RULES, REGULATIONS AND COACHING POINTS - WEEK 5

Jeff Hafley’s defensive scheme has produced some moments of encouragement, and some not so.  Lets look at what the scheme is and what we might expect in the way of draft choices and free agents next year and hopefully get a feel for what we might be looking for.

 

The scheme is a base 4-3, that means four defensive linemen and 3 linebackers.  The two interior linemen in a 4-3, usually Zach Sieler and Jordan Philips, are assigned a gap and lined up over a guard and shaded over the centre.  They need to be quick and big and use their size to get under the block and penetrate.  The two ends,  Chop Robinson and Josh Uche,  are the pass rushers and are slightly lighter and much faster than the interior linemen and need to apply speed and power while also sealing the edge in outside run and draw situations.

 

The linebacker positions in a 4-3 are the Mike which is the Middle Linebacker, Sam the Strong Side Linebacker and Will the Weakside Linebacker.  The Mike is usually a slightly smaller quicker player in a 4-3, i.e. Jacob Rodriguez, as he needs to often be in pass coverage.  The idea is the two big interior linemen in front of him should occupy 3 blockers, the centre and two guards, letting him run to the ball.  The Will is also normally shorter and faster as he can hide behind one of the Linemen and offences find it more difficult to get a blocker on him.  The Sam is a hybrid, he’s usually the slightly taller and stronger of the ‘backers.  He needs to be able to take on the tight end blocks, sometimes the right tackle block and sometimes cover the tight end or back out of the backfield.  The current Miami Linebackers are either 6’.0’’ or 6’1’’, some are prototype players for the 4-3, some not.  Something to watch out for in April.

 

However, to change things up the Miami defence moves to a 3-4 occasionally, watch the substitutions in different scenarios.  For example, the nose tackle, the player lined up directly over the centre in a 3 down lineman front, needs to be 6’4’’ or more and considerably heavier as an immoveable object occupying the centre and a guard, players such as Zeek Biggers 6’6’’ 315lbs and Jordan Philips 6’6’’ 340lbs can move here, neither is a specific nose tackle, but this means one or both of the two outside linebackers (there are now two outside and two inside), need to be pass rushers.  Jason Taylor was a pro bowl defensive end/outside linebacker for Miami negating the need to substitute him when changing 4-3 to 3-4, this is a valuable player to have.