I thought I remembered Gun saying that just after the draft. That we would play SOME downs with 3-4... but not ALL passing downs or anything like that. Just that he had flexibility to do that.

Sorry I'm not going to bother trying to find it, but I really did think this was already known.

What, no more "spinner"? C'mon, the 2 down-lineman, everyone else run around like a complete frickin idiot play has been shelved?! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hicks is a damn good run stopper and Allen has bulked up and been working on run containment. Our LBers are better than our D-Line and we have two Nose tackles in Savaii and Dalton. We could run the 3-4, Maybe not as effective as the Pats, but our LBing speed could pull it off.

where did you get this information on Allen? Last pic I saw of him recently looks like he hasn't been hitting the gym/working out. Looks like he's been partying and drinking beer. Dude looks like he's developing a beer gut.

I saw him in person at the practice, plus it was reported that he had bulked up to 280 lbs on the radio.

I'm with you 100%. Except for that part about Hicks being a damn good run stopper. And Allen being someone you'd want as a 3-4 DE. And Siavii being a 3-4 NT. And Sims being a 3-4 NT. But other than that, absolutely right on.

Hater. ROFL That was good stuff. ROFL Just call me crazy next time.

I love this move. Bell would move back to his LILB spot and Kawika could play RILB. Then we could have DJ play ROLB and Fox at LOLB

Why, I couldn't do that. That would be mean.

Most nickle packages are a 3-3-5 while a dime is a 3-2-6. While blitz packages can be created from these combinations, I think a stronger rush would come from 4 downlineman and leave less gaps in coverage from a hole created by a blitz.

All kidding aside, we don't have the optimum horses up front on the D-line, but we actually have a very speedy set of LBers now. On passing downs, I believe we would be wise to utilize our speed and have 4 LBers on the field rather than our weakness of 4 D-lineman.

After thinking of your previous post, I tend to agree Hicks is NOT great run-stopper ( I exaggerate from time to time :p ), but he really does a pretty good job of containing the run, IMO. He also is good at putting pressure on the QB, he just rarely FINISHES the play with a sack.

Savaii has the size and strength to man the NT positiion, but is not the idle candidate, unless he really turns it up a few notches.

Sims is a possibility, but I prefer him as the undertackle.

Hall looks pretty good and Allen will improve from last year, IMO.

Our D-line could be a weakness, but it's worth installing some plays on obvious passing downs to utilize our LBers. Just my take.

I was led to believe that the dime is a 4-1-6 then a quarter would be a 3-1-7 but if you have a 3-2-6 that would almost be like a 3-4 with dbacks playing the outsidebackers pos. and i think the 4-2-5 is used more for the nickel but the 3-3-5 is another variation.I could be way off base so tell me if i am.

I don't think we have anything approaching a traditional 3-4 NT on the roster. And if we did (and we don't), I don't think Allen, Hall or Hicks would be the ends, they don't have the bulk; we'd need bigger 2-gap ends, probably more along the lines of Browning and Wilkerson. Either way, while we may have the personnel at LB, I don't see it on the line. Not for a base 3-4. But that's not really what we're talking about here, so my guess is if that if we're going 3-4 for nickel/long yardage (and I'm not convinced yet that we are, but for the sake of argument), it's probably not going to be a traditional 3-4 look, I'd imagine more of a pure pass rush package, with Browning on the nose, Allen and Hall on the ends, LBs set up for pressure. That's more feasible now than in the past because the speed at LB should make us less susceptible to draws and misdirection for long yardage.

I have more faith in our LBers rushing the passer than our front 4. I hope Gun finds a way to them involved rushing the passer on 3rd downs.

Sims, Siavii, Dalton would be my front-three in a 3-4 scheme. They need only hold the point of attack... those three have girth. If they get their shoulders low, they can definitely hold the line.