How many different defenses are there?

[TimGraham]

There are as many different defenses as there are coaches, truthfully.

 

Here's a list of the foundations I can think of off the top of my head:

4-3

3-4

3-3-5

4-2-6

46

52

4-4

 

Then you can break it down a bit farther with basic philosophies within each foundations such as the Cover 2 in the 4-3

 

My high school played a 4-4. And I was the safety for two years.

 

No pressure ...

[Assquatch]

Don't forget about the Chewbacca Defense or the Twinkie Defense

Or the "she said she was 18" defense.

[bizell]

there are only 2 ways to play defense -

1. attack and be aggressive with whatever personnel you have or

2. take whatever personnel you have and sit back, be passive and react to what the offense dictates

 

Even though he had one of the best pass rushers of all time, Walt Corey wasted Bruce Smith's talents by playing a poorly conceived passive 3-4.

 

Teams that attack, play for titles

bull sh--.

 

in 99, we had the #1 ranked defense playing a 3-4 read and react.

[Coach55]

There are as many different defenses as there are coaches, truthfully.

 

Here's a list of the foundations I can think of off the top of my head:

4-3

3-4

3-3-5

4-2-6

46

52

4-4

 

Then you can break it down a bit farther with basic philosophies within each foundations such as the Cover 2 in the 4-3

I'm all about this 4-2-6 that you are proposing. If the Bills could use that all the time, our defense would dominate (assuming we don't get flagged every down for delay of game)...

[WVUFootball29]

I'm all about this 4-2-6 that you are proposing. If the Bills could use that all the time, our defense would dominate (assuming we don't get flagged every down for delay of game)...

 

LMAO...Yeah bit of a typo there. Should be 4-2-5

 

Tim, I played safety in a 4-4 defense as well, yeah no pressure in that position

[Coach55]

LMAO...Yeah bit of a typo there. Should be 4-2-5

 

Tim, I played safety in a 4-4 defense as well, yeah no pressure in that position

From a high school perspective, it is significantly more difficult to play against a 4-4, as opposed to a 5-2/5-3. The defense is designed to allow to two inside backers to effectively shut down the run, as you can't effectively get a lineman on them for a clean block. You have to run iso's or seal blocks. You couldn't run it in the NFL, however, as you would be thrown at all day long. You could however run a variation of the 4-4 in the form of a 4-2-5 where you stack the two backers over the DT's and play with two strong safeties (a modified nickel). You would need to have the right personnel to do it and the key would be to have a pair of SS running in the 230's (effectively OLB's at the collegiate level with Safety Speed).

[WVUFootball29]

From a high school perspective, it is significantly more difficult to play against a 4-4, as opposed to a 5-2/5-3. The defense is designed to allow to two inside backers to effectively shut down the run, as you can't effectively get a lineman on them for a clean block. You have to run iso's or seal blocks. You couldn't run it in the NFL, however, as you would be thrown at all day long. You could however run a variation of the 4-4 in the form of a 4-2-5 where you stack the two backers over the DT's and play with two strong safeties (a modified nickel). You would need to have the right personnel to do it and the key would be to have a pair of SS running in the 230's (effectively OLB's at the collegiate level with Safety Speed).

 

Right, and it could be successful. the 46 defense was pretty effective in its day when utilized correctly. Personally, if you have the right personnel to run it I really like the 3-3-5 stack with a bandit safety, which I always thought Coy Wire would have been great for. However, you need really big lineman and very fast LBs.

[Coach55]

Right, and it could be successful. the 46 defense was pretty effective in its day when utilized correctly. Personally, if you have the right personnel to run it I really like the 3-3-5 stack with a bandit safety, which I always thought Coy Wire would have been great for. However, you need really big lineman and very fast LBs.

The biggest problem I found with a 3-3-5 stack is if you stack the OLB's you are fine between the tackles, but leave yourself vulnerable on the option and sweeps as you could have a WR crack your OLB without much effort. If you shade the OLB's outside you leave yourself open between the tackles. But you are right, with the right personnel, it can work. As I always say, personnel dictates what you play, not the other way around (which is a major problem with most coaches)

[WVUFootball29]

The biggest problem I found with a 3-3-5 stack is if you stack the OLB's you are fine between the tackles, but leave yourself vulnerable on the option and sweeps as you could have a WR crack your OLB without much effort. If you shade the OLB's outside you leave yourself open between the tackles. But you are right, with the right personnel, it can work. As I always say, personnel dictates what you play, not the other way around (which is a major problem with most coaches)

 

Agreed

[rstencel]

Don't forget the 0-4 variation of prevent that patriots played for a while, and the 6-1 that bears did year before they came up with the 46 defense. then variations of secondary like 2 deep, 3 deep, cover 3, cover 4, tampa 2, and zone blitz to name a few. Short yardage or big is considered a type as well. Depending on whether mean type or personnel on field there are several hundred different names given for schemes played out of base sets, and blitzing types.

[KD in CA]

Don't forget about the Chewbacca Defense or the Twinkie Defense

 

 

Or the 6-2 stack monster.

[Hossage]

There has to be a decent googleable site that explains this stuff. All football coaches love to use the term nomenclature to describe football talk.

[Nightcrawler]

There are only two types of posters on this board.

 

1. The poster who has moderate to advanced football knowledge, and uses what they know to participate in football discussion. This type of poster has pros and cons to the way they view this team. It's called being a constructive member of a discussion.

 

2. The second type of poster is more troll than anything. This poster is usually armed with a very minimal amount of football knowledge and is always blindly positive or blindly negative on every issue concerning the Bills. This poster offers very little to any discussion and kills threads upon arrival.

 

Take a second to review your last 100 posts and figure out which group you belong in. Thanks for the parity and thought!

 

Amen!

 

One of the most honest and true responses posted on this board the past 3 months. If there was a way to eliminate or lessen the amount of posters in the #2 category, then what a great day that would be.

 

Thanks for reminding all posters, including myself, to literally step up our "posting commentary" a bit. I tire of hearing people calling each other on posts rather than giving sincere, intelligent, and thought-provoking thoughts.