when you miss tackles and blow assignments.

Just focus on getting more talent on the defensive side and executing the scheme(whatever we run)

Agreed, and to the OP agreed also.

We would need to acquire multiple players to fit a 3-4. Most of our players are a 4-3 type.

[DMT11]

Its basically easier to find fast OLBs and a good NOSE than two elite DEs to run a 43 nowadays - because of the passing situations - most teams run 34 now, if the DEs dont get home in teh 43 u get phucked

[JD dirtybird21]

I think that it is easier to find talent for a 3-4 than it is for a 4-3.

I actually agree. I feel a pass rushing 3-4 outside linebacker is easy to find. And so is a nose tackle.

[bossFALCON™]

We ran 34, 4-2-5 and 3-3-5 looks way more than 43 looks this year. We probably ran 100-150 plays from a base 4-3 look this season.

It's really not going to be that drastic of a change from what we did this year. Main difference will be the type of players we go after. Definitely will add a NT or two, and we'll add edge rushers that can rush from the 2 AND 3 point stance, and also cover some (think tamba hali, cameron wake, von miller, etc.) , instead of traditional 4-3 defensive ends (think jared allen, julius peppers).

[JulioHOFer]

Switching to a 3-4 would be a horrible idea and set this team back years

There is no nose tackle

None of the defensive tackles are big or tall enough to play 3-4 DE

There are no 3-4 OLBs, you want 34 year old Abe to move to LB?

Horrible idea

This team needs a massive DT/NT to stop the run, an actual pass rusher to complement Abe, resign Moore and draft anotehr DE and the D is fixed

This offense is DOMINANT with a bad OL and no running game, just fix the horrible DL and we're good

[Guest Negatorris]

It's because we don't have the players to play a complete 3-4 defense. We can get those players through draft or FA though.

[Freddy_Falcon]

Switching to a 3-4 would be a horrible idea and set this team back years

There is no nose tackle

None of the defensive tackles are big or tall enough to play 3-4 DE

There are no 3-4 OLBs, you want 34 year old Abe to move to LB?

Horrible idea

This team needs a massive DT/NT to stop the run, an actual pass rusher to complement Abe, resign Moore and draft anotehr DE and the D is fixed

This offense is DOMINANT with a bad OL and no running game, just fix the horrible DL and we're good

thats why there's a free agency and draft............

[E. T.]

It's because we don't have the players to play a complete 3-4 defense. We can get those players through draft or FA though.

But it will take time to learn...

[PeytonMannings Forehead]

I think that it is easier to find talent for a 3-4 than it is for a 4-3.

I actually agree. I feel a pass rushing 3-4 outside linebacker is easy to find. And so is a nose tackle.

Actually it's not easy to find pass rushers in whatever scheme you run. Just ask Rex Ryan and Bill Belichick. Both of them are still trying to find a edge rusher to hang their hat on to fit the 3-4 they want to run. That's why both of them went back to more 4 man lines the past two seasons.

The 3-4 in and of itself isn't the formula to fix a defense. Just lining up in that front gives you no extra advantage. Biermann isn't all of sudden going to morph into a double digit sack guy because of it.

I don't have anything against the 3-4 but I don't like this move for the Falcons for one simple reason: it reeks of desperation. This a move that teams do who are grasping at straws and trying to see what works. Teams with confidence in who they are and their philosophy stay the course and build around it.

And it gives the impression that control is subtly slipping away from Smitty.

Just look at Jack Del Rio his last few years in Jacksonville. He was always considered a brilliant defensive coach. Then when the talen dried up and his job was on the line he brought in a 3-4 defensive coordinator and switched from his favored 4-3 to generate more pressure after a season in which the team finished with 29-something sacks.

The next year running the 3-4, the Jags finished with a total of 13 sacks. 13 sacks for an entire team!

[RHEC]

You guys want Mike Nolan gone because if not, we need to go 3-4. He flat out sucks as a 4-3 DC.

[JulioHOFer]

thats why there's a free agency and draft............

Ok so you want to use free agency and the draft to

-Sign a NT

-Sign 2 3-4 DEs

-Cut all of our DTs who have no place in a 3-4 at NT or DE

-Sign 2 3-4 OLBs

-Cut Abe who just like Freeney would go from great in a 4-3 to horrible in a 3-4

-Sign a LB to play MLB with Spoon

Ok tell me how you want to accomplish that with our cap space

This team would be in the Superbowl right now if not for blatantly absurd ref decisions and the worst D Line in the playoffs

This team has had 3 playoff games, 3 games where the D line is completely overmatched

All this team needs is an actual DT who can defend the run (there are none on this roster), an actual pass rusher to go with Abe (there are none on this roster), resign Moore and draft another DE in the 1st or 2nd and the team is fixed

You want to implement a new scheme that will take years for the team to learn, that none of the players fit, that we dont have cap space to get players that fit, and we have other needs

This isnt Madden where you can just change guys positions and run whatever scheme you want, this is reality

Edited January 21, 2013 by JulioHOFer

[E. T.]

Actually it's not easy to find pass rushers in whatever scheme you run. Just ask Rex Ryan and Bill Belichick. Both of them are still trying to find a edge rusher to hang their hat on to fit the 3-4 they want to run. That's why both of them went back to more 4 man lines the past two seasons.

The 3-4 in and of itself isn't the formula to fix a defense. Just lining up in that front gives you no extra advantage. Biermann isn't all of sudden going to morph into a double digit sack guy because of it.

I don't have anything against the 3-4 but I don't like this move for the Falcons for one simple reason: it reeks of desperation. This a move that teams do who are grasping at straws and trying to see what works. Teams with confidence in who they are and their philosophy stay the course and build around it.

And it gives the impression that control is subtly slipping away from Smitty.

Just look at Jack Del Rio his last few years in Jacksonville. He was always considered a brilliant defensive coach. Then when the talen dried up and his job was on the line he brought in a 3-4 defensive coordinator and switched from his favored 4-3 to generate more pressure after a season in which the team finished with 29-something sacks.

The next year running the 3-4, the Jags finished with a total of 13 sacks. 13 sacks for an entire team!

Good post.. makes sense to me.

[DonOfThemBirds]

Actually it's not easy to find pass rushers in whatever scheme you run. Just ask Rex Ryan and Bill Belichick. Both of them are still trying to find a edge rusher to hang their hat on to fit the 3-4 they want to run. That's why both of them went back to more 4 man lines the past two seasons.

The 3-4 in and of itself isn't the formula to fix a defense. Just lining up in that front gives you no extra advantage. Biermann isn't all of sudden going to morph into a double digit sack guy because of it.

I don't have anything against the 3-4 but I don't like this move for the Falcons for one simple reason: it reeks of desperation. This a move that teams do who are grasping at straws and trying to see what works. Teams with confidence in who they are and their philosophy stay the course and build around it.

And it gives the impression that control is subtly slipping away from Smitty.

Just look at Jack Del Rio his last few years in Jacksonville. He was always considered a brilliant defensive coach. Then when the talen dried up and his job was on the line he brought in a 3-4 defensive coordinator and switched from his favored 4-3 to generate more pressure after a season in which the team finished with 29-something sacks.

The next year running the 3-4, the Jags finished with a total of 13 sacks. 13 sacks for an entire team!

Belichick and the Pats have been more of a 4-3 than a 3-4 team in recent years but you are right about Rex and the Jets. Mel Tucker was the Jags DC during Del Rio's last few years in Jacksonville. He ran a 4-3 and not a 3-4.

[PeytonMannings Forehead]

Belichick and the Pats have been more of a 4-3 than a 3-4 team in recent years but you are right about Rex and the Jets. Mel Tucker was the Jags DC during Del Rio's last few years in Jacksonville. He ran a 4-3 and not a 3-4.

Yeah. That's what I said. Belichick went more to a 4-3 (which is really a hybrid with 3-4 principles, but that's another thread) because he couldn't find a true pass rusher at OLB to replace McGinest. It goes back to my point about pass rushers being hard to find whatever scheme you run, and dispells the myth that 3-4 instantly means more pressure when defensive coaches have actually, when faced with a derth of talent, have actually gone back to the 4-3 to generate more pressure.

Mel Tucker ran the 3-4 in Cleveland under Romeo Crennel, and when he was brought to Jacksonville, the Jags went to the 3-4 for that year, then went back to the 4-3.

http://jacksonville....eriment_is_over

Last season, the Jaguars switched to a 3-4 defense after they lost defensive end Reggie Hayward to a season-ending leg injury in the opener.

But that defense didn’t fit their personnel well, and they eventually switched back to the 4-3, although they never did find a way to rush the passer.

Edited January 21, 2013 by PeytonMannings Forehead

[RHEC]

If you guys want to keep the same sh!tty defense, be my guess.

[PeytonMannings Forehead]

If you guys want to keep the same sh!tty defense, be my guess.

It's the s!tty players that need to be tweaked, not the scheme. That's where it starts and ends whatever scheme you run. There was nothing structurally wrong with what Nolan did this season.

[g-dawg]

regardless of scheme - we just need more defensive personnel - and different types of players than what we have now - not more of the same - need more physicality.

[dmite]

We ran a lot of 3-4 already this year. Whatever they decide, I'm sure it will be heavily discussed and examined.