The WCO and the 3-4

[ahollz]

Hi guys, I was wondering if you could help me out. I am a fan of FOF but, I'm very green in understanding the technical aspects of football. So, i was wondering if you could tell me the essential elements of the west coast offense and the 3-4?

[JetsIn06]

In short, the west coast is a style of offense that relies on short passing. The usual strategy in football is to "run to set up the pass." Sometimes people say that the west coast is the opposite of that. Your throwing short passes to replace the run, and then run to throw them off guard.

For this system, you'd want a QB with good accuracy (will give WR's good yard after catch) and short passing.

The difference between the 3-4 and 4-3 isn't really well modeled in FOF, to be honest. What they mean is this: In the 3-4, you have three men up front on the line of scrimmage, and then four linebackers standing up behind them.


OLB ILB ILB OLB

DE DT DE


In the 4-3, you have four guys up front on the line of scrimmage.

OLB ILB OLB


DE DT DT DE

[JetsIn06]

There are a few different variations on each one. I don't know as much about the 4-3, but one specific style is called the Tampa 2. Someone else will do a better job explaining, or you could check out this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_2)

The 3-4 has two popular styles. There is the "Read-and-react" 3-4. That's basically what the Patriots, the Jets under Mangini, and the Browns use. It relies on intelligence and instincts rather than speed and strength, which is why the Pats can have old men running around out there and still be great. In this defense, each of the 3 down linemen on the line of scrimmage are responsible for covering two gaps. Think of the line of scrimmage kind of like a grid. Each space has a letter, and each defensive player knows what gap he is responsible for.

So in the read and react 3-4, each linemen needs to be pretty beefy. The perfect size for a 3-4 DE is about 6'5", 295 lbs. For the lone DT on the line, perfect size would be something like 6'3", 340 lbs.

With this defense, the defensive linemen's job is simply to tie up blockers so the 4 linebackers can freely make plays.

The other type of 3-4 is called a "one-gap 3-4". Linemen don't have to be as big because they're not asked to take up two gaps.

I actually think FOF simulates the one-gap 3-4 much more closely. In FOF, what you need to know is that if you use a 3-4, the WLB will blitz every down except if your in the dime formation.

[ahollz]

Thanks, Jetsin06! Very informative.