Why is a dline shifting between 4-3/3-4 causing such confusion for our offense?

Submitted by iawolve on

You would think somebody cracked the Da Vinci code. This is obviously something we can practice against during the week and would assume (unless future opposition DCs are absolutely thick) we will see a ton of this the rest of the way out just as the scrape exchange popped up last year frequently. Granted any pre-snap shift is used to create confusion, but let's get real here. We should have road graded that team.

joeyb

September 19th, 2010 at 12:41 PM ^

When the defense has 3 down linemen, they are mostly going to be on the center and two tackles. That allows the guards to get into the secondary and block a LB. When they switch to 4 linemen, you start getting guys that are shaded between linemen. When a DT lines up between a Guard and Tackle, the guard needs to help block that guy, which frees up a LB. They might even need to throw in a double team. When the defense switches at the last minute, it is hard for them to get their blocking assignments down before the ball is snapped. It's something that can be practiced but the knowledge comes from playing both against a 3-man front and a 4-man front.

ElGuapo

September 19th, 2010 at 12:50 PM ^

42 points.... no delay of game penalties.... Denard played great..... our running backs played great.... our Oline played great.... RR was clear in his press conference, the shifts did NOT confuse this offense.