For some strange reason, finishing 6th in the NFL for those stats doesn't seem right - not when this defense was constantly getting raped in the 2nd half of nearly every single game. Especially with five minutes left on the clock in the 4th quarter.

I really hope I'm not the only one here that thinks an entire douche was definitely needed for this team.

On the 4-3 change...Really isnt much of a change... Nolan ran a 4-3 at least half of the defensive snaps if not more... We have the personel to run a 4-3.. 4 down linemen.. no big deal IMO.

On the Ireland deal, Ireland is calling the shots... But Philbin has to do the hiring of coaches, becasue the people that Philbin wants, probably wouldnt work for Ireland if he called them, sad but true.
In football or sports organizations for that matter with a GM/coach, there is normally always a weird dicotomy between the 2 positions. WHen Peterson and Ireland, hired Philbin, his ideas and plans for what he had envisioned for the teams blueprint, were surely discussed, and a common direction agreed upon... IMO,Ireland is going to wear the pants in this relationship.. Ireland is a Type A personality, Philbin doesnt come across as a type A guy...

Well, hopefully the coaches, NOT the GM, will have the final decision on the defensive alignments we play. It's clear that Philbin is now the boss, not Ireland.

Perhaps Ireland's comments are a test for Soliai, to see if he really wants to stay. If Soliai wants to stay, he'll sign a reasonable contract with Miami. If he's in it for the money only, then he'll leave. It might seem counter-intuitive to announce that he's expendable, but it could be a motivating factor.

montequi Wrote:
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> Well, hopefully the coaches, NOT the GM, will have
> the final decision on the defensive alignments we
> play. It's clear that Philbin is now the boss,
> not Ireland.
>
> Perhaps Ireland's comments are a test for Soliai,
> to see if he really wants to stay. If Soliai
> wants to stay, he'll sign a reasonable contract
> with Miami. If he's in it for the money only,
> then he'll leave. It might seem counter-intuitive
> to announce that he's expendable, but it could be
> a motivating factor.

Yes..the coach should have final say on schemes and staff.

But this is a non issue.

A GM should have a vision of what he wants to build. He should hire a HC who SHARES that vision and that HC should hire his staff accordingly.

It makes total sense the 4-3 scheme was part of the explorative talks in the interview, and a point the new HC needed to agree on. I guess this change also helps us understand letting Nolan walk so easily – though ironically he’s planning on keeping the 4-3 in Atlanta.

The league really is up and down on this kind of stuff all the time, and one D is in vogue for a bit until the offenses see it enough to figure it out, and the then the next round of changes starts…But in the end it’s all been done before and what matters is the players on the field.

In this case, it seems Ireland has determined the loss of Soliai is justifiable based on $$$ and the front change. But I can only imagine what Billygoat will do with Paul and Wilfork together on the inside…Could you imagine that?

I don’t know why Soliai, Odrick and Starks can’t form the DT trio that’s needed out of the box. To me the dude that least fits is Langford. He certainly isn’t a 4-3 DE, and he’s not DT either. His capacity is maxed as a 3-4 DE. Also, Misi seems out of position totally in 4-3. They talk about him as MLB – really? He’s too big and lumbering for that slot IMO. Oh well…

More and more it just looks like we wasted the Biggie T years trying to build a system that was already out-dated… Too many teams where chasing the 3-4 tweeners and we never drafted the dominant OLB (ala LT or Ware) that system needs to be decisive. Wake was great addition, but he was imported…

At the Senior Bowl Ireland hedged when asked about “rebuilding” verses still building…Whatever the case someone has decided we’ve failed to put the key pieces together to feature a great 3-4 D, and the writing was on the wall with Nolan leaving…

One of the first things JJ did, when building that great 4-3 here, was find a few amazing gems that others had passed on – namely JT and Zack. Can Ireland duplicate those kind of results? If he can’t, our 4-3 experiment will fail as well. My opinion of course.

BNF.

switching from 3-4 to 4-3, is much to do about nothing... Every team has a 4 linemen set, not every team has a 3 linemen set... WHen you switch to a 3-4 you need to find that big strong NT that can take on doubles consistently... When you switch to 4-3, you dont have to do much... but work out some linebacker stuff.... Which you already have done... I though the 4-3 was a strong suit of our team last year... just based on the depth, size, strength and speed of our 4 DL.

I disagree. If you want to field an EXCELLENT 3-4 or 4-3 there’s a lot of different specs to consider – in the IDEAL SENSE.

4-3 DE is a different animal than 3-4

3-4 OLB is a different animal than 4-3

MLB is ???

3-4 DE is lost in a 4-3 unless he’s converted into a DT

And so forth…

We do have some flexibility and I’d agree our DL is probably the strength of the team – in sheer numbers. But dudes like Langford and Misi (both R2 picks in the last few years) are really NOT 4-3 players. Beyond that, MLB and another monster DE like JT would be nice in a 4-3.

That’s the “problem” when you build a 3-4 – it’s all about “tweeners” and dudes that typically DO NOT FIT into a 4-3, at least in the ideal sense. Like I said before, look at the Giants DL for a good reference to what a great 4-3 should look like.

We simply don’t have those pieces. IMO.

BNF.

Point is, sure we can throw a 4-3 together. But don’t confuse the end result with great architecture. We’ve been building a 3-4 for 5 years or more. The absolute change-over will take a few drafts to optimize IMO. Unless the plan is to do something “hybrid” or half-ass. Oops, I mean half-way!

BigNastyFish Wrote:
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>
> So…WHY is Ireland talking 4-3 BEFORE staff is
> hired, let alone player evaluations by the staff
> that's not hired yet? Seriously – WTF is up with
> that? Think about it before you answer…
>

Everyone has known for a while that Coyle was going to be the DC. I'm sure Philbin mentioned him to Ireland during the interview process. And Coyle comes from a 4-3 foundation. Also, they know they can't afford Soliai. Finding a NT is hard, and look at what trying to fill NT has caused them to do. They paid Soliai $12.5M last year. The year before, we took Odrick so they could slide Starks to NT. And now they may lose a very stout run defender at DE in Langford. And we need more pass rushers. So, the idea of switching to more of a 4-3 makes sense. We have the DTs to make it work, and we can focus on getting a pass rushing DE early in the draft. And honestly, it's not uncommon to be able to find MLB types in the middle rounds.