Interesting NFL Teams Stat....

[sherck]

As I was looking at potential free agents for our D-Line, I realized that I needed to get a better understanding of which teams played a 3-4 versus a 4-3 because players from both schemes are listed as "DE" or "OLB" but players from those positions are NOT interchangeable.

I could not find a good listing of which teams play which defense so I ended up going through each team's official depth chart to see what they said they played.

I knew that the 3-4 had been making a comeback after being out of favor for a while but I was a bit surprised to see that, for the entire NFL, that split between 3-4 defenses and 4-3 defenses was 50/50, 16 teams had the 3-4 and 16 teams had the 4-3 listed as their defense on their depth chart.

However, the other interesting things were the breakdown per conference:

AFC = 11 3-4 Defenses / 05 4-3 Defenses

NFC = 05 3-4 Defenses / 11 4-3 Defenses


Thoughts? Ideals about this split? It just seemed interesting to me that the defensive concepts were split by conference.


Cheers,

[Racehorse]

The AFC has been more of a passing conference in the past decade. As the NFC moves more to the passing game, we will see them changing to a 3-4.

RBs in the NFC the past decade:
Marshawn Lynch
AP
Frank Gore
Demarco Murray
Freeman
McCoy
Lacy
Ingram
Martin
Gurley
Elliot and Johnson are newcomers

In the AFC, we have had Bell and a couple of others like Chris Johnson.

QBs in the AFC the past decade:
Manning
Brady
Rapist
Rivers
Flacco
Luck
Tannehill
Dalton
Carr

All those are passing QBs

In the NFC, we have had Newton, Brees, Peyton's brother and Rodgers. One could argue that Newton is not as much pf a passing QB, but his stats say he is.

This means the emphasis in the conferences has been to pass more in the AFC and run more in the NFC.

[Horse]

I think it's driven, to a great extent, by the talent pool. The tweener 2-3 DE/OLB types are some of the nastiest athletes in the league. The only problem is that there aren't enough of them for everyone to field a great 3-4.

Why are there more in one conference than the other? It's more due to the randomness of coaching/GM hires than where the best passers are.

[sherck]

Now add that the LA Rams are switching to a 3-4 defense and the number is now 17 defenses in the league running a 3-4 defense and 15 running a 4-3 defense.

Cheers,

[omahacolt]

Now add that the LA Rams are switching to a 3-4 defense and the number is now 17 defenses in the league running a 3-4 defense and 15 running a 4-3 defense.

Cheers,

I always preferred the 4-3. Other than 3-4 teams generally have better coverage units on special teams due to extra lbers.

[sherck]

I always preferred the 4-3. Other than 3-4 teams generally have better coverage units on special teams due to extra lbers.

I don't disagree with you. I thought that the Bears defense of the 2000s and the Dungy 4-3 were pretty effective models of defense.

There just never seems to be enough quality LBs to go around so more and more teams converting to a 3-4 seems to be making that problem worse.

Be interesting to see who will be HCing the Colts next season and if that will bring a change back to a 4-3.

Cheers,

[George Wonsley]

Not always possible but a good play can be to go contrarian and run the scheme that is opposite the current league trend. The Pat's benefited in the early 2000's when everyone was trying to run a cover 2/Tampa 2 scheme. Good surplus of cheap 3-4 pieces on the market and they were able to build a deep & talented defense that was the cornerstone of that run of championships. When the trend flipped and they stuck with the scheme the defense got thin on talent and became their playoff Achilles heel for few years.

[Flexo]

I always preferred the 4-3. Other than 3-4 teams generally have better coverage units on special teams due to extra lbers.

I think the problem is finding hand in the dirt pass rushing ends like Dwight is really fucking hard. There's a lot more 3-4 LB tweeners coming out of college.

But I agree if you can find them I think the 4-3 is superior.

[smitty46953]

I think the problem is finding hand in the dirt pass rushing ends like Dwight is really fucking hard. There's a lot more 3-4 LB tweeners coming out of college.

But I agree if you can find them I think the 4-3 is superior.

Welcome aboard Flexo !!! :cool:

[Flexo]

Thank you.

[omahacolt]

I think the problem is finding hand in the dirt pass rushing ends like Dwight is really fucking hard. There's a lot more 3-4 LB tweeners coming out of college.

But I agree if you can find them I think the 4-3 is superior.

It is really hard to find great pass rushers. In either scheme

[FatDT]

What is most difficult is finding a good pass rusher that can also drop back into coverage or play in space effectively. I disagree that a great 4-3 DE is harder to find than a great 3-4 OLB.

I think a good coordinator can scheme an OLB more effectively though. Move them around for good matchups, disguising pre-snap. It's harder to fake performance at DE. If only we had someone talented scheming the defense.

[sherck]

Now add that the LA Rams are switching to a 3-4 defense and the number is now 17 defenses in the league running a 3-4 defense and 15 running a 4-3 defense.

Cheers,

Oops, now SF is switching from the 3-4 to the 4-3.

Back to 16 - 16 with 11 from the AFC playing 3-4 but only 5 from the NFC in the 3-4.

Cheers,