The Wicked Wop Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Defense To Use 3-4 On Sunday Redskins Defense Modified for Buffalo By Nunyo Demasio Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, October 15, 2003 Washington Redskins defensive coordinator George Edwards’ said yesterday that his defensive unit will experiment with the 3-4 style defense on Sunday against Buffalo. If successful, the system could become commonplace in the Redskins playbook, and potentially be the Redskins standard defensive set. The philosophy change is in response to the Redskins inability to generate quarterback pressure on defense. This inability was evident on Sunday as Brad Johnson was able to pick apart the Redskins secondary in the second half leading to a 35-13 rout. Said Edwards’: “Obviously something new needs to be tried. Our inability to generate a pass rush with our front four on Sunday helped the Bucs run all over us in the second half, and limit our offensive opportunities. The Coach and I discussed this, and decided a change was in order” The extent of the 3-4 defenses use on Sunday is still up in the air at this point, and depends greatly on how the team practices and adjusts to the new set during the week. Though the personnel used in defense have not been announced, it is likely that Kevin Mitchell will be used on running downs with Antonio Pierce being used in passing situations. Said Pierce: "Hopefully four linebackers on the field can help mix things up better then has occurred so far." It is likely that the Redskins will use a very simplified 3-4 defense against Buffalo to experiment with it, without causing excessive confusion. The Redskins will then likely practice extensively with the new setup during the team’s bye week in preparation for the game against Dallas. © 2003 The Washington Post Company http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21740-2003Oct15?language=printer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redman Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Amazing. So what linemen play when? Does Wynn stay in the game with Bruce as part of our base set, or is this a way to keep Bruce fresh for passing downs by using two DT's plus Wynn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Arrington and Trotter need to be used to get greater pressure on the qb. My question comes in on the DL. Who is the team's NT? And does Bruce Smith continue to start at DE in a 3-4? Smith seems light at 265 to man an end spot in that scheme. Wynn I think has already played in a 3-4, so LDE is covered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 I think Haley is the 'NT' in the 4-3 and so that should continue to be the situation with the 3-4. Bruce has the most experience as the RDE in the 3-4, so why not now? LaDairis isn't big enough but maybe he could be a rush LB or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awesome Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 What about Upshaw at RE? This is interesting. Pierce and Mitchell are good players, better playmakers than what the team has gotten out of that DT rotation, with a slight exception to Holsey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 the ends in a 3-4 have to be run stoppers, guys that can hold the point of attack and prevent 300 pound linemen from mauling the backers we have. Remember that Bruce played at 295 when he was in his heyday as a DE in the 3-4 in the 1980's to mid-1990's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redman Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 I've seen 3-4's run a variety of different ways. 2 DT's and 1 DE 1 NT and 2 DE's 2 DT's, and 1 DE with 1 DE playing a rush LB It depends on the team's strength and the game situation. We'll probably filter in our best rush linemen during passing situations as it's typically a weak run defense given the lack of girth up front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimster Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Hopefully Upshaw and Wynn on the ends with Bruce and Pepe on passing downs. I would imagine a rotation in the middle of Haley and Chase - They could use Mitchell for the run and Pierce and LaDarius thrown into the mix on passing downs at LB This could be just what we need - keep an opposing offense constantly guessing, or better yet - confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fansince62 Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 sorry...the team doesn't have a wall of granite nose tackle....this will be a short lived experiment........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ignatius J. Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Good thing the bills don't have a solid running game...... -DB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophet Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 whats up with dalton? we are going into the 7th game and i haven't seen him on the field? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlanta Skins Fan Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 While a 3-4 might suit our personnel, it's pretty damn risky to just drop it into the gameplan in midseason in response to a Buc blowout. It's more likely to create blown assignments initially than it is likely to create an improved defense. This seems like a move of some desperation, and I'm surprised. I didn't think our defense had come down to desperate measures. It feels like Spurrier is making the defense the scapegoat for the Buc loss. If Spurrier were objective, he'd realize that the defense play has been far more consistent than his offense. The second half of the Buc game was ugly, but Gruden and Brad Johnson are pretty damn good at short, high-percentage passing. Let's hope the defense can absorb the new scheme without big errors. I just have a bad feeling about it, in the short term. It's the kind of thing that could turn a close win against the Bills into a loss due to blown assignments, and then Spurrier might get even more strident about the play of the defense. Maybe Spurrier should work on his own knitting first. Edit: if a midseason switch to a 3-4 is demanded, the time to do it is the bye week. Then, don't preannounce it, but drop it out of the blue on Parcells the following week. Doing it now, with only a few days preparation, packaged with a press release, is putting the defense in a very bad spot -- and it loses the element of surprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophet Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 i love it... i wish we started this way from the begining. we have the lb core to do this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 according to Spurrier they work on the 3-4 as a matter of course. it is a regular alignment for the team in camp and in practice. we shall see. I agree that the linebacking is there but the DL seems a couple of bags of rocks short of a boulder Smith is not a 3-4 end anymore. wynn is capable and haley may be tenable as a NT at 310, at least in the short term before he wears down. remember Haley and chase are not used to playing this much. another possibility is moving Bernard Holsey out to DE to platoon with Bruce Smith. Holsey played DE in the Giants 3-4 for a number of years and was in NE as a 3-4 tackle last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fansince62 Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 we have lost 3 games - of which 2 can be traced to the defense: the "we won't stop you" OT drive in the giants game and the total collapse against the bucs. the defense has been steadily marching down the stats sheet....progressively worse each week. I agree this a move of desperation - and a comical one at that. we don't have a pass rush so we'll go a 3-4 with an lb crew that is not particularly adept at pass coverage (hasn't been for years) and not much in the way of a scheme for runnig lb blitz packages. even more hummorously, this seems to be a radical departure from the ML scheme of defense Edwards supposedly is a disciple of..........this is my first inkling that perhaps tehre is some dumb*ss coaching going on. our DL sucks - we can thank the FO for that and will have to suffer through til the offseason. be that as it may, the personnel roster was built for a 4 man line. hope it works....but I have to agree with ASF...this is desperation when we should just settle for mediocrity in hopes that we can survive during the backend of the sched..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlanta Skins Fan Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Originally posted by fansince62 we have lost 3 games - of which 2 can be traced to the defense: the "we won't stop you" OT drive in the giants game and the total collapse against the bucs. Fan, don't fall into the "remember the last play" trap of many fans. Everyone remembers the OT collapse against the Giants. But no one remembers that the defense stopped the Giants on downs, with only 30 seconds burned, to put the offense in position to win the game in regulation. The offense then proceeded to stall at the red zone with plenty of time on the clock, forcing the FG and the OT period. If the offense finishes the job, there never would have been an OT period, and we would have won that game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba9497 Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Dalton will play some in the 3-4 L Jackson maybe used as a fourth LB on Passing down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 was that from George Edwards or is it just wishful thinking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wicked Wop Posted October 15, 2003 Author Share Posted October 15, 2003 :nana: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba9497 Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Me???? ESP :fortune: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmythehair Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 We have the LB's for the 3-4 but I don't think we have the DL's for it. Sure we have been weak in the pass rush but to make the change because of the Bucks game? I think Brad Johnson has been sacked less than any other QB the year. One of the problems of the Defense this year is penalties (though not always there fault). It seems after a few of them they can not stay as agressive without the fear of getting flagged. I hope the 3-4 works but at this point I just feel we will have to wait and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Hog Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 My question is this: can things honestly get worse on defense than they did in the 2nd half of the bucs game ? If the answer is no, I say give the 3-4 alignment a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimReaper21 Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 i m calling for the clown for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wicked Wop Posted October 15, 2003 Author Share Posted October 15, 2003 :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen-like Todd Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 nm, don't want to ruin it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.