Could the Colts succeed in a 3-4 defensive look?

No one is praising Antonio Johnson, we all wish we had Raji or Suh, but we don’t. Johnson was our best DT in 2009 so it didn’t make sense for him to get benched last year, and even coming off the bench, he was better than Foster, Muir & Moala.

It would be harder for Robert Mathis to develop into a ILB than Mario Williams developing into an OLB. Mathis has been playing DE since 2003 and he’s most effective rushing from out wide. Actually I think about 80% of pressures that Mathis gets is from the outside while Freeney likes to go inside with his signature spin move or just a bullrush. If Colts do go 3-4, Mathis would be well off playing OLB, specifically on the left side since Freeney is a boss coming from the right. Doesn’t make sense for Mathis to go inside.

Gary Brackett receives too much praise? From who? Brackett is a good MIKE LB and he’s been a great part of the Colts defence, he’s the only one on the Colts D that have charisma and energy and he can make a big play once in a while, like the INT, not to mention that he did tip the TD pass to Andre Johnson, whom most other WR wouldn’t catch. I think Brackett plays well enough for his contract right now, but he doesn’t deserve his contract 2 years from now.

I’d much rather have Conner & Mathis as OLBs and Angerer & Brackett as ILBs. Though I can’t see any blitzing from Bethea or Bullitt. Bethea doesn’t have Polamalu’s speed and I just can’t remember seeing either of them blitz. If we still had Bob Sanders, then sure, send some safety blitz.

But who would play at LDE? Jamaal Anderson? Jerry Hughes? I don’t think so.

no, no, no, no, no, and no.

Simply will not happen. We don’t have the skill players, the size, the technique, or anything. We are a fully molded 4-3

The Colts can make the switch. The only thing really missing is a BIG DT in the middle. Coaching staff is nowhere creative enough to make this happen. I would put a look like this out there every once in a while just to give offenses a different look:

DE-Anderson
DT-Nevis/Johnson/ or a wide body FA pickup
DE-Brayton
OLB-Freeney
MLB-Angerer
MLB-Wheeler
OLB-Mathis
CB-Kevin Thomas
CB-Powers
SS-Bulitt
FS-Bethea

Yes Addai another Day I did mean to say Conner/Mathis at OLBs. And it doesn’t matter what position a player is listed as on a depth chart. On the zone blitz I was referring to one safety blitzes and the other covers the secondary. I would prefer to have Bethea blitz over Bullitt (btw its Bullitt you condescending wise ass). You are right though about Freeney being better suited at linebacker. It would make more sense to run the 3-4 if we still had Harris. Harris is better than Foster but Foster is well liked in the locker room so thats why he was kept. I didn’t post this b/c I thought the 3-4 would work. Just exploring the possibility of anything different. If we stay in the 4-3 we need to start calling more blitzes and pressing receivers at the line of scrimmage during those blitzes.

The problem is Freeney. He’s too small to play DE in a 3-4 front, and not fast enough to play OLB. Also, we don’t have a true NT to plug the middle. A. Johnson, Nevis, and Moala all struggle to plug gaps in a 4-3, there’s no way they’d be any more effective in a 3-4 at NT. But here are some intriguing thoughts:

-Robert Mathis fits the bill as an elite 3-4 DE. I know the transition would be tough, but he’s got adequate size, and enough speed/quickness not only to rush the passer, but to drop back occasionally into coverage.
-Philip Wheeler was VERY impressive standing up in the preseason. Again, very limited work, but he too could fit as a 3-4 OLB opposite Mathis.
-Jerry Hughes cannot play in a 4-3 defense. Period. Apparently, like Wheeler, Hughes was very impressive when standing up in the offseason, and playing a 3-4 DE would allow him play standing up.
-I think Drake Nevis and Fili Moala would be great fits for DE in a 3-4 front. Again, we’d still need a big DT (Wilfork, BJ Raji) in the middle, but we’d need big defensive ends to hold containment and stop the run. Also, Nevis has already shown a rare ability to rush the passer for a DT (or 3-4 DE). I believe Moala played some 3-4 DE at USC in college, so he’d have a very easy transition.
-Angerer would be a great ILB. I’m not sure about Brackett since he’s making way too much $$ and can’t stay healthy.
-It appears we’ll have a high draft selection this year. We could easily get our hands on an elite DT prospect (who usually pay early returns), and a ball-hawk MLB to pair with Angerer.

I doubt it will ever happen, but if/when it does – it will sure have some growing pains. But at the very least, it will mix things up. Any high school team could move the football against our current defense because 1. We suck. 2. We are predictable – we’ve ran the same defense for 8 years. Not only is the Tampa-2 out-dated, but we don’t have the coaches or personnel to execute it. So while a transition to a 3-4 would bring a ton of question marks, I’d be all for it at least for the sake of trying something different.

But I just don’t see Brackett being all that good. I think he is average at best. Falls off of a lot of tackles and gets blown up a lot.

OLB – Mathis and Freeny would be awesome they have size, speed and agility to play LB. and both would run their sack total way up, with the O-line not know who is comming in
ILB – Angerrer could do it, bracket could do it and Wheeler did his senior in college
NT – don’t have one, A Johnson is not able to handle NT, would need to find one.
DE – have one, Moala, but he would suck at DE as much as he sucks at UT now.
DE2 don’t have one, Neevis is too small, maybe Ricardo Mathews
Shut down CB – don’t have any
Saftey’s would be okay

Just don’t have the personel to do it, would have loved to have seen Wade Phillips here and doing what he did for the Texans this year.

Plan and simple. This would mean a complete overhaul of the defensive roster. The point of a 3-4 defense is to confuse your opponents O-line and QB on were your extra pass rusher is coming from. The COLTS! do not have this problem at all. The opponents O-Line know exactly were the pass rush is coming from but yet Freeney and Mathis still pressure the QB switching to a 3-4 would not fix the problem with the defense were our NT does not effectively control his gap or the LB’s problem of overreacting to the play action pass and not controlling their gap assignments on rushing plays. We have seen this defense when they are on point! Even undersized when the defense plays to their potential MJD, Foster, and Chris Johnson can not run on this team. That being said it is the job of the coaching staff and the players to play within the system and execute it correctly and fast. This pains me to no end watching a game like last week, considering we have seen pretty much the same group of people play like they are paid to do and when they do this having multiple defenders swarm to the ball on rushing plays and staying in their zones during passing plays it takes almost perfect execution from the opposing offensive 11 to have a positive play. The issue is not this is a 4-3 base team. The issue is the 11 on the field are not motivated to step up and play like professionals. The blame on this is to be placed on the whole organization from front office, coaches, and players. This is the what whole defense that needs to do all 11 to be successful. If all 11 on the field are properly executing their assignments you will never see a game like what happened on Sunday.

For those of you that says it can’t happen you are being just as close minded as the coaching staff. It is worth running for 3-4 plays out of a game, just to give a different look. Maybe throw it in there for a critical third down. As it stands now, the base D can’t stop anybody!!!! If I remember correctly in the Monday night game, the Pats had a DB playing defensive end for at least an entire series. A little bit of imagination wouldn’t hurt this team at all!!!

are failing to realize is that the Colts don’t have straight up ball players. Take corey liguet for instance, he can play in a 4-3, 3-4, 2-5—whatever.. Same can not be said about Colts players. They are too busy drafting “system” players. Like I said before, they need to draft Good to Great players and let them play, they will make the system. Makes no sense to pass on Adrian Peterson because Addai fits the “system” better. That philosophy is limiting and is coming back to bite in the but now because the lack of talent is being exposed.

that didnt just say this is a preposterous idea and leave it at that

Just saying show a different look every once in a while. Sure can’t hurt any!!!!