Chuckknox Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Bills went to 4 superbowls with the 4-3, Bills have tried for years to be 3 - 4 and continue to have the worst defense in the nfl. I miss just having an average defense, we would be in much better shape with an average performaning defense. Bring in a good 4 - 3 coach and switch now..... Or maybe just let the 4-3 guy take over the defense and earn some of his money.
bills_fan_in_raleigh Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Bills went to 4 superbowls with the 4-3, Bills have tried for years to be 3 - 4 and continue to have the worst defense in the nfl. I miss just having an average defense, we would be in much better shape with an average performaning defense. Bring in a good 4 - 3 coach and switch now..... Or maybe just let the 4-3 guy take over the defense and earn some of his money. Ummmmm better check your facts the SB teams ran a 3 - 4
....lybob Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Bills went to 4 superbowls with the 4-3, Bills have tried for years to be 3 - 4 and continue to have the worst defense in the nfl. I miss just having an average defense, we would be in much better shape with an average performaning defense. Bring in a good 4 - 3 coach and switch now..... Or maybe just let the 4-3 guy take over the defense and earn some of his money. No the Bills went to 4 superbowls using the 3-4 it was a very different 3-4 than what is in vogue now- RE Bruce Smith 265, NT Jeff Wright 270, LE Phil Hanson 270 would be tiny compared to today's' 3-4s. I agree the 4-3 would be a better fit for the Dline talent we have, Dareus and Williams would be a very good DT combo, Carrington could be a decent LE in a 4-3 but we lack a talented RE - Mario Williams is a free agent in 2012 but when was the last time the Bills really made a splash in free agency?- and now you need 4-3 LBs, I can't picture more than 2-3 of the Bills current LBs who could make the transition .
Dr. Trooth Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Bills were a 3-4 team from 1979 til Gregg Williams and Donahoser blew it up in 01. What followed is a decade of futility for sure. The Bills don't know whether they are a 3-4 or a 4-3. Buddy ain't got a legit NT nor legit outside LBs to be a 3-4. And, if you think a switch to a 4-3 would be easy at this point... they'd need a DE and two LBs just to field a starting front seven and then you've got no backups. Gonna be an entertaining offseason.
silvermike Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Bills were a 3-4 team from 1979 til Gregg Williams and Donahoser blew it up in 01. What followed is a decade of futility for sure. The Bills don't know whether they are a 3-4 or a 4-3. Buddy ain't got a legit NT nor legit outside LBs to be a 3-4. And, if you think a switch to a 4-3 would be easy at this point... they'd need a DE and two LBs just to field a starting front seven and then you've got no backups. Gonna be an entertaining offseason. We had some good times in the 4-3 '03 and '04 were top-5 affairs. The defense has really never recovered from its continued failure to replace the talent those teams had. Williams and Dareus are the only legit starters we've acquired from 2006-2011.
Mike in Syracuse Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 When Spencer Johnson is one of you're starting LB's, you shouldn't be running a 3-4! We simply don't have the personnel at this point to run a 3-4 but we insist on trying....and failing.
CSBill Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Bills went to 4 superbowls with the 4-3, Bills have tried for years to be 3 - 4 and continue to have the worst defense in the nfl. I miss just having an average defense, we would be in much better shape with an average performaning defense. Bring in a good 4 - 3 coach and switch now..... Or maybe just let the 4-3 guy take over the defense and earn some of his money. Bills went to four SBs with much better talent
JerryG83 Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Scrap this immediately. Go back to 4-3. Especially when we absolutely have no one to get to the qb. Your asking guys to play out of position and it is not helping. We won't be playing the Redskins every week. They made us look good. We need playmakers here. To play a 3-4 you need guys like Demarcus Ware, Clay Matthews, Brian Orakpo for the outside rush and we dont have that. You give any NFL quarterback any extra time to read his throw, he will make you pay somehow
jkrules Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Let's face it the Bills do not have the proper coaching or defensive depth to run a decent 3-4 or 4-3 defense.
DanInUticaTampa Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Ummm is this some kind of troll post? He used to make these threads a lot. he has calmed down recently..... but.... he's back to the old habit I guess. Let's face it the Bills do not have the proper coaching or defensive depth to run a decent 3-4 or 4-3 defense. They def have the proper coaching for a 4-3 defense, with mr. stache being there and all. I am not sure if he is equip for a 3-4, but I would guess no based on how the defense has been playing.
Sisyphean Bills Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 The Bills went to 4 Super Bowls running the 3-4 defense back in prehistoric times. Not just factually incorrect, but wholly irrelevant. Yoda sends his regards for a "nice try" though. But, yes, this hybrid scheme that has tackles and ends playing LB and vice versa isn't too pretty.
Buffalo Barbarian Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Bills went to 4 superbowls with the 4-3, Bills have tried for years to be 3 - 4 and continue to have the worst defense in the nfl. I miss just having an average defense, we would be in much better shape with an average performaning defense. Bring in a good 4 - 3 coach and switch now..... Or maybe just let the 4-3 guy take over the defense and earn some of his money. No, we ran a 34 with Phil Hanson, Jeff Wright & Bruce Smith as the down 3. What we need to run is a real 34 like Greenbay, Pitt, Balt, SF, Houston, etc ya know teams with good D. We also need a real NT, Marcel is not it and he has done zip at nose and should be at DE where he played in college.
Typical TBD Guy Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 (edited) The Bills have had some great 4-3 defenses (mid 1960's, mid 2000's) and some great 3-4 defenses (early 80's, late 90's). They've also had some bad from each. Same is true throughout the NFL, past and present: good and bad from each. So historical precedents are meaningless in terms of which is superior. The bottom line is that you choose the system that maximizes your current talent and the talent you think you can acquire in the near future. For the 2011 Bills, the 3-4 appears to be optimal. Only three players (KW, Kelsay, Spencer J) remain from the 4-3 days. Of those three, only KW is worth building around. And KW proved to be a great 3-4 NT last year, when healthy. Meanwhile, the Bills have already drafted seven guys (Dareus, Troup, Carrington, Moats, Batten, White, Sheppard) with the 3-4 in mind. I know Dareus is versatile, but I'm not so sure about the other six. And when you switch again to the 4-3, you make it that much harder for those other six to make it as a Buffalo Bill. Of the free agents Nix has brought in for the 3-4, Barnett is a guy to build around and I'm not so sure he can transition well to the 4-3. Those clamoring for the 4-3 need to keep a couple things in mind: 1. When healthy, the only real weakness of the current 3-4 defense is at OLB. With a healthy Merriman and Kelsay, even this position wouldn't look as atrocious as it does now. 2. Who is going to play DE when the current defense switches to a full-time 4-3? Kelsay and who else? And Kelsay isn't that overwhelming a pass rusher himself, what with his 25 career sacks over 9 years. What about the LB spots? You run into the same pass rushing problems with the 4-3 switch as you do with the 3-4, but then you create more roster holes at LB. In summary: stick to the 3-4! Draft a 3-4 OLB in day one, another one in day two, and then grab the best available free agent 3-4 OLB assuming Merriman never returns to form (a good assumption). Edited November 14, 2011 by Typical TBD Guy
Bangarang Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 No, we ran a 34 with Phil Hanson, Jeff Wright & Bruce Smith as the down 3. What we need to run is a real 34 like Greenbay, Pitt, Balt, SF, Houston, etc ya know teams with good D. We also need a real NT, Marcel is not it and he has done zip at nose and should be at DE where he played in college. He played every position on the line in college. He's probably best suited as a 4-3 DT.
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