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Are our ILB'ers 3-4 material?


Clevfan4life

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Watching the SNF game between the Colts and Patriots I got to watch Davis and Hightower. Fucking Golems prowling the line. Those guys can handle themselves in the scrum. They seem to cover in Belichicks system just fine too. Dansby to me is a guy who has to be completely unperturbed by any cheeky blockers to be able to sniff the ball right. Same with the other guys. Is it possible we're trying to shoehorn 4-3 LB'ers into a 3-4 system? I really don't know for sure I'm just throwing this out for discussion...cause I'm really trying to figure out why we eat slick fat cock at run stopping. From a pass rush perspective I'm kind of itching for us to turn Kruger and Sheard back to what I think is their more natural position...4-3 DE's. Blt almost always put Krugers hand down so he was "technically" considered a 3-4 OLB but they really only used him on their 4 man looks until Suggs went down and he had to carry more duty. But would a change to 4-3 mean anything to our run D? That's what I'm debating in my head.

 

Another reason I kind of think the switch might work is that we could then make Mingo like a wild card...move him around the OLB spots and then take Sheard or Kruger out on long down situations in exchange for Mingo making him the specialized edge rusher in those situations. Just a thought. Just really trying to wrap my head around why our 3-4 looked better under Horton. I know this is this staff's first year, but so was it with Hortons defense last year and the front seven at least looked way better than whatever this is going on right now.

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Well by now you may have heard, but in case you didn't, Dansby is out for a month & Sheard lost for the season.Combine that with Taylor out for season, we're in trouble. Mingo's been playing with one arm all year (and not very well).

 

I did think it was weird Pettine went back to a 3-4 when our previous regimes loaded up on the D line, and we were a 4-3.

 

Robertson is going to be calling the D signals now. Our depth is really going to be tested. I hope I'm wrong, but now our D could be in big big trouble- not many teams can withstand all those injuries. If we do, it's a testament to the staff and resolve of the remaining healthy players. We might have to score 30+ points a game from here on out to have a chance.

 

I hate draft talk, but it's obvious we need to beef up on the interior D line & MLB.

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The LBs seem fine, other than lacking some depth. Our 2 biggest needs on D are a true NT (which we don't have) and a better DE. Rubin has had a terrible year, even considering it's a contract year for him. Winn is a good rotation DE, but not good enough to start. D.Bryant is inconsistent, and much better at pass-rushing than run-stopping. Taylor is about the only real 3-4 front man we have... and of course he's hurt. Hughes was beginning to play well (remember he was a 3rd round pick) before he got hurt.

 

This offseason, I could see D.Bryant and Rubin gone. Winn and Hughes kept for depth. High priority (either draft or FA) on adding a NT and DE...

 

But, switching to 4-3 would make no difference. Our LB corp is pretty talented, but they are asked to do too much when the D-linement get man-handled like they have been all season. Nobody on the line has been eating up blocks, which makes it tough...

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When you watch NE ILBs you have to remember that they are playing behind Vince Wilfork.

 

That said... Hightower has turned out to be much better than most, including me, thought he would. But by now it should not be a surprise that Belichick gets the best out of his players.

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