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sabans defense

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studsatele

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hey guys. what is it about sabans defense that makes it so complicated? is it more aggresive? and what does it rely on to make it as good as it is suppose to be? does it do best in a 4-3 or a 3-4? or is it a hybrid of both? if anyone knows these answers please explain. thank you.
 
PLEEZHELPUSNICK said:
hey guys. what is it about sabans defense that makes it so complicated? is it more aggresive? and what does it rely on to make it as good as it is suppose to be? does it do best in a 4-3 or a 3-4? or is it a hybrid of both? if anyone knows these answers please explain. thank you.
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I think what makes it complicated is that he switches up from 3-4 to 4-3 and by doing so, is constantly moving players around.
 
PLEEZHELPUSNICK said:
hey guys. what is it about sabans defense that makes it so complicated? is it more aggresive? and what does it rely on to make it as good as it is suppose to be? does it do best in a 4-3 or a 3-4? or is it a hybrid of both? if anyone knows these answers please explain. thank you.
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It's just the scheme. He uses a very complicated one where the players have to be able to read and react based on what they see. He disguises a lot of different things and will change looks from one series to the next. It's a lot for the players to learn.
 
one example of how the defense is complicated is jason taylor. last year he lined up on the end and rushed the qb. this year he will also do the same thing but added to his list of responsibilities is lining up on the end and then dropping back in to coverage, when switching to 3-4 he will become a line backer, when in 3-4 sometimes he will blitz, sometimes he will drop into coverage, and he will probably be line up in different positions all the time. the defense is complicated but very versatile in terms of changing for different opponents(4-3, 3-4, 5-2, etc). if someone is doing something bad to u in one scheme u can switch up the defense on the fly and try something else. last year d was vanilla man to man. as an oppenent u could study it more easily and find weeknesses and then exploit them. and as vanilla as it was there wasn't much we could do to change it.
 
Reggie Howard mentioned that there are 40 different combinations of blitzes and coverages.
 
It's meant to confuse offenses. The schemes he was using in college were not even being used in the NFL. That's why I'm not getting to caught up in the players he has back there as far as the secondary. It's a "team" type of defense and not vanilla which requires great individual performances. It's going to take a while though. There is a reason why the Patriots have so many former LSU players on there roster. I mean they were able to bring in a guy off the street to play in the SB against the Eagles and didnt miss a beat. That's a system. Eventually we will have the same.
 
The Broncos will get the very first taste of our new defense and i can't wait to see it. Hopefully, the Broncos offense will be very confused and lost out there.
 
Responsibilities change from play to play with his defenses. Last year, our DEs played wide and had contanment and the linebackers filled the holes. Also, lots of man-o-man coverage. Very simple - DEs and LBs didn't worry so much as to who has responsibility for QB vs RB and DBs didn't have to worry as much what area to cover and watch for players entering that area. This year the DEs play in closer, sometimes they have containment, but sometimes the LBs have containment. Every time you send someone on a blitz, that leaves an area open. Since Saban will blitz more, that means one or two guys have a different responsibility to cover that area, or maybe they cover RB and not QB, or cover QB and not RB. Sometimes they actually have to drop back into coverage. The DEs and LBs share responsibility for the RBs and QBs and with Saban, that resposibility changes from play to play. So the DEs and LBs, and even the DBs need to know what each player is doing on the field so that they know their responsibility.
 
PhinDude88 said:
The Broncos will get the very first taste of our new defense and i can't wait to see it. Hopefully, the Broncos offense will be very confused and lost out there.
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I think we are going to see a good dose of "up the gut" from the Broncos that day. Shanahan knows Plummer sucks. Best way to beat is that day is to run it down our throats.
 
PLEEZHELPUSNICK said:
hey guys. what is it about sabans defense that makes it so complicated? is it more aggresive? and what does it rely on to make it as good as it is suppose to be? does it do best in a 4-3 or a 3-4? or is it a hybrid of both? if anyone knows these answers please explain. thank you.
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It's much, much, more aggressive the the Dolphins had run under Wannstedt or Johnson. They rarely blitzed at all. It's rare for Saban not to blitz. And not just linebackers either, but defensive backs will get into it.

It's a combination between a 4-3/3-4. However, our 4-3 is not going to look like the 4-3 the Dolphins ran in the past. Here's a comparison:

Here's the Old base Defense.

Look at the D-Line. The two DEs were responsible for rushing upfield pretty exclusively. The two DTs were responsible for playing 2-gap, which means they basically read the play and then based on their read tried to fill the gap on either side of the Guards.

Here's the New base Defense.

Now, look at the changes. The entire D-line is shifted in one direction, and the linebackers in the other direction. Looks alot like the 3-4, doesnt it? Saban likes to shift his defense into "Over" and "Under" 4-3s.

Jason Taylor is playing the Open End role. He is basically in the same position on the field as he was in the past. The difference between the Dolphins lining up in the 3-4 and the 4-3 at times could be as little as JT taking his hand off the ground and dropping into coverage.

The middle DT, Keith Traylor will pretty much exclusively play like Larry Chester and Tim Bowens did in the past, and play 2-gap over Center. He and Larry Chester are the only "true" Defensive Tackles we have.

The difference between the other DE and DT are minimal. If this specific lineup was a 4-3, Kevin Carter would be called an "Undertackle", and Vonnie Holliday "Closed End". In the 3-4, in basically the same position, they would be called regular Defensive Ends.

Some plays both the Closed End and the Undertackle will be responsible for reading and guarding the space on either side of the Offensive Tackles, and on some plays only one of them will be doing it while the other is trying to penetrate into the backfield.
 
Dubfire said:
It's just the scheme. He uses a very complicated one where the players have to be able to read and react based on what they see. He disguises a lot of different things and will change looks from one series to the next. It's a lot for the players to learn.
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Yeah, but its effective.
 
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