Bengals Defense now 3-4 hybrid

[Au165]

(03-05-2020, 09:59 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: We ran Nickel over 60% of the time last year, which always has 4 down lineman anyways.

I don't see the need to be all up in arms over this; as AU mentioned it is still essentially a 4 down lineman front, with one of them standing instead of 3/4 point stance (Hubbard and Dunlap did it quite a bit).

We're still going to run 2 LBs out there, most plays.

Technically you could run a 4-2-5 which looks similar to nickel however the linebackers (or hybrid end linebackers) are standing up where an end would usually be. Again, it's just another look of a very similar formation. The nice thing here is you can roll coverage and have a backside linebacker bail and create some different looks. That is really what it comes down to, having OLB who are 80%-90% rushers but CAN drop when needed let's you give offenses more things to think about which is why many coordinators like the 3-4.