Warrior General Games

I figured writing the title fitting a square peg into a round hole, but our problems are bigger than that to say the least.

My situation is this: I'm a defensive coordinator of a level 32 averaged team. The average for the league we play on on offense is about 32. A two level differnce can mean a lot, I understand, but the margins we are getting blown out by are enormous.

The problem with my team seems to be pressure. for the entire season, our team has just 1 sack in week 1, and not for lack of effort. I have tried 3 man lines, 4 man lines, big fronts, small fronts, overload blitzes, gut blitzes, corner blitzes, safety blitzes, blitzing less, blitzing more, blitzing from man and blitzing from zone, zero coverage, engage eight, zone dogs, every possible method of blitzing we have tried. We just can't hit home on the QBs.

Problem for us is that we have a line that seems better at engaging blockers, and is great at it (I LOVE our NT). We have linebackers who are built for tackling. Basically, we have 4-3 linebackers with 3-4 linemen. The first thing I ask is which would be better? A 3-4 with run stopping linebackers or a 4-3 with run stuffing linemen?

if you are looking to blitz a ton i would say i like the 3-4 better over all, because of its unpredicability.

but the 4-3 is definately better as fasr as run stuffing goes.

Both have their goods and bads, the thing is, if you want pressure on the QB you either need great ends and OLBs or a great blitzing scheme. Usually trying every apple in the barrel will not net you as much sacks as a few different looks over and over again, but that is just MY personal experience, your results may vary.

Your linebackers simply aren't fast enough. Get a ROLB with 85+ speed and 65+ agil and blitz him with various shifts. DEs with 90+ agil and 80+ speed helps too.

I find that the 3-4 is a great way to confuse the offensive linemen. They like to automatically double team the NT or DT's leaving a gap open for the blitz or the run stuff. Problem is if you guess the wrong hole that leaves the HB with and easy run into your defensive backfield and a big gain or free run to the house.

Also no one game plan works exactly perfect for each team. Especially if your opponents OC scouts alot or uses pass and run out of the same formation. I like to game plan by formation and use the 4-3 and 3-4 then see which works better and adjust my percentages. I don't like to have to many variables to track.

As far as your last sentence the 4-3 with run stuffing linemen is better for run oriented teams that run up the gut mostly. If you have a team that likes to pitch it wide alot then the 3-4 will give you better outside coverage but leaves you a little weak in front of the center.