/thread

The modern NFL defense should be a 43

Winner winner chicken dinner.

When Chris Jones collapses the pocket....good things happen.

Bailey having a good year helps.

Interior DL are crucial.

With the wrong personnel is the point. We're trotting out 300+lb Dlinemen and asking them to rush the passer.

That's not as efficient as a true 43 D-line that can play lighter, smaller and quicker. Along with LB's who are also lighter, smaller and quicker.

They're having exceptionally good seasons. They also get a lot of opportunities.

well, I think you're missing the point. What difference is it, really, especially when a team like the Chiefs has 275lbs. OLB'ers? Call them a DE, call them OLB'ers, what difference does it make? More than a DE then, even in a 4-3, I say the DT should be the new point of emphasis. And even they will not look like the old hulking 300+ pounders but more like the Donald prototype. Reid's point was that the interior linemen collapsing the pocket from the INSIDE is faster and more disruptive than pressure from the edge.

My point is I think that Interior linemen and safeties are more important in this new era, with the new rules (or new emphasis on the rules) than the previous conventional wisdom that CB's and edge rushers are the premium defensive positions.

Jone's hands are getting better...isn't next year, year three?


:rockon:

MLB will be super important as well.

Interesting how rules will change defense from outside in to the opposite.

Take this a step further. You should be investing more in offense than defense as well.

This all day.

I think the modern defense is more about turnovers and shutting down an offense.

Fair enough. It's a side discussion really, to what my main point is-which is that for decades, the NFL has placed a premium on pressure from the outside-i.e. edge rushers, OLB'ers, DE's, and shut-down corner play. Both are now handicapped by a)quicker developing passing games and b)no contact by DB's at all or it's a flag. Aaron Donald, for example, doesn't rush against the LT much, he's usually rushing against a guard. He gets inside that guard and eats your QB alive. That's what I'm talking about. I don't want Jones outside rushing out around the tackle-I want him on a guard, inside, on a bee-line to the QB.

So perhaps, like the Royals which found undervalued skills and rode it to a championship, the Chiefs should build a defense designed to collapse the pocket from the inside out and limit big plays downfield with superior safety play. SAFETY in the actual use of the word as well as the term for the position.

I'm still surprised that with the Jim Johnson defense back in style, Reid didn't pursue a Jim Johnson like candidate. Then again, maybe we got saved... Minnesotas defense hasnt looked great this year.

Here's a more intriguing idea... Why not poach from Reid's coaching tree? Nagys got a scheme we might like. Fangio is basically running a 3-4 under (not sure how many are doing that). Goes without saying, Khalil mack really makes that D go. The bears have one of the more intriguing defense.

Those guy are running around in coverage half the time. Dee Ford and Justin Houston aren't rushing the passer 100% of a QB's drop backs.

That's the difference. How many more sacks would those guys have if they weren't running around in coverage?

How much more effective would our D-line be if you slid Houston and Ford at DE, and moved Jones and Bailey into the middle 100% of a QB's drop backs?

How much easier could we cover backs swinging out of the backfield and screens etc if our OLB's flew around like DoD?

THAT'S the difference.

that actually is a much more concise way of saying what I'm trying to say.

Invest much more heavily on interior linemen and safeties (INSIDE) as opposed to conventional wisdom of investing in edge rushers and CB's (OUTSIDE).

Correct.

Which further supports the argument that the 43 is the optimum scheme for today's NFL.