Why is it called a 3-4 defense?

In football there are three types of defensive areas: Defensive Line, Defensive Linebackers, and Defensive Secondary.  The numbers in 3-4 start the line of Scrimmage and work their way out.  So the 3 refers to the Defense having three defensive lineman.  The three Defensive lineman consist of two Defensive Ends, and one Nose Tackle.  The 4 refers to the defense having 4 Defensive Linebackers.  The Linebackers would consist of 2 Outside Linebackers and  2 Middle Linebackers.  The third layer would then have 4 secondary which is not mentioned in the scheme.  the 4 secondary would usually consist of 2 Corner-backs and 2 Safeties. I have included a picture for your visual understanding.       

             

 

    

 

The reason a 3-4 defense was invented was to have a different look than the traditional 4-3 defense. With only having 3 lineman down, the defense can send a linebacker on a blitz from either side and still not be sacrificing any men in coverage. The offense does not know what side the extra man rushing will come from and will most like confuse the offensive lineman’s protection.        An important part of running the 3-4 defense is having the correct personnel to be able to still protect against the running game. A large defensive tackle who is a good run stopper is preferred to have line up against the Offensive Center to dissuade the inside run. The two defensive ends can be fairly thick players because they will not usually be speed rushing off the edge like in the 4-3. The 3-4 defense also makes blitzing easier because there are more people standing up who can either get a running start to blitz or threaten a blitz which will confuse protections and create a mismatch. Some teams that use the 3-4 are the Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns, San Diego Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets, Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers and Pittsburgh Steelers. These are some of the better defenses in the NFL which is proof that the 3-4 defense is a viable option for a defense with the right players.          

 

News articles about the 3-4 Defense

    

• This article discusses the 3-4 defense philosophy, each position of the 3-4 defense, and each position’s role
• NY Times did an excellent article discussing the effectiveness of a 3-4 defense
• This article discusses how teams in the NFL use the 3-4 defense

  –  Ford Jordan wrote this page!