Falcons: Falcons will stay with 4-3; will have elements of 3-4 mixed in

[JDaveG]

(01-18-2012 09:22 AM)Aftermath Wrote:  Spoon would be great as a 3-4 ILB, he has the range and speed to be effective, Lofton is the one I would be worried about. Both Biermann and Sidbury had experience standing up in college. While the personnel may not be ideal, to be honest it cant be much worse than what some of these guys were doing in a 4-3. If personnel is an issue its safe to say the 3-4 wont be used much in 2012, either way we cant keep guys on the roster (Edwards, Abe, Nicholas) that are not versatile to play both or just dont want to. I'm worried about getting stuck in 3-4, 4-3 limbo, not having the right personnel to run either one.

ILB, sure. But we don't have anyone who can play OLB in that scheme. Bierman and Sid played standing up in college, I agree. But I haven't seen enough from either one in coverage to make me think dropping one or the other on every defensive play is a good move. Bierman has been okay when we've done a zone blitz, but I can see us getting repeatedly abused with that kind of system. I'd honestly rather see Spoon on the outside than either of them.

I agree about getting stuck in limbo. That's why I think we stay with a 4-3 base for a few seasons until we can upgrade personnel through the draft. We'll probably get a decent NT/2-gap monster in either case, though. And that, to me, will help more than any scheme will. Get a guy who can eat up blocks on the inside to free up the other linemen and linebackers to get to the QB or plug holes to stop the run.