Defensive scheme change

[Mr. Scot]

What in the world is going on there?

A couple of people have pointed out that we spent the offseason loading up on players that fit one scheme (and even having some existing players adjust) but we're now spending most of our time running another.

Heck, the scheme switch was considered to be one of the reasons why we were letting Thomas Davis go. The drafting of Brian Burns and Christian Miller was said to align with that as well.

Theories as to what happened?

[SmokinwithWilly]

Rivera gonna Rivera.

[Forty-Eight]

Appears that Rivera can’t figure to let Washington call the defense or not. Burns has disappeared. Miller hasn’t played since how many weeks ago. Thomas Davis is balling out in Los Angeles. Rivera is one dumb fool.

[DeAngelo Beason]

Hate to throw blame on Luke, but I think he's taking a lot of time to adjust to this new scheme, and he's not able to get the guys lined up the way he used to... yet.

 

[Forty-Eight]

This season is pretty much over. And when we lose this Sunday to Atlanta, people will finally realize that Rivera, Norv and Tepper all suck. 
 

My biggest problem with this team is, what defense will we be playing in the future. I just can’t imagine Burns being a 43 DE.

[Forty-Eight]

1 minute ago, DeAngelo Beason said:

Hate to throw blame on Luke, but I think he's taking a lot of time to adjust to this new scheme, and he's not able to get the guys lined up the way he used to... yet.

 

It’s not Luke. It’s the damn fat expensive DLs that we are paying them to hold their grounds and free Luke to roam around the middle making tackles that cannot do that. Quit pointing the fingers at Luke. 

[Mr. Scot]

I think pretty much everyone would acknowledge that Luke doesn't look like Luke this year.

I said previously I didn't think he'd fit a 3-4 (it's been argued that Shaq Thompson doesn't either) but I'm not absolutely positive you can say it's just the scheme change because, as has been pointed out, we're not necessarily running all that much 3-4.

And I know you hear the term "3-4 concepts" but from what I'm watching that just sounds like abstract bullsh-t right now.

[Wolfpack352]

Swiss cheese

[Forty-Eight]

4 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

I think pretty much everyone would acknowledge that Luke doesn't look like Luke this year.

I said previously I didn't think he'd fit a 3-4 (it's been argued that Shaq Thompson doesn't either) but I'm not absolutely positive you can say it's just the scheme change because, as has been pointed out, we're not necessarily running all that much 3-4.

And I know you hear the term "3-4 concepts" but from what I'm watching that just sounds like abstract bullsh-t right now.

Luke and Shaq has looked great. Cmon now. 2-3 weeks ago and both of them were top 5 in tackles. Terrible coaching and lazy production from the DL has killed them two boys ever since the SF game. 

[Sgt Schultz]

I was quietly concerned that we were asking Luke to do more than he could.  He is/has been a great MLB in a 4-3, but that does not necessarily translate into being even a good ILB in a 3-4.  Part of the reason is probably that in a 3-4 scheme, he is having to engage an OL more often which keeps him from reading and reacting as the play develops.

Maybe our brain trust doesn't understand that in the scheme they adopted, you are supposed to play too the strengths of both schemes on a situational basis, not the weaknesses or even the nominal. 

Then again, such a switch generally takes more than one season to tool up for, which was another concern I had.  I think right now we have a bunch of people better suited for one scheme or the other, but not switching or running some concepts from both.

[1of10Charnatives]

1 minute ago, Mr. Scot said:

I think pretty much everyone would acknowledge that Luke doesn't look like Luke this year.

I said previously I didn't think he'd fit a 3-4 (it's been argued that Shaq Thompson doesn't either) but I'm not absolutely positive you can say it's just the scheme change because, as has been pointed out, we're not necessarily running all that much 3-4.

And I know you hear the term "3-4 concepts" but from what I'm watching that just sounds like abstract bullsh-t right now.

Since we're just speculating I'll throw out a notion without anything to support it, just something that *might* explain what we're seeing. Perhaps Tepper came down hard on Ron at his end of year performance review after last season about the defense underperforming. Ron didn't entirely want to throw Washington under the bus cause that's Ron's guy, so in order to placate Tepper he threw out the notion that we were gonna switch to a 3-4 as a means of solving the team's problems with an anemic pass rush. He wasn't truly committed to the idea, but he said it to keep his boss off his back and to make it seem like he's being proactive in finding solutions. 

During the offseason, draft and free agency, Ron and Hurney draft and sign players consistent with this notion, but then when the season roles around, Ron hides behind the idea that we'll be using a blend of "concepts" and doesn't actually play the 3-4 much, but now he's stuck with pass rushers ill suited to the 4-3

It's just a notion.

[Mr. Scot]

I always thought it was kind of a desperation move to be honest.

Basically just Rivera saying "Well I gotta do something. What the hell, let's try this."

[BrianS]

I think a lot of Luke's problems this year are scheme related.  He's getting more OL in his face than he has in the past, that's true.  But I don't think it's his biggest problem.

Luke is not an experienced 3-4 LB.  He's a great LB, and I think he could be great in a 3-4, but opposing OC's know that he isn't yet at that level in the defense, so they run a lot of misdirection and counter action at him and it makes him "think" during the play instead of just read and react.

Luke's job is made worse by the fact that we're running some weird hybrid BS.  Heck, everyone's job is harder.  We can't really hang our hat on any set, and so we're crap at both 4-3 and 3-4 right now.

Pick a thing.  Do it well.  We haven't.

[Eazy-E]

Rivera is going to die on his sword. Said all the right things in the offseason to save his job but come game time goes right back to his old ways. He is trying to help his buddy Eric Washington who clearly has no idea how to call a 3-4 defense so he just defaults back to the same dog poo 4-3 we ran last season.

Rivera can’t be bothered on game day to do anything other than stand stoically on the sideline with his arms crossed in front of his ample chest. Coach of the year right there folks.