I know I’ve seen Rex Ryan’s name thrown around here and elsewhere as the dream DC candidate for the Packers, and rightfully so. The guy has enough blemishes on his head coaching resume to warrant its own thread, but no one can deny that he can run one hell of a defense.
I was reading a little bit more on him and his scheme, and I think there is one key principle that could help the Pack moving forward. Ryan’s 3-4 is often known as an “attack 3-4,” and that starts with his DLinemen. We’ve talked about Capers wanting his DL eating space, grabbing guards and keeping LBs free, but Ryan’s defense lets them penetrate and make plays.
Doesn’t that sound like a task that Daniels, Worthy, Raji and Jones are better suited for? Maybe even a guy like Neal finds new life as a DL playing to his strength coming out of college.
And while a complete overhaul in philosophy sounds like a major shakeup, it’s worked out alright for the Chiefs. Ryan’s former DL coach, Bob Sutton, brought this one-gap attack style to KC that had been running Romeo’s version of the 3-4 that used a Capers-esque two-gap, tie-up blockers approach to its DL. After one offseason install, Kansas City was on pace to set historic marks on D through the first half of the season.
GB’s D line is too often criticized unfairly for their lack of football card stats. They’re simply not asked to get after QBs and RBs. Here are the stat lines of the three primary DL for GB, NY and KC:
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I know the PFF grades are subjective, but the pressure and tackle stats are black and white. To be fair, the NY and KC lines have seen significantly more snaps, but the numbers speak loud and clear - defensive lineman can have a very active role in a 3-4 defense in spite of what we’ve come to know from Dom’s system. And that’s not to say one is necessarily better than the other – though Dom’s 2-gap does seem to be dying off in the league – but it definitely feels like an attacking 1-gap style would better suit the DL talent on this team. It wouldn’t help the arena league talent at Safety, and would probably expose our smaller ILBs once they’re actually supposed to take on blockers, but I’d love to see some of these penetrating DL let loose.
It doesn’t have to be Rex or one of his disciples. Wade Phillips runs a similar scheme in Houston, the league’s #1 D, and he’s likely to be on the street with Kubiak in six weeks. Maybe one of the assistants currently on staff could even lead the changeover. Unfortunately, I think Dom’s too old of a dog to learn new tricks at this point and it would likely require a change.
My coaching and playing experience starts and ends with Madden, so I’m curios to hear from some of the minds more versed in Xs and Os on here.
