You know someone named Arsenio Billingham? No.
It’s that the 3-4 defense, with a strong zone blitz, is the best way to win championships. Look at the Steelers! They’ve beaten top-notch offenses with that kind of flexibility, and it put James Harrison in position to pick Kurt Warner in the Super BOwl and take it to the house.
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WRONG!
I read this blog pretty regularly and I can say that I usually agree with the author, but this is just wrong.
Sure, the Steelers have an opportunistic 3-4 defense and they got lucky down the stretch. But they had a powerful offense to go with it.
The way you win in the playoffs in the NFL? by running the ball and by stopping the run. Last year, it was the Vikings’ and the Titans’ powerful 4-3 defenses that were the most impressive. These defenses carried their teams despite poor offenses. The Vikings did this without very skilled players in the secondary.
This is because the 4-3 allows a team to dominate the line of scrimmage.
The Steelers got lucky. Taking your team to the playoffs despite Kerry Collings and Tavaris Jackson playing at QB shows that the 4-3 is the defense you want if you want to win.
Comment by Snuffleupagus — October 21, 2009 @ 1:19 pm
You could run any defense with Albert Haynesworth or the Williams Wall, apparently. But think for a moment about the zone blitz: in the 3-4, you already have the ability to surprise the QB with a rusher coming from the LB corps while still leaving 7 men in coverage. But with the zone blitz, you drop back a DE to cover the flat and then send a second surprise rusher. And you’ve still got a full coverage set!
How can anyone stop that?
Comment by Arsenio Billingham — October 21, 2009 @ 5:31 pm
I still think the ranking of importance on D goes
1) good set of players
2) creative DC
3) defensive scheme makes sense with personnel available
4) actual scheme employed
Basically, a good DC with a decent crop of players should pick the scheme that plays to those players’ strengths. These arguments about one scheme vs. the other just fool bad teams like the Browns into thinking there’s a quick fix for their problems.
Comment by Matty — October 22, 2009 @ 8:14 am
it’s well known that Hitler preferred the 3-4 defensive scheme. Go ahead and insist that the 3-4 is the best if you want to be a Nazi.
Comment by Snuffleupagus — October 25, 2009 @ 3:20 pm