AFC NEWS ‘N’ NOTES

IF THE 3-4 DEFENSE FITS, WEAR IT 

Hand a chef a bushel of tomatoes and he’ll make tomato sauce.  Give a football coach an abundance of talented linebackers and he may cook up a 3-4 defense.

Five NFL clubs will make the 3-4 their primary defensive formation in 2003: Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, New England and Pittsburgh.  That is three more than at the start of the 2001 season when only Pittsburgh employed it in every game and New England used it as their base defense for Weeks 1-6.

O.A. “BUM” PHILLIPS, the former Houston Oilers (1975-80) and New Orleans Saints (1981-85) head coach, was the first to use the 3-4 set on every down in 1975.  In 11 seasons as a head coach, Phillips’ defenses ranked in the league’s top half nine times.  When he became the Saints’ head coach in 1981, Phillips inherited the league’s worst defense (No. 28 overall) and built it into an NFL top-five unit in three of the next five seasons.

 “To work the 3-4, you need linebackers who can really run,” says the 79-year-old Phillips from his Texas ranch 150 miles southwest of Houston.  “Defensive lineman in the 3-4 can all be tackle-types.  It's a whole lot easier to find defensive tackles than ends.  We still rushed four people 90 percent of the time and sometimes we sent five. 

 “It gave you a chance to get a linebacker rushing against a halfback and they couldn’t block them one-on-one.  I remember (with Houston) one time up in Buffalo, we rushed (outside linebacker) ROBERT BRAZILE on O.J. SIMPSON's side.  Well, O.J. never came out of the backfield.”

 According to Phillips, by 1980, 19 of the league’s 28 teams ran the 3-4. 

 “I think it’s a matter of talent more than philosophy,” says Ravens defensive coordinator MIKE NOLAN, who will use the 3-4 in Baltimore for a second consecutive season in 2003.  Baltimore’s defense finished in a tie for the NFL’s lowest average yards per rush (3.7) in 2002 and posted an AFC-best 25 interceptions, eclipsing the franchise record of 23.

 “You always want to get your best players on the field,” says Nolan.  “We have more good linebackers than we have defensive linemen right now.  If we have PETER BOULWARE, EDGERTON HARTWELL, RAY LEWIS or TERRELL SUGGS standing on the sideline during a game, then we aren’t playing our best 11 on defense.”

 As a first-year expansion team in 2002, the Houston Texans’ 3-4 base finished the season ranked No. 16 in the NFL overall (326.9) and No. 4 in the AFC against the pass (196.3).  Defensive coordinator VIC FANGIO believes an offense’s unfamiliarity with the 3-4 offers his unit advantages.

 “It changes blocking schemes in pass protection at times,” says Fangio.  “I do think that if you get an opponent at a point in the season where they haven't seen a 3-4 in a couple of months, that could be an advantage.”

 Fangio echoes Phillips and Nolan in stressing how important playmaking linebackers are in the 3-4.

 “The dominating outside linebacker is the most critical position.  Most colleges aren't using the 3-4 and smaller guys are playing linebacker.  If you're playing outside linebacker in this defense, you're half defensive end and half linebacker.  You need a defensive end’s size and the athletic ability of a linebacker at that position.” 

 Two-time Pro Bowl inside linebacker KEITH BROOKING of the Falcons enjoys playing in the heart of the 3-4 under defensive coordinator WADE PHILLIPS, Bum’s son.  The Falcons reached the NFC Divisional Playoffs last season with a defense that forced more turnovers (39) than every NFL club other than Green Bay (45).

 “As players, it allows us to go out there and just play aggressively and play defense the way you should play it,” says Brooking.  “It creates havoc for opposing offenses because you can blitz from a lot of different places when you have four linebackers.

 “If you have two outside linebackers who can really rush, offenses can’t slide their protection to one of those linebackers because you don't know which one is going to come.”