Going into Arizona with 3 DTs

[Panthercougar68]

Lol I dont think they meant by default though

Im guessing Fua was the one to sit a year while Ron Edward took his place and that they had McClain slated to start no matter what.

That's the impression I get

[brandon_87]

Im guessing Fua was the one to sit a year while Ron Edward took his place and that they had McClain slated to start no matter what.

That's the impression I get

Same here, but I had hopes and dreams we could sign stroud or harris

[I am Hubby]

Sure I am concerned over the lack of experience at DT. Going to be interesting how they scheme to cover this weakness. My first reaction is that they will call the plays they want, to get a good feel on how this unit performs. Like I said, watching McDermet run this D is going to be at the top of the what to watch list.

IMO, if we bring in an experienced DT, Rivera is trying to build a winner sooner rather than later. Whereas standing pat could mean that this is a teaching year. Which is OK, just not what I was hoping for.

Just a thought, and GOOOO PANTHERS!!!!!!!!

[rayzor]

I hope you guys are prepared for the Cards to run all over us.

1) cards have no real running game

2) cards oline sucks worse than our Dline.

won't happen.

week 2 we are playing a team that doesn't run much at all. of course they don't have to. still...it won't be the run game that hurts us.

[Hairless Cat]

Especially when we spent the whole preason basically advertising in neon lights that we can't stop the run up the middle.

smokescreen

[Jackofalltrades]

Same here, but I had hopes and dreams we could sign stroud or harris

Why can't people grasp that Stroud has a busted shoulder, many have been saying it all preseason.

I expect a pick up Monday, I'd give anything to have a Raji type on our line.

[MrCatWalker]

i'm actually not all that worried. we'll be using CJ, hardy, and selvie rotating in the middle and may go with 0 DTs on a good few downs. i read an article recently talking about how many teams are doing some crazy stuff on the dline like that and we've been doing that a good bit for a couple years anyway.

Just because the Giants had success swapping out ends to the interior doesn't mean squat, that year they had way more talent as far as ends are concerned, their back ups were better than our back ups this year and last year. Moving Johnson to the middle can work but who do you replace him with? I don't have enough on Hardy or Selvie to know how that will play out. I can't recall the Giants putting their best ends in the middle. (Strahan or Osi)

[MadHatter]

Why can't people grasp that Stroud has a busted shoulder, many have been saying it all preseason.

I expect a pick up Monday, I'd give anything to have a Raji type on our line.

I really liked Raji coming out of Boston Colllege. He is just damn not movable.

[rayzor]

Just because the Giants had success swapping out ends to the interior doesn't mean squat, that year they had way more talent as far as ends are concerned, their back ups were better than our back ups this year and last year. Moving Johnson to the middle can work but who do you replace him with? I don't have enough on Hardy or Selvie to know how that will play out. I can't recall the Giants putting their best ends in the middle. (Strahan or Osi)

a lot more than the giants have done it. we have been doing it for a couple years. tyler brayton and charles johnson have been moving into play NT.

we've heard rivera talking about other than eric norwood, all of our DEs are big guys that can handle moving to the interior of the DLine if needed. playing on the outside...there are plenty of options available that we have gone and will go with.

it's going to get kind of crazy, esp. if the defense does what the coaches and players have been hinting at, using lots of blitzes and disguises. i wouldn't be surprised to see a good few formations using just 1 or 2 DEs on the Dline. it's being done around the league and it's been quite effective.

here's a link to that article i read that talks about how complex defenses are getting and how they are using confusion and unusual formations and movements that aren't made until just before the snap....from the SI NFL Preview btw...

On the video screen, Payton cued up a play from the Saints' 2009 game with the Jets. New York had a left defensive end over New Orleans's right tackle, no one over the right guard, center or left guard, a defensive end over the left tackle and a standup linebacker on the end's right shoulder. Quarterback Drew Brees stood at the line figuring what to do. Linebackers and defensive backs moved around, showing nothing. "And here they come," said Payton. "They knock at the front door with one guy, then shove 10 through the back."

At the snap the Jets flooded the left side with four rushers. Traffic on the line stopped two of them. The others, linebacker Bart Scott and safety Jim Leonhard, steamed around left end. For the Saints, left tackle Zach Strief had to pick up one, and tight end Jeremy Shockey, behind Strief, should have gotten the other. At the moment of truth Leonhard ducked low, taking a wide rush outside, and Strief and Shockey both blocked him. Scott, left free, smashed into Brees, forcing an incompletion. "Win for the defense," Payton said.

The strange 2-3-6 alignment, with no defenders over the three interior linemen, caused the Saints to change their blocking scheme after this game from man to zone on blitzes around the corners. Their name for the new scheme: Jet Stream. Just one more move to try to keep ever-morphing defensive fronts—aren't the Jets supposed to play a straight 3--4?—from wrecking the offense's plans.

.

.

.

The biggest myth in football is that your base defense is what you are. The Patriots are known as a 3--4, so they should want a big nose guy and 290-pound defensive ends who play the run first. Right? When New England signed troubled defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, the outcry wasn't so much about Haynesworth's work ethic but about how he'd fit in. Haynesworth hates the 3--4, and Bill Belichick's a 3--4 guy. But is he really? "That's a media fabrication," the Patriots coach says. "There are a lot of different alignments out there. It's the techniques, the fundamentals that you teach your players, more than the 3--4, 4--3 that people say you use."

In fact the Patriots played a 3--4 on just 39.7% of their snaps in 2010, according to game-tape analysis by ProFootballFocus.com. The site counted 29 plays on which New England cornerback Kyle Arrington lined up at defensive end, with his hand on the ground.

The Patriots weren't alone in this public deception. Super Bowl champ Green Bay, another so-called 3--4 team, had just two defensive linemen on the field on 68.6% of its plays, according to Pro Football Focus. "Our guys are used to dropping in coverage," says Packers coordinator Dom Capers. "It's all about picking your spots—when to rush, when to drop. Sometimes it's a little bit faddish, just to show a different front."

"Confusion," said Payton. "That's the word. Football has become the battle of confusion."

In 1990, NFL teams threw an average of 483 times a season. That number rose to 540 in 2010. "We're never going back to a running game," says Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. "Now fullbacks run once a year. We're going to stay a passing league." In the '80s the Giants bulked up the middle of their D to stop Dallas's and Washington's strong running games and won two Super Bowls. These days there may be a few games in which an offense runs on 60% of its plays, but far more frequently the ratio is 60% pass, 40% run. To contend with those pass-heavy attacks, defensive architects are changing up, becoming more and more unpredictable. Some of the ways they're doing so:

Varying the fronts to create mismatches. Many teams have started doing what Rex Ryan did as coordinator for the Ravens and now does as Jets coach—flood one gap or blocker with two, three or even four defensive linemen or linebackers. That challenges a quarterback to change his protection call to keep more blockers in. On one play in that 2009 Jets-Saints game, New York showed a heavy rush on the left side; Brees kept a running back in to block ... and at the snap the Jets dropped a lineman and a linebacker from the group into coverage, negating Brees's protection call. "They rushed four but ate up six of our guys," Payton said. "They were able to double two of our receivers without leaving anyone open."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1189944/1/index.htm

it's such a good article i may make a new thread about it.

[rayzor]

i'm actually not all that worried. we'll be using CJ, hardy, and selvie rotating in the middle and may go with 0 DTs on a good few downs. i read an article recently talking about how many teams are doing some crazy stuff on the dline like that and we've been doing that a good bit for a couple years anyway.

we'll be fine. running downs are the only issue that i am concerned with at the moment, but i just don't see zona running all that much or effectively.

i'm not sure (because it was grey instead of red or green) but i think this MrCatWalker neg repped me for this comment. :lol: seriously?

Just because the Giants had success swapping out ends to the interior doesn't mean squat, that year they had way more talent as far as ends are concerned, their back ups were better than our back ups this year and last year. Moving Johnson to the middle can work but who do you replace him with? I don't have enough on Hardy or Selvie to know how that will play out. I can't recall the Giants putting their best ends in the middle. (Strahan or Osi)

[MrCatWalker]

rayzor you don't have to really think you know i did because i don't think the ends would replace a stout tack especially greg because he doesn't way much he can be a beast off of speed and technique.

[MrCatWalker]

if you notice in the article you clipped you notice payton did the swap after the giants won the superbowl. just proving my point that you need an end that can be a hybrid player which cj is, but imo he is the only one of the squad with size, strength and speed.

[rayzor]

rayzor you don't have to really think you know i did because i don't think the ends would replace a stout tack especially greg because he doesn't way much he can be a beast off of speed and technique.

holy run-on sentences batman!

so you feel so strongly in your disagreeing with me that it was worth neg repping me, right?

lol pathetic.

i barely understand the rest of this quote, tho. i really don't think it's worth the effort trying to figure it out.

btw...i don't care about rep, but i thought that was funny.

[JawnyBlaze]

...We finished 2-14 last year. I wouldn't invite any comparisons to last year and follow it up by saying "I don't see how it is a great concern"

The Panthers were tied for 7th best in the league in defensive YPC with opposing players averaging 3.9 yards per carry. If this year is comparable, I don't see how it is a great concern.