1. Very nice post. I was looking into 3-3-5 stuff lately, so this was pretty good find.
2. I would like to think that, zone blitz scheme doesn't necessarily have to have a DL pulling back to cover while rushers flood the fire zone. That's one flavor of it, but not the whole. Say, 'we can use our linemen to cover shallow field.' That's all there is to it. In a nutshell, a zone blitz consists of zone coverage and free rusher (due to talent mismatch or due to scheme or due to simple overloading)
3. As in all three-down linemen defensive schemes (i.e. the famous 3-4) the performance of the down linemen will make or break this defense. (I am exclusively talking about the down linemen, so the argument is still valid in this 3-3-5 scheme as well.)
I once considered myself a disciple of Fairbank-Bullough 3-4, but these days I am more drawn to Bum Phillips 3-4. This is particularly because Fairbank-Bullough always leave the guards unattended, forcing the LBs to eat them up. If the defensive linement are 320+ lb behemoths, then Phillips 3-4 should be the choice of scheme IMHO. This is because:
a. It's a one-gap scheme, so DLs don't have to react consistently.
b. As it's a one-gap system, it allows the DL to absorb double team more easily.
c. Since the OL would be double-teaming the DL, it forces the running options too.
4. Once the beast 3 linemen are in place, then that's when the true power of 3-3-5 starts to shine (IMHO). Of course, you would have to have capable safeties and 1 fearsome OLB to make it work. Simply put, it becomes a 3-4 defense, but with at LEAST 3 different flavors, assuming the OLB is the rusher. (Which is a dangerous assumption, by the way - OLB could simply be a decoy.)
5. I believe Jets this year used some variant of 3-3-5 during their playoff run this year (as they didn't have a legitimate pass rusher outside Calvin Pace) and that seems to tell me that 3-3-5 can (and will) stand the test of the time, even in the most fierce competitions.
Recent Comments
1. Very nice post. I was looking into 3-3-5 stuff lately, so this was pretty good find.
2. I would like to think that, zone blitz scheme doesn't necessarily have to have a DL pulling back to cover while rushers flood the fire zone. That's one flavor of it, but not the whole. Say, 'we can use our linemen to cover shallow field.' That's all there is to it. In a nutshell, a zone blitz consists of zone coverage and free rusher (due to talent mismatch or due to scheme or due to simple overloading)
3. As in all three-down linemen defensive schemes (i.e. the famous 3-4) the performance of the down linemen will make or break this defense. (I am exclusively talking about the down linemen, so the argument is still valid in this 3-3-5 scheme as well.)
I once considered myself a disciple of Fairbank-Bullough 3-4, but these days I am more drawn to Bum Phillips 3-4. This is particularly because Fairbank-Bullough always leave the guards unattended, forcing the LBs to eat them up. If the defensive linement are 320+ lb behemoths, then Phillips 3-4 should be the choice of scheme IMHO. This is because:
a. It's a one-gap scheme, so DLs don't have to react consistently.
b. As it's a one-gap system, it allows the DL to absorb double team more easily.
c. Since the OL would be double-teaming the DL, it forces the running options too.
4. Once the beast 3 linemen are in place, then that's when the true power of 3-3-5 starts to shine (IMHO). Of course, you would have to have capable safeties and 1 fearsome OLB to make it work. Simply put, it becomes a 3-4 defense, but with at LEAST 3 different flavors, assuming the OLB is the rusher. (Which is a dangerous assumption, by the way - OLB could simply be a decoy.)
5. I believe Jets this year used some variant of 3-3-5 during their playoff run this year (as they didn't have a legitimate pass rusher outside Calvin Pace) and that seems to tell me that 3-3-5 can (and will) stand the test of the time, even in the most fierce competitions.