Could Dekoda Watson be our edge rushing Linebacker opposite ROLB Adrian Clayborn?
We’ve become so enamored lately over the coaching interviews and their age, experience, looking at some like Mike Sherman and saying to ourselves “Why”. Now Wade Philips? But it was actually the addition of Philips name that brings an intriguing question to mind.
Does the NEW COACH have to embrace a 4-3 defense?
If you asked me that question up until yesterday I said yes without hesitation. But then Philips comes to mind. He transformed the Houston Texans into one of the top defenses in the league in 2011, going from 30th to #2!! And then when you consider he moved Mario Williams into an outside linebacker, it got me thinking of a dominant outside linebacker the Bucs once had who played college ball as a D lineman.
Hugh Green. And it made me wonder if maybe we DO have the linebackers to run a 3-4 defense, and maybe they are sitting right on our defensive line. Would a new coach who runs the 3-4 defense come in and convert Adrian Clayborn and/or Da’Quan Bowers to Outside linebackers?
IF so, where does Gerald McCoy and Brian Price fit in this deal? Isn’t it too early to make such a change when we havnt even had the four of these guys play on the line together at the same time except for one game- the win over Atlanta when the Falcons were stopped and held to 30 rushing yards?
The Bucs have been running the 4-3 defense ever since 1991, the first year with Floyd Peters as the defensive coordinator, under head coach Richard Williamson, probably the best thing the guy ever did as coach. When Sam Wyche was brought in, he kept Floyd Peters as DC. Tony Dungy was a 4-3 guy too, he and DC Monte Kiffin concocted a new twist on the Cover 2, with a middle linebacker responsible for the deep middle of the field, and it was called the Tampa 2 after the Bucs held the powerful St.Louis Rams to just 11 points in the NFC Championship game; maybe our proudest moment as a franchise up to that point.
Before 1991, the Bucs ran the 3-4 defense going all the way back to John McKays days as Head Coach. McKay was a master at the 3-4 which back then was all about stopping the run.
So whats the difference? Is it just lining up three guys instead of four?
No; its the size of the guys that matters. A 3-4 defensive lineman is bigger and stronger generally than a 4-3 counterpart, and the middle man in a 3-4, the nosegaurd, has to be considerably strong and agile too. He takes on the Center and one of the guards most times. The 4-3 linemen tend to be smaller but quicker. The Tampa Two concentrated on very light linemen who were very quick and fast.
The Modern 3-4 is really a misnomer, it rushes 4 guys most of the time anyways, but its usually a linebacker, and its usually a case where the offensive line has no clue where he’s coming from, because the LB can come standing up, rather than a stance like a lineman has to get down in.
While the Bucs are weak at linebacker, we do have an edge rusher; Dekoda Watson. Actually, Quincy Black is probably better suited as an edge rushing LB too, but his dismal play in 2011 may find him on another roster in a few months.
You have to think with the Bucs as the 3rd worse defense, just like the Texans from a year ago, that blowing up the team and starting over is NOT out of the question. But its also possible someone sees this team as just needing a few more players and a better coaching staff, and the Bucs will be right back at winning again, without a complete overhaul.
The guys doing all the interviewing right now…they are the ones who will pull the trigger on what the Bucs Defense will become in 2012.
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