unless you want our defense to become more of a sieve than it already is.

Bradie James has to play OLB in that scheme.

Because I honestly think it puts our best players in the best positions to make plays. But I think we are doing ourselves a disservice by not bringing it out occasionally during the game. It’s clear some of our defensive players have deficiencies in the 3-4. It wouldn’t hurt to try them out at the 4-3 at certain points in the game.

But I do think something need to happen with the front 7. We either need to blow it up and bring in lots of new personnel or blow it up and switch everyone around.

We simply don’t have a middle linebacker that could excel in a 4-3. Sure Bradie and Zach have both played and been somewhat productive in a 4-3 what we need is a more dynamic defense with all the athletes we have. The problem is not the 3-4 but what we’re doing with it.

The whole point of a 3-4 defense is to disguise where the pass rush is coming from. We rush the same 4-5 guys all the time from all the same spots. We need to get more creative with our scheme and more aggressive. That has nothing to do with 4-3/3-4.

…missed tackle may have looked worse than it was. Especially on a low motion replay. I don’t know. I couldn’t see what he was looking at, but maybe he was actually being disciplined and holding his lane (for once on this whole team). If he collapsed on Ward, and got juked, Ward would’ve had the whole sideline to walk in anyway. Just trying to look at it from another angle that I haven’t heard anyone mention yet. The inside help was WAY late getting to that lane.

DT: Tank, Ratliff, Spears
DE: Ware, Canty, Spencer, Ellis
Weakside OLB: Burnett, Barbie
Strongside OLB: James, Spencer
MLB: Thomas, James

I think Parcells influenced him that it was a better scheme than the 4-3 which is why he hired Phillips in the first place.

I seriously doubt he’ll s@#% can it now, no matter who he hires in the off season and for all those who want Cowher as our next HC, if that happens, he’s a 3-4 guy as well.

because I’m a big fan of LBs. I do think that a hybrid version of the 3-4/4-3 would be great. Here are some other 3-4 D-lines:

The Ravens
DE Ngata 6’4" 345—yes, Ngata plays End now
NT Bannon 6’3 310
DE Price 6’5 295

The Browns
DE C.Williams 6’4 320
NT S.Rogers 6’4" 350
DE S.Smith 6’2 325

The Pats
DE T.Warren 6’5" 300
NT V. Wilfork 6’2" 325
DE Seymore 6’6’ 310

Our beloved Cowboys
DE Canty 6’7" 304
NT Ratliff 6’4 302
DE Spears 6’4" 315

Each of those teams have 2 pretty good playmakers on their D-line and each has one HUGE, FAT dude that can make plays. The other guys are more athletic. Rat is an athletic playmaker with a motor, and Canty can be sometimes.
Maybe we should be petitioning for Spears to move inside—or else bye bye 1st rounder.

and hope we never change, just continue to get better personnel at certain positions. I think with some of the guys we got, 3-4 or 4-3 wouldn’t matter, they just aren’t playing well.

4-3 is the best kind of defense. 3-4 is for sellouts.

i’m out..

Works because of Casey Hampton. Chargers Defense works because of Jamaal Williams (NT), and the Patriots Defense works because of Wilfork (NT), and the Ravens defense works because of they’re nose tacklle. But why does they’re 3-4 defenses work well and ours just okay to bad? simple- nothing agains Rat and Tank, but they ain’t big enough to take on 2 blockers at the same time consistently and power them. I’ve always said Spears should be our NT because he is the only one that takes on 2 blockers effectively, but he’s small too. Go look at the size of all the NT’s the other teams that run a 3-4 have compared to our NT size. This 3-4 of ours is doomed to failure until we do something about that and Bradie James in the middle. Teams beat us by running up the middle- just think of what Portis did to win that first Skins game. If teams can’t run the ball up the middle, it’s over for them. If they can run the ball, it’s over for us. I want the 4-3 to come back because no one has the courage to speak out against this comical version of the 3-4. That is why I want the 4-3, not because I am against the 3-4- I’m not. But until one of the coaches steps up and actually does something about it, we will just keep going along and say “oh well, things will get better” and they won’t. Put Campo as D coordinator and run a 4-3, and watch the pressure on the QB’s make them wilt and through alot of incomplete passes, and teams won’t be able to run either. Either that, or get a big NT and put him in there to clog up the middle if we stay with 3-4, but this damned indecisiveness is killing us on D.

Respectfully, though. Why?

Simple- I like the 3-4, but it can’t work well the way our scheme is. alot of times we go after a qb on 1st and 2nd down and they have incompletions. Then on 3rd they back off and then there is a completion for 10-20 yards (1st down for the other team)
Is this what the 3-4 is all about?

We can’t win with a 3-4 that consistently let’s teams get yards running the ball up the middle, no matter how much you tell me Bradie James is good against the run

My personal assesmet goes as follows-

Bradie James seems hesitant alot, waits for the play to come to him, rather than go after the play and smack it down before it develops. He lacks the speed to catch up to a play most of the time after he lets it develop. And also i notice that he is not good at all against the pass. We don’t really need LB’ers that are one-dimensional, especially if we are running a 3-4. The linebackers have to be able to do everything well.

Our NT’s, although good D-lineman, are not the NT for a 3-4 D. Tank is a DT in the 4-3, and so is Spears. Ratliff is playing out of position in our 3-4, because he is an awesome DE in the 4-3. Ware would be the other DE.

Our LB’s would be Spencer SSLB, Thomas as MLB, and Burnett. Bradie James would back up Zach Thomas in the 4-3.

That’s how I believe our team should be on Defense on the field right now. I believe it would be a nightmare to play against our defense when it is set up this way, because we would be utilizing our talents to the FULLEST POTENTIAL.

That this post does not have a poll.

did you notice that their ENTIRE defense just looked super duper fast and was flying all over the place to the ball carrier, or at the QB.
We need a hustler guy like Polamalu that helps pick up the other guys’ game from the defensive backfield.
Without the Roy of old, this defense has continued to underperform. With the offenses of today, a playmaking Safety is a necessity for a top defense.

just do not have the NT to be a good 3-4 team. They need to address this issue in the off season.

Has our defense produced so far THIS year with our best players? Answer-No. Does our defensive coach have a hamdle on what to do when there is an injury- meaning does he use the right personnel? again, no. It’s got to be one way or another.

You are right about Spears Cowboyssuberfan, he is the only D-lineman that has the strength and speed to play the NT position for us. He is the missing element. He can take on 2 blockers at the same time effectively. If we were dumb enough to not go out and get Shaun Rodgers or Kris Jenkins to fill that role, then that is our best option. Ratliff is being utilized wrong by being NT. He is an exceptional DE in the 3-4.

So if we stay in 3-4, do something about nose tackle, make Ratliff go after the passer and not be a space eater NT, Replace James with Burnett full time, and get Spencer out on the field more. If not, then going back to 4-3 would be smart, since we wouldn’t have as many problems finding the right players for the right positions, since we already seem to have the personnel to do it. Oh, and the coach too (Campo), which may be more important than anything anyway, since Stewart and Phillips seem to be failing Cowboy fans with the Defensive gameplan.