4-4

yeah the 3-4 was in before they said it. Once Applewhite showed up it was full force but they used it before then as well. It's just a matter of using it a few more snaps to get a guy like Applewhite on the field, more than some quick fix.

 

Maybe I didn't say it correctly. Why didn't Rivera and McDermott draft and add FAs that helped their 3-4 hybrid cause?

Another question. Why have we not addressed the DB position. Captain is a nickel DB not a starter. We need another CB to match Gamble. Bringing Harris in at safety as a leader to help bring the other guys along would have been a great addition too.

I would just like to see us doing something more. Applewhite may be a great addition. Time will tell.

 

Hurney controls free agency and he decided to spend all the cap space extending guys already on the roster. As for the draft, Cam took the first pick and Hurney had traded away the second.

 

Doesn't it seem a bit strange for Rivera and McDermott to not have a say in the molding of the defense especially considering they're ultimate goal was and is to convert the defense to a 3-4?

Seems to me, they should have sold off the old defensive parts and purchased new. I do not like the fact they started the season without the pieces they needed to implement the defense they intended to use.

If it's Hurney's fault, then so be it, it's just another Hurney blunder.

 

I doubt they would've hired Rivera without discussing the existing team with him at length, and at the very least making sure he's good with what they were going to do, if not getting some input.

people are really putting too much into this 3-4 personnel thing. It's one gap, you put a rusher here and a rusher here, you decide what shell and how many you need in coverage and disguise the rest. Watch some Wade Phillips defense. It's not that different from a 4-3, they just put guys in different gaps. I promise, nothing changed because of the bye week suddenly.

 

They didn't say anything of the sort.

 

I would disagree. Here is a great article that explains why. It details each position and explains the differences in the player needed for a 3-4 as opposed to a 4-3. If Rivera and McDermott intended to convert, then many of the front 7 should have been replaced during the draft/FA signings/preseason cuts.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/598227/nfl_draft_basics_34_defense.html?cat=14

 

It has been reported by many sources and some of the FA additions show that the Panthers did intend to change.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/sto...port-defense-experimenting-with-3-4-alignment

This is the part that I don't get. If they had been planning this since preseason and playing the existing 4-3 players in 3-4 schemes that they would divulge later in the season, then why did they wait to start adding band aid players to convert the team to a 3-4 during mid-season? It sounds to me like Rivera and Hurney were never on the same page when Rivera was hired in January.

Another question I have is, where will Johnson play DE in the new scheme? If not, we sure did spend a lot of money for him. Lastly and again I ask, why did we cut Brown rather than attempt to place him at a LB position rather than squander such a high pick?

 

it's actually not becoming more popular (granted this was from 2008), but while I applaud your backing info, again this is a one-gap 3-4.

http://www.scardraft.com/Phillips34.html

It would be murder trying to run a two gap 3-4 with our personnel. It's easy to change over with one gap philosophies - it's who you put in what gap, so it's more matchup specific - but would be very difficult in moving over to two gap. Look at our NT - not head up on the center. That's a solid visual clue.

Agreed that they would've needed to make a lot of changes if they had any feeling they wanted to go two-gap 3-4 - Matt Roth at OLB, Aubrayo Franklin at NT (who's apparently failing hardcore with Gregg Williams), and so on.

But this isn't that scheme. This isn't Dom Capers, Dick LeBeau, and so on. This is what Rivera ran last year, a one-gap 3-4 a la Wade Phillips, though after watching enough of his games from last year he used a lot of 4 man fronts (a lot more than I suspect we will 3 man here).

 

Yeah, I got some more questions. If this is the case:

and then this is the case:

then you got this:

Sounds like the front 7 have an identity crisis and need some direction. Obviously, the defense is crap given their run and scoring ranking. This hybrid 3-4 or aggressive 4-3, which ever you wish to call it, is getting owned by the league. I really hope the bye week produces some real changes, because what's going on right now is pure crap.