Why the 3-4 over the 4-3?

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by CrazyHorse

Given that we have been drafting personnel for the 4-3 for the rebuild over the last few years, what's the benefit of going to a 3-4 defense now?

I have heard for years how a good coach doesn't try to take players and make them fit his scheme, but takes his scheme and makes it fit the players. That a good coach can take advantage of the talent he has.

I realize some on here may say we have no talent, but the fact is we dont know what we have yet. We drafted Dorsey last year and I feel he was misused. Plus it was his 1st season. I feel guys like Tank Tyler and Turk McBride were showing improvement in thier second season. We have an opportunity to draft the best player over all in Curry, yet people dont want to because they feel he wont fit the scheme. So instead we should reach for a lesser talent to fit a defense we are not equipped to run. Or does the caoching staff feel we are better equipped right now to run a 3-4?

In hiring the coaching staff, didn't we hire a 4-3 coordinator and a 3-4 coordinator? Forcing the 3-4 issue seems foolish to me. I understand it's popular right now. But in the 3 to 4 years it will take to build it, most teams will be running it.

It's not like a 4-3 defense cant win games.

Well, CrazyHorse, for several reasons. New regime that has experience building a 3-4 defense. In terms of timing, it's because right now this defense needs massive changes even if they decided to run a 4-3. The players we have are mostly not even good enough to run a 4-3. So why not make the change now?

But more importantly, the reason teams like to run 3-4s is because it's easier to build. The challenge is that most teams aren't willing to go through the pain of overhauling their defense. The reason it's easier to build is most NFL teams believe that DE is the toughest position on a team to build. These days, you need not 1, not 2, but THREE DEs to be stout on defense. And when I say good DEs, you need to find not only a good pass rusher (there are plenty of them in this league), but a DE that is also big enough to stop the run and occasionally drop back into coverage. There are only a handful in the league that can do that. And so, most 4-3 Defenses force a trade-off. When they have their pass rusher in there, they have to settle for the fact that that DE will get swallowed up against the run.

What makes the 3-4 defense much easier is that you basically build around 3 defensive tackles. Your nose tackle is critical to the importance and the two Ends next to them are important, but easy to find--these are usually DTs converted into Ends. These are the guys that take on all the blockers so the LBs and safeties don't have to. That makes it much easier for the 3-4 OLB to rush the passer. From a LB standpoint, because there are four of them, they can cover much more ground. That means that you don't necessarily need a sideline-to-sideline multi-dimensional Middle LB. You can have one coverage specialist and one run-stuffer. That's why a guy like Curry's versatility would be wasted. The 3-4 OLB is slightly different. It's much easier to find because there are tons of good pass rushers in college who don't get picked up or drafted because they are undersized to play traditional DE. But in the 3-4, these guys are held at a premium. They are primarily pass rushers, but they also have to be quick enough to take on some LB responsibilities. The first part is easier because you have a D-line that is opening up lanes for you, the second part is less critical but again, because the D-line is taking on blockers, the OLB can get to the ball carrier unblocked.

That's a long way of saying that a 3-4 defense is easier to build because you need role players than multi-dimensional players. Kendrell Bell is a perfect example. In a 3-4, he was asked to be a semi-moronic ILB whose job was to bulldoze and attack. In a 4-3, he was asked to not only do that, but also to drop into coverage, read and react, and play intelligent defense--he was miserable at all those things. But in a 3-4, he was a complete stud.