brought up by the media much anymore, except for them to note something along the lines of “while many expected Tomlin to switch to a 4-3, he is still sticking with the 3-4”. this is a non-issue. we aren’t switching. as it is, we play a 4-3 and cover 2 defenses alot anyways, and ALWAYS have. most NFL defenses nowadays throw alot of different looks, and us and Baltimore do it more than anybody.

..within the game. The chess game between the offensive and defensive co-ordinators has become so sophisticated that no team can go with the same basic set all game, all season long. Defenses are adjusted according to the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents from week to week. The opponents then adjust their offensive sets to try to take advantage of the defense’s strengths or weaknesses…so on and so forth.

I think the fact that they brought in Booger McFarland for a look indicates they would like a little more flexibility up front. McFarland presumably would have lined up alongside Casey Hampton in a four man front on occasion. But he didn’t pass the test, and as someone pointed out, the draft picks indicate that the team will continue to rely primarily on the 3-4 alignment. The fact that they picked a future rush OLB in Bruce Davis, and a future ILB in Mike Humpel, as two of their three defensive picks (without any front linemen), would suggest that the 3-4 will continue to be the bread and butter setup.

I have to agree with Robert too. It seems to me under Tomlin’s love for players that can play many positions, we are trying to build a group of athletic defenders, so we can play any type of aggressive formation we need to win. Looking at this years draft, we didn’t take a true 3-4 or even a 4-3 DE. From what I read on Davis, he was an aggressive player, but really to small for a college DE. If that description is true, he can’t bulk up to a NFL 4-3 DE. We truly seem to be drafting athletes.

Personally I think it would be a waste of Troy’s talent to just play Tampa 2.

I remember when the Steelers 1st went to a 3-4. Man was I upset. We won 4 Superbowls with the D we had. Why in hades would they want to change it? It made no sense at all to me. Under the 3-4 we had a loss in SB XXX and of course a victory in SB XL over an approximate 15 yr timeline. IF Tomlin goes back to the cover 2 it would just be going back to the D we won 4 SBs with. 4-0 vs a 1-1 is’nt too shabby now is it? The emperor, Chaz Noll taught Tony D who in turn taught Mike T the cover 2 which is also known as the Tampa 2. If Mike T decides to change I would’nt be upset in the least.

Yeah i thought this was a dead issue myself until they brought it up again on NFL network about a week ago saying Tomlin has hinted at making a gradual change. I agree with the fact that as long as Lebeau is there its not going to happen. I would just hate to see something unique go to generic. Also good point about rarely being in the base 3-4 anyways. Half the time you cant really pinpoint what they are doing (which seems to be the point of the defense anyways) They could call it kill the quarterback for all i care. As long as they continue to bring the pain…im happy.