Defence 2012

There's been a few suggestions that Reinebold as our new D/C is going to go with a base 3/4 defence.

We've been signing up LBs so that would seem to be the direction in which he wants to go.

Just so you know, one of the defensive players on the Als with whom I'm friends on Facebook just told me that, while he hasn't spoken to Reinebold yet, he as well expects a 3/4 defence this season.

For what it's worth. . .

So let's speculate a bit. . . might the 3/4 look like this:

For the line, Bowman on one end, Hunt backed up by Hopkins at nose tackle, who'd be the lead candidate for the other end?

For the linebackers, I'd expect Davis and Emry in the middle, Cox at SAM, and a battle in camp between Ferri, Restelli, and Guzman at WILL. Because Guzman can also, in a pinch, play in the middle (although I don't think he's as effective there as he can be at WILL, but in a 3/4 it might not matter as much), I expect him to stay although possibly only as backup, so my guess is that one of Ferri or Restelli will be released.

Of course the ratio will come into play as well. . .

Your thoughts, gang?

In a couple of Popp interviews he was very excited about Montgomery, saying he was trying to get him for 2 years and has been very disruptive everywhere he has played. So he will defintely be a factor at either DT or DE.

Popp also mentioned that Davis could be a hybrid rush end / LB type.

And depending on the ratio Bekasiak should also be in the mix at DT.

Actually lots to look forward to on defense.

Also, don't forget about Marco Brouillette. Kid is a baller and I want to see him on the field as much as possible. He could platoon with Boulay at safety (where Ferri might also play at times), or he could see action at WILL.

Il y aura beaucoup de compétition à la défensive au camp d'entraînement.

Il demeure que les questions de ratio enteront en ligne de compte, et c'est sur cette base qu'on peut s'attendre à voir Emry, Boulay, Brouillette et Bekasiak dans le portrait. Il est pratiquement acquis que Brown, D. Andreson, Parker, Hunt, Bowman, Cox, Guzman et Davis y seront également.

Pour le reste, on peut dire que les jeux sont ouverts et que chacun devra gagner son poste.

I wonder if we might see Restelli play some safety. From what I read he has speed and had a tryout with the Miami Dolphins as a safety. Just a thought...

Je ne suis pas certain. Je crois que c’est une position où l’équipe préfère voir des canadiens.

Et si Restelli a effectivement cette vitesse, il cadrerait bien dans une défensive 3-4.

I don’t speak or read French…

http://translate.google.com/

Works like a charm. ;p

Thanks to ThePiggyman; does work well now that I found out how to use it, :oops: by following instuctions. I added it to my favorites list. Below is the translation from LeStaf…

To Buck; The safety position is where the team prefers to be a non-import spot.
Restelli if did/has this speed, will fit in well in a 3/4 D.

I too would like to see Marco B get into more action this year. Remember his long TD run from blocking back to direct snap to TD. He showed his strength and speed on this play. We might bring him a little more into that position and, on occasion see if he can replicate that great run. I was surprised to hear that MB was chosen in the third round by the Als but, now know why. I second the memo by someone to examine how the safety position was played last year. There should be more to safety that just hanging back to stop an opposing player who managed to break out of the pack. It seems to me that a safety should get the odd interception.

Thanks – I never knew that this tool existed…

Yep, the problem with Tibesar was that in his scheme, the safety was never near the ball. He was playing the deep third of the field all the time, only tackling once a receiver had made a big catch or the enemy running back had broken into the secondary. We need to put our safeties in a position to rack up interceptions, to knock down passes, and to separate the receiver from the ball with big hits. Between Boulay, Hecht, Brouillette, and even Ferri, we have talent at the safety position. Let’s put them in a position to make plays.

Assuming we do move to a base 3-4 alignment, I wonder if we'll see more safety blitzes. We have guys like Boulay who have wheels and can hit hard, and the extra linebacker in coverage gives us a way to mix the look up -- we could see Ferri or Restelli or even Cox dropping into zone coverage, allowing Boulay or Brouillette to blitz off the edge. As I see it, an advantage to running a 3-4 is the interchangeability of your parts. Linebackers are the most versatile players on either side of the ball, and because you have more of them on the field at any given time, you can rotate them into coverage, run support, and pass-rushing behind similar looks to create confusion in the enemy offensive line about blocking assignments, and to mess with the quarterback's ability to get reliable pre-snap reads. Popp has assembled good talent this year, and paid special attention to the defense. If Reinebold installs a good system and coaches his unit correctly, we should be chaos to play against.

We are going to see a much more agressive defense this year. We’ve added size and speed everywhere and I suspect we will be trying to throw as much pressure and looks we can at Burris and Ray.

Coming around to the idea, aren't you d&p ?

So am I.

Never been overly a fan of a 3/4, but if you have the personnel to make it work, it can work very well. I really enjoyed watching Stubler's D in Edmonton last season. . . and Calgary ran a terrific 3/4 defence a few years back when they had LBs Scott Coe, John Grace, George White, and Brian Clark, all in their prime.

We're likely to have Cox on one side, Emry and Davis in the middle (please, Mr Reinebold, don't shift MadRod to hybrid DE/OLB, leave him in the middle where he belongs), and one of Restelli/Guzman/Ferri on the other side. . . not too shabby at all.

I like your idea of the safety blitz, but I would use it in a different manner that you've suggested. I doubt I'd want a safety coming off the edge too often.

What I'd toy with doing, is judiciously having blitzes coming from the outside a few times, Cox one play, Restelli/Ferri/Guzman another play, and do that a few times. Then, show that blitz, get the other team cheating to the outside since they think it's coming again, and instead drop the OLB back into coverage on the snap of the ball, and have the safety (be it Boulay or Brouillete) blitz up the middle, when they're least expecting it.

I hope you’re right. It certainly seems like we are changing our defensive philosophy, and I couldn’t be happier. Under Tibesar and even under Burke in 2010, we seemed to be playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. Too much checking off at the line, too many ‘contain’ schemes, too many guys afraid to make a mistake. The injuries and the D-line didn’t help, certainly, but in the end, we needed to go in a different direction. I cannot wait to see what Reinebold has in store for our opponents. :rockin:

And MJ, I agree about timing and varying the safety blitz. Your post basically expands on my initial thought, which was all about using our personnel unpredictably, to create uncertainty in the enemy offense. I too wouldn’t want the same safety blitz being run too often. That would be predictable. We have the players to confuse the hell out of our opponents pre and post-snap, so let’s take advantage!

Re: the 3-4 itself, I’m warming up to it, because our offseason signings have put us in a position to run it. I’m still worried about our ability to defend the run, but as you say, if you have the right coach and the right personnel, a 3-4 can be very effective. I remember Stubler’s 3-4 match defense years ago in Toronto. It was hell to play against. We always struggled against it.

I think the defense we had while not exciting served its purpose. You have a team that averages over 30 points a game and your three division rivals could not match that output on most nights. So the law of average serves you by playing it safe and forcing you opponent to march up to field and try to match your pace. Now that advantage has been lessened so we need the big plays from the defense.

With all the injuries in the backfield and elsewhere last season, they did not have the horses to play more aggressive style. As you and others have mentioned, with the change in players and return of injured players, no doubt a more aggressive style of D can be implemented.

Will be fun to see this training camp.

I don’t really buy that, to be honest. We got torched every which way last season, despite all our attempts to play it safe. Opponents scored on us via sustained drives, but also by going vertical. Injuries did play a part in that, but at the end of the day, you can’t expect to contain and have success, particularly since 8 of your 18 games are played outside the division, against offenses that are on par with yours. Additionally, a major aspect of our offense is ball control – maintaining possession for lengthy drives and eating up time of possession. A defense that lets the other team march down the field over 5+ minutes is keeping your ball-control offense off the field, an offense that depends on timing, rhythm, and getting into a groove over 10-15 plays.

Finally, there are ways to play it safe and actually be effective. Tibesar did the former but not the latter. Stubler’s Argo D from a few years ago was very good at both.

ST play also had a hand in the d play often giving up big yards on both kick and punt returns.