Originally posted by catch
mVm, I noticed that W Phillips has come to ATL with the 3-4 D. With Capers, other teams seem to develope strategies that were effective aganst this system. Can you or any of the others give some insight on the best way to attack the 3-4 D. They seem to have a good NT in Jasper which I think is the heart and soul of the scheme. ala Kragen(sp?).
So Piper, what you're saying is more of a KC or SF type 4-3 with a small rush LB playing the 4th DL. Interesting.
I don't know that Jasper will be a big enough threat at NT. Any team that wants can come with the 3-4, I feel we have a center for them.
catch - how would I attack a 3-4?
hard to say. if they're small as Atlanta, I would probably run right at them, run isolation behind a fullback, do a lot of stuff with motion and shifting to continue to dictate the gameplan to them. Nothing frustrates a team worse than pounding at them where they're weakest, and then manipulating to pound them where they think they're strongest - i.e. catching Brooking out of position.
that type 3-4 is also very, very susceptible to the play action and some misdirection, partly because their outside guys have a lot of responsibility in contain and partly because there's a big division between pursuit levels. I'd go playaction toward Brooking, then make sure I had as many throwing options short and away from Brooking.
One good way to negate some 3-4 looks, if they have success, is to spread them. Three and four receiver looks spread them out, force them to use two coverage LB (Brooking and likely some lesser known - Draft, Simoneau aren't coverage guys IMO and Overstreet is only a rush guy) and force their rush guys back on the line. Sure, Hall and Dronett are better in a four man line, but they can be negated with three linemen.
The other way, in base situations, is to go back to misdirection in the form of the h-back. Even by using base personnel (a FB or the second TE in the backfield), you can create an overload on one side or simply use a faster player to chip the oncoming pursuit - the on-side OLB or the on-side inside, for instance, to seal off a lane. It also works very well for taking on blitzing linebackers, and if you can negate their blitzes they're exposed over the middle. Their safeties aren't that good and you'll see us try to keep Buchanon and Ambrose out and deep, save for the requisite 5-6 balls to Muhammad.
I think we match up well against these guys in a 3-4. Against the Ravens, I dunno. We'll have to bully their DL, because their linebackers are still top notch. Atlanta has one good linebacker, so we can expose them various ways. Their strength is still corner, though, and that naturally can cause problems no matter the front.
