My Hidden Affair (Scott)

I know this will come as a shock considering I have lived in the state of Alabama my entire life, but I watch the NFL. (I also watch the NBA religiously, but don’t let that get out – they lynch people around here for that.) My favorite team has always been the Pittsburgh Steelers. Like Auburn, Pittsburgh is traditionally a defensive minded team, with a run first offense, but to someone like me the two teams are nothing alike.

First I need to say that I hate offense. For the most part I can be counted on to hate everything exciting, entertaining, or generally attractive in football. I hate long passes; I hate trick plays; I even hate shotgun formations. Defense is the name of the game. I’m the kind of guy who gets my linebacker to win the Heisman in college football video games. Despite a similar team personality, defensively speaking Auburn and Pittsburgh have been night and day, giving me a peculiar split-personality. For the most part I can always count on Auburn playing hard nosed 4-3 man-to-man defense. Sure the occasional cover 2 or cover 1 from the safeties is to be expected but nothing too out of the ordinary. Who needs fancy tricks when superior athleticism and execution do the trick?

For a guy like me, Pittsburgh’s defense is like a guilty pleasure. In the 80s 3-4 defense was all the rage (NFL coach’s for the most part all do the same thing, they’ve practically all been running the same offense since Bill Walsh, and the whole league gets caught up in the same fads and trends); eventually most of the teams went back to the tried and true 4 defensive linemen, 3 linebackers, 4 defensive backs. Pittsburgh however, didn’t, and consistently had one of the best defenses in run stopping and pass rushing all throughout the nineties. Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau made the “zone blitz” famous. So on Saturday conservative old Scott proudly watched his beloved Tigers stifling teams with 4-3 man, while a day later (on the Sabbath no less) I would secretly revel in the exciting 3-4 zone defense of Steel Town.

Perhaps the most important feature of the 3-4 is that on standard defensive plays you want to rush 4 men; ordinarily these would be the 4 defensive linemen, however with only 3 down linemen, the extra rusher comes from any one of the 4 linebackers or in rare occasions one of the defensive backs. The effect is that the quarterback does not know where all the rushers are coming from. Usually the defense plays in a zone relying on a quick and unpredictable pass rush to prevent the quarterback from exploiting holes in the zone (in the scheme speed and strength in the front 7 can make up for lack of speed in the secondary). See how the Steelers frustrated Peyton Manning in the 2006 NFL play-offs. Manning who has a made a career out of being able to read defenses and react, could not tell what the Steelers were doing.

Ok, Scott, you’re oddly obsessed with defenses, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that when Will Muschamp came to Auburn, it was hinted that he would bring a few 3-4 packages. My Auburn Tigers? 3-4? I didn’t really take it too seriously. When David Gibbs was at auburn he tried to use a system that would occasionally switch a linemen to a linebacker similar to what Bama did under Joe Kines’ defense. I think the system was a little too confusing, and we did not really employ it that much. Then Gibbs was gone a year later. Muschamp comes in and word on the proverbial street is to watch out for Quentin Groves to play linebacker in some 3-4 sets. Again, it was rare to see it in any important game situation.

However, now with a year under his belt I’m told to watch out for the Muschamp’s 3-4 again and I am getting scared. The 3-4 is the flashy woman I sleep with when I am away on business, but despite my unfaithfulness, I always love and come back to the 4-3. I know I can count on her. Of course my infidelity could remain a secret for only so long, and the football gods may be punishing me for the rest of my life. I’ve had to suffer through Tuberville running fake punts and attempting fourth down conversions, and whatever other football debaucheries he conjures up, but now the sanctity of the defense I have counted on for so long may be violated. A second middle linebacker will be running through the holy of holies.

I honestly do not expect to see the Tigers spend too much time in the 3-4, but Scott Looney favorite Sen’Derrick Marks has been moved to defensive end. In the 3-4 defensive ends are generally built more like defensive tackles as only 3 linemen are expected to engage 5 offensive linemen, so his presence at the end would be extremely valuable. Also we possess linebackers capable of playing zone coverage or rushing through offensive lines (Tray Blackmon can run through any offensive line and most brick walls), and the aggressive pass rushing will take some heat off our suspect secondary. My only fear is the ability to maintain the interior run defense, which is the obvious potential weakness when you take away one of the defensive tackles.

In conclusion, getting the best 11 players on the field regardless of position and not letting dogmatic conventions get in the way of in game adjustments is the best defensive philosophy. I expect to see Auburn stay, for the most part, showing the same defense it always has, but I’m coming to terms that I will see some zone, and I may even see an extra linebacker. Part of me will be abhorred, but deep in my football id I will be aroused, and I may even come to terms with my repressed desires. Just don’t expect me to like fake punts.