3-4 vs. 4-3

[FrenchSkin]

Originally Posted by Warthog

Manusky ran the 3-4 even though it was UNSUCCESSFUL and ILL-SUITED for our personnel. So simply making that change ALONE, to the 4-3, will improve our defense. Going to the 4-3 will have our best pass rushers actually rushing the QB, versus dropping back into coverage, which they were less adept.

Del Rio will not only change to the 4-3 as the base scheme, but his INSTRUCTION and defensive PLAYS will also help our players to do better as the season goes on.

Changing to the 4-3, better instruction, improved LEADERSHIP and finally much BETTER defensive schemes will really turn this defense around. Oh yeah, and adding incredible talent with Young, Fuller and Davis will bring us forward. I can see this defense from moving from the bottom 10% of the NFL to one of the top 10 defenses in just one season! I rate the changes brought by Del Rio and Rivera being of MORE importance than getting a phenom player such as Chase Young. In other words, if Manusky was still the DC and we added Chase Young, that talent would be largely wasted due to poor coaching.


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While I totally agree seeing Kerrigan and Sweat dropping into coverage was painful and useless when it happened, I don't think this is the primary benefit of switching to a 4-3 (which I am all for).
It happened and it was ridiculous, but it's not like our edge rushers spent most of their time in coverage.
Plus, we used nickel and dime packages quite a lot, so we did see a lot of 4 men front.

To me, on top of the 1 gap system being the norm in a 4-3, the difference will be having 3 linebackers in the defensive backfield (Mike, Will, Sam) versus only 2 in a 3-4, even when we switched to nickel, we were in 4-2-5, not 4-3-4.
This alone will make quite a big difference against the run IMO.