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Couple more thoughts on the Patriots 4-3

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The interesting thing that I’ve found upon further analysis of the Patriots 4-3 defense is that the alignment of their interior lineman is actually more of a 4-3 Over than 4-3 Under.

In the 4-3 Over the Nose Tackle (Vince Wilfork) is to the weak side, and the defensive tackle (Haynesworth*) is on the strong side.

While in the traditional 4-3 Under like Pete Carroll’s (the one we initially thought was the model for the new Patriots tweak), the nose tackle is in the strong side A gap and the defensive tackle is in the weak B gap as somewhat of a better pass rush than run stopper.

Why the switch?

I’d say because they want to ensure that they protect Jerod Mayo with their best defensive lineman, aka Vince Wilfork. Haynesworth* would also work well on the strong side, blowing up runs and also getting mostly one-on-one match ups. With those two guys you’d only need two traditional defensive lineman.

But again, who knows what exactly we saw Thursday night. It was whatever BB felt like revealing to the sixteen NFL scouts that were in attendance. An extraordinary number of scouts all who needed to check out if the Patriots 4-3 rumors were legit.

Just look below at how much space Gary Guyton has. Now imagine he’s Jerod Mayo and that’s Wilfork and Moore in front of him. He’ll have plenty of space to use his speed and make plays all over the field.

Boston Globe: Bedard/Scout takes on the Patriots 4-3 Under

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Boston Globe: Bedard/Scout takes on the Patriots 4-3 Under

Here’s more on the 4-3 Under from Bedard with some takes from some NFL scouts as well:

What the scouts also noted was how the Patriots just let their linemen loose to go upfield, which is quite a departure from their traditional two-gap scheme.

One thing I’d question Bedard about is that I believe he has the Cunningham/Moore backwards in his analysis. Cunningham was the Strong side defensive end, and Moore was the weakside defensive end. I don’t know if that’s how it will play out when the bullets are really flying but it seems to make sense to me.

Bedard did elaborate on some of the differences between the 4-3 Under diagram from the last article and what the Patriots showed.

Other elements, such as the nose tackle playing on the weakside of the center, were different.

This is a slight tweak to the 4-3 Under that appears to spread out the pass rush across the line rather than focusing solely on the weak side. This isolates the defensive tackle (hopefully Haynesworth) on the strong side with a one on one match up with the guard. If the right tackle tries to block down on the DT the result would be a tight end trying to block both the defensive end and the SLB.

Interesting stuff. Can’t wait to see how it looks when the games really count.