Excellent Discussion of Linebackers in the 3-4 and 4-3 Defense

[Amnorix]

Good stuff.

http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=102&p=2&c=393649

[HemiEd]

Nice Read, thanks.

[Mr. Kotter]

Very good. Excellent article....here's a link to the first half of the article for those that might be interested... :)

http://chiefs.scout.com/2/393069.html

[Mr. Kotter]

HEY, football "fans"....you could LEARN a lot reading these articles....107 views, and 2 responses? Come on...

[Rausch]

Two comments. Didn't Bell play the RILB in the 3-4 in Pitt? If he did, and we do employ a 3-4 in situations or games depending on the team wouldn't it make more sense to move him back to R/LILB where he's more comfortable?

If we play a 4-3 I see the argument for moving him outside (speed rusher on the edge) but if we play both might we start Fujita or Fox at OLB so Bell could return inside(where he can babysit Kawika and help him with reads)?...

Second, wow. Good article for WI. I'm impressed.

[DaWolf]

Outstanding read...

[Mr. Kotter]

....Second, wow. Good article for WI. I'm impressed.

It wasn't Anthon's work; the author obviously knows what he's talking about though....and did a pretty good job of explaining things in a straight forward fashion.

[Sparhawk]

Nice read.

[tiptap]

Thanks Ammorix.
My comments are about the stetch plays run by KC. The article correctly states that the 3-4 defense is meant to keep running plays from reaching the corners and letting the ball player turn up field. When the 3-4 was last in vogue 20 years ago it was in response to Coryell's offense and the running plays at the corner. (Most big plays running are made at the outside.) The result was that centers became much bigger to take on NT by themselves and the running game stayed more inside tackles. The Dallas running game of their SB years demostrated this. No break away threat with their running game but constant push between tackles to move the chains.
KC answer is to add big TE and to essentially move the the center of the line making the NT and the other large lineman move more than they would like over the course of a game. The point of attack can again be to the outside and the bigger plays. Last year we had a problem though. It was at RT. This meant that all of our stetch plays tended to go to the left. Now we had the studs on the left side to make this work but we lost the flexibility to run to the right. This means teams will this year look for this tendency and we really need to see better play at RT. This is the difference maker between a good offensive year and a SB run. (Ignoring the historical 300 lb gorilla lousy defense in this discussion for now.)

[KChiefs1]

No way this is from WarpaintIllustrated! It's too good a read....

[milkman]

Thanks Ammorix.
My comments are about the stetch plays run by KC. The article correctly states that the 3-4 defense is meant to keep running plays from reaching the corners and letting the ball player turn up field. When the 3-4 was last in vogue 20 years ago it was in response to Coryell's offense and the running plays at the corner. (Most big plays running are made at the outside.) The result was that centers became much bigger to take on NT by themselves and the running game stayed more inside tackles. The Dallas running game of their SB years demostrated this. No break away threat with their running game but constant push between tackles to move the chains.
KC answer is to add big TE and to essentially move the the center of the line making the NT and the other large lineman move more than they would like over the course of a game. The point of attack can again be to the outside and the bigger plays. Last year we had a problem though. It was at RT. This meant that all of our stetch plays tended to go to the left. Now we had the studs on the left side to make this work but we lost the flexibility to run to the right. This means teams will this year look for this tendency and we really need to see better play at RT. This is the difference maker between a good offensive year and a SB run. (Ignoring the historical 300 lb gorilla lousy defense in this discussion for now.)

I think the RT issue will be fixed this year with either Sampson or Black.

[milkman]

When coach Hank Stramm first introduced the 3-4 to the NFL it was 4 legitimate linebackers playing zone defense behind 3 down lineman.

I could be wrong about this.
I was pretty young, so my memory is fairly vague, but I think when Hank introduced the 3-4, it was in the stack D, with Bobby Bell starting at DE, and moving back as a 4th LB, depending on the down and distance, or his read of the offensive formation.