Play Dick Lebeau for a second

NT Kirkland
RT Woodley
LT K Greene
LOLB LLoyd
LILB Ham
RILB Farrior
ROLB Deebo
LCB Timmons
RCB Porter
FS Lambert
SS Russell

I mentioned this last week or something like that, but I could see Woodley and Harrison lining up on Woodley’s side, Farrior covering the middle of the field, and Timmons sprinting to cover Harrison’s hole with Troy stepping into the middle.

I haven’t thought too much about the ramifications, but it seemed last year that LeBeau was reticent to line up Woodley / Harrison on the same side. For good reason as it leaves the hole and also tips the hand of where the rush is coming from. Still, I could see LeBeau working on some interesting twists with our LBs, especially with Woodley/Harrison stacking a side. I like Woodley on the inside if he is the rusher, and James on the outside. Alternately, depending on whether they rush or drop they could be switched.

Woodley/Harrison line up on Woodley’s side, Farrior moves over to cover the hole, Timmons covers the middle.

Woodley/Harrison line up on Woodley’s side, Farrior covers Harrison’s spot, Timmons blitzes, Woodley covers Timmons spot, Harrison drops to Woodley’s normal dropped spot.

Woodley/Harrison again, Brett drops to Harrison’s spot, Timmons & Woodley rush, Harrison drops.

As much as I’m not sold on him yet, Timmons athletic ability adds a pretty sick dimension to our defense if he’s in the base. Putting Woodley and Harrison on the same side, the few times it was done, seemed to put offenses into dismay causing several penalties I believe. Combine that with an effective gameplan that make it more than a gimmick and we could see some crazy stuff this year.

Or I’m just delusional.

I have about fifty essays on the pros and cons of capitalism to grade but this post is too interesting to pass up. Those essays aren’t going anywhere. Let’s get to this instead.

First, let me say that anything I come up with will pale in comparison to what the master, Mr. LeBeau, can devise. He’s Picasso with a head-set for sure. But, given Chicago’s challenge, I offer this: with our current group, let’s run a 3-3 Stack with Hampton on the nose and Farrior stacked behind him at Mike backer and Smith and Kiesel at ends with Woodley (Sam) and Harrison (Will) stacked behind them. Then, you use Polamalu and Timmons as outside backers and play a 3-deep with Ike, Ryan Clark and William Gay. The blitz combos of that eight-man front are almost limitless, as the Stack look inside allows for a variety of twists and red dogs and it’s easy to walk the outside backers up and bring them while dropping the Sam or the Will to the flat. The five-backer look with Farrior, Harrison, Woodley, Timmons and Polamalu all in or at the edge of the box seems like a nightmare to cope with, especially since the outside guys (Polamalu and Timmons) are fast enough to work the sideline in pass coverage. I can see Peyton Manning at the line now, gesturing spastically as the backers jump around, creep to the line, back off, etc… He might have a seizure trying to find the perfect play each time.

To this point the 3-3 is largely a college defense and I have no idea how successful it would be on the pro level. But with the Steelers personnel it would sure be fun to have a look at…

three D-lineman rush and Timmons stunts inside with Hampton, Troy follows Timmons.

With the other LB’s covering short Timmons’ main goal is to get the help blocker out of the way for Troy to come right at the QB. I love Troy up the middle blitzes, and with Timmons bulldozing in front of him I think it could rival some of the Raven’s follow blitzes. I call a follow blitz when two guys hit a gap, it may have an actual name.

Woodley, Smith, Hampton, Davis
Harrison Farrior Timmons

Have Smith Davis, and Farrior in Coverage, with Woodley, Harrison, Hampton, and Timmons rushing the QB.

And depending on what the zones look like and the offenses’ formation, possibly have Troy come in as well.

what should Bruce Arians do with offense?
I have total trust in the Great Mr. LeBeau – and will actually think about the actual question here and get back to you…but seriously, can we do more than run-run-pass and now we’re 3rd and long? If I can freaking guess what the offense is gonna do, so can other teams defense. Only time it wasn’t easy to pick up is when Ben’s on the move and that’s because the play they were going to do fell apart….

Anyway, just sayin’….

back to regularly scheduled programming

We will have possibly one of the best LB corps in NFL history this year, and I don’t see why they should come off the field in nickel packages. Hampton is pretty useless in passing situations and against teams like the Colts and Pats, so run a 2 man DL, rotating in Smith, Keisel, Hood, and Hoke. Blitz both Harrison and Woodley on a large percentage of plays. Have Troy play the slot and bring in another safety of CB (please not Carter) to line up deep opposite Clark. This is basically a 4-2-5 nickel or an ultra-small 4-3-4 defense, only we still have more options with blitz packages. We could still mix up coverages, having Ike or Troy take a deep zone some of the time and a safety stepping up.

It wouldn’t be effective against the run, but against teams that aren’t going to beat us by running the ball (Colts and Pats), I don’t think it’d be a liability. I also think having both Timmons and Troy close to the line would help contest the RB dumpoffs and draws that we had touble with at times last year. It’s a passing league now, so if we want to win another championship, we’re going to have to beat the Pats and/or Colts, and we need to game plan for that type of attack.