My Edelman posts bring all the girls to the blog.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/my-edelman-posts-bring-all-the-girls-to-the-blog/
Chandler Jones looks primed for a huge season after dominating the Panthers and picking up 2 sacks, 3 tackles for loss and 2 QB hits.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/chandler-jones-looks-primed-for-a-huge-season/
When they run the 34 who do you see coming on and who do you see coming off
I think the biggest glaring difference between the 3-4 of old and the 3-4 of now is at the right defensive end spot. Richard Seymour is the old ideal and granted, he was a special player who could not only destroy a blocker but get pressure on the quarterback.
Seymour was 6’6", 310 pounds. Now we’ll see someone a little more athletic there whether it’s Chandler Jones (6’5", 265) or we even had Chris Jones (6’1", 300) there a bit this preseason.
These guys are meant more for pass rush than necessarily being able to “build the wall” as a two-gapper. This is a result of the evolution of the game. The old 3-4 was not a great pass rushing package because you’re essentially just asking three of your front defenders not to get upfield, but to hold their ground.
Now you must have guys who can disrupt the quarterback from your base package, thus a shift in size/style at right defensive end.
Theoretically could they put together a rough version of an old-school two-gap 3-4 with Kelly-Siliga-Wilfork upfront? Yeah, but I don’t think we’ll see that unless a team decides running the ball 50 times is the way to go.
While we know the sub defense is the base defense which you have pointed out many times, what does belichick deciding to teach the 34 defense this year tell you
Nothing really, he’s done it every year outside of 2011. What we’re seeing this summer is as straightforward as you can get and their defense during the season is anything but straightforward.
The better question is how many different options they have for their “sub” defense. There are pass rushers, athletes and big bodies of many varieties. The possibilities are limitless and while that makes speculation kind of pointless and overwhelming, it has the same effect on opposing offenses trying to gameplan for what they’re going to see.
Generally, (and ideally) I think the nickel package will feature Wilfork/Siliga for some run protection and then Easley/Jones (maybe even Worthy) in a pass rush role up front.
Or for an all-out pass rush (third and long, where the Pats have struggled) you could pull the run protection and use two of the interior rushers or even slide Chandler inside and put someone like Will Smith/Buchanan outside.
Mayo and Collins will likely be the linebackers, while we might even see Hightower in a rush role, especially if a DPR doesn’t emerge.
Then on the back end you’ve got some options. I think McCourty and Harmon would make a fine two-deep shell, or swap Harmon out for Chung for a little more presence in the box.
These are just some of the things to consider. Lots of options.
Patriots up front with flexibility | Boston Herald
Patriots up front with flexibility | Boston Herald
I feel obligated to post any defensive scheme article even if it’s kind of missing the forest for the trees. When I started writing about football it was the defensive schematics that really interested me. Watching how Bill Belichick would rebuild his defense post-2007 was a huge impetus for me to follow and study the team.
Now, seven years later, I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what Belichick does on defense. Around 2011 I realized that 3-4 or 4-3 is not really that big of a deal.
Here’s the simple facts…
1. From 2000 to 2009 the Patriots spent a good chunk of their defensive snaps in the Fairbanks-Bullough 3-4 defense. This 3-4 is a “read-and-react” defense, where the front three “build a wall” by two-gapping and allow the linebackers to make plays. (There are 3-4s like Wade Phillips’ and Dick LeBeau’s that are more “attacking”.)
2. As the game evolved, and passing offenses became more prevalent, the amount of time the Patriots spent in the 3-4 decreased. The pure Fairbanks-Bullough version of it slowly became a specialty package to stop the run. Since 2010 the Patriots are in “sub” defense, with five or more DBs, around 60-65% of the time.
In 2011, due to the lockout, there was limited time to teach the 3-4 defense, so Belichick just used the nickel front (which of course looks like a 4-3) as his teaching defense since that is what they would be in a majority of the snaps anyway.
3. However, the 3-4 remains Belichick’s teaching defense. So it’s what the Pats run in the preseason and training camp to help teach communication and responsibilities. The preseason defensive game plan is as vanilla as it can get, so seeing them in a 3-4 in the summer means little as to what we’re going to get in the fall.
4. The Pats will still run a 3-4 defense but it bears little resemblance to the Fairbanks-Bullough version. Instead of the three down linemen two-gapping, we now have a combination of guys playing single and double gaps. Read this article for more on this.
5. This current “base” defense (which really makes no sense now that we’re really talking only 30-40% of the snaps) is more of a 2-5. This is an effort to get more athletes on the field to stop the pass, instead of big bodies to build a wall and stop the run.
What matters most is gap responsibility, so whether you want to call Ninkovich and Chandler outside linebackers or defensive ends, it doesn’t really make a difference. They are end of the line players and their job remains basically the same whether they’re rushing the passer or dropping into coverage.
The ability to morph between fronts is where the Pats give themselves and advantage.
The game has evolved and so has Bill Belichick’s defense. What has been missing in my estimation is explosive one-gapping defensive tackles like Easley and Jerel Worthy. They had DT’s one-gapping, but often times they were more nose tackle-ish like Wilfork and Kyle Love or defensive end-ish like Tommy Kelly, Brandon Deaderick and Gerard Warren.
Now the Patriots defense has the personnel to literally play any front, or combination of fronts. Believe me when I say this is the first time they’ve EVER had this kind of flexibility. So there’s some truth to the linked Herald to the article.
But still wondering about the 3-4/4-3 debate is an extreme simplification about a minority of the defensive snaps.