I’m not super new to football, but I didn’t grow up with it. So I’m not super familiar with schemes and playcalling. I have some questions about the defensive scheme run by Eberflus and co. As I understand it this is a 4-3 defensive scheme, where the most important positions are the three technique and the strongside, weakside, and middle linebackers. So that is what Poles tried to acquire in the off season, with Edmunds, Edwards, and Dexter Sr. for example.
However, I’ve sometimes seen this scheme be called outdated or old fashioned. What makes it outdated? I know we used to run this scheme before with some succes, for example in 06, but just because it’s been here a while doesn’t mean it’s outdated. Is a 4-3 not usable anymore in the modern NFL?
And what will happen when Eberflus is sacked, which looks more and more likely by the week. Is it easy to transition to a different scheme or will the defensive roster be stripped down due to scheme fit and will for example Edmunds be shown the door just like with Roquan Smith, because he’s a middle linebacker instead of an off ball inside linebacker?
You’ve gotten some good answers already but let me add my take also. There’s a lot of misconception about the defense being run. It’s a cover two, soft zone. However, unlike Lovie’s old Tampa Two they do change up coverages to fool with the QB presnap reads. The problem is the nature of the zones they play. Like I mentioned they are soft zones, designed to allow short passes but take away the deeper passes. It’s outdated for that reason. It used to be that QB just wouldn’t be patient enough to take the 5-7 yard passes, now they are and most West Coast Style of offenses add an element of running after the catch that hurts this type of coverage. It’s also fairly weak against the run unless your DL is very good.
However, your concerns about them making major changes to the basic structure of the defense if Eberflus is fired are probably not something to worry about. Unless they also fired Poles (which would be a huge mistake) he’s going to bring in a coach who will use the same basic defense but perhaps a bit more aggressive and flexible. The same is true on offense as well.
The people that don’t understand this forget that this was the plan from the beginning, they were going to tear everything down and build in back mostly through the draft. Clearly they expected to see better results this year which is why Eberflus may get fired but there is a plan in place and they are going to stick with it.