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Quote: Originally Posted by PSUEagle

I completely agree with you that Madden oversimplifies the 3-4 vs 4-3 issue, and you're absolutely right about the 49ers being in an Under front in those examples. As a general statement, though, you don't have to line up in a pure 3-4 to two gap on defense. A lot of teams will do a hybrid and have some players two gap while some penetrate up front. People have pointed to the Seahawks as a modern example, but the Eagles were doing that as recently as 2008 out of an under front: we would often have our nose tackle along with the 4 Tech DE to the TE side two gap while everyone else one gap. It enabled them to keep Stewart Bradley clean at MIKE, giving him a chance to have a great year. The Steelers are another example of a 3-4 team that lines up in an Under front often, especially when you give them two back personnel groupings on defense. And as far as the 49ers go, I just watched the first half of their week 2 game against the Seahawks last year and it looks to me like they had their strongside DE two gap based on how he played blocks that came to him.

The 49ers do both from time to time (usually both on the same play). They run something similar to what they ran in the 90s (and in fact the front isn't that different from Seattle's). As for the strong side DE, he essentially plays the role of the NT in a 4-3 under front. The other DE plays the role of the 1-gap DT in a 4-3 under front. The ROLB plays the role of the Leo, and the LOLB plays the role of the Sam.

This was actually done by the 49ers in the late 90s, and in fact they had a mix of 4-3 and 3-4 personnel (Ricky Jackson played defensive end, but he has always been a linebacker). Dana Stubblefield sometimes (though not always) was on the nose playing 2 gaps, while Bryant Young was usually an up the field 1-gap rusher. Ricky Jackson alternated played the Leo.

Of course, today's 49ers play mostly in nickle, with the two DE's playing DT, although the players are good enough to do either 1-gap or 2-gap should the need arise.



EDITED TO ADd:

In fact here is Pete Carrol chiming in on those late 90 49er defenses:

http://www.bigcatcountry.com/2013/1/...e-leo-position

"We mixed the concepts of one-gap football and two-gap football in a very unique way in San Francisco," Carroll said. "And we played great defense. To me, that was the ultimate package, and we've been able to get back to it now. It's taken us three years, really, to get to the point where we can incorporate the ideas. So, we're doing all of the things that we liked there. I thought it was the most comprehensive package of defense that I've been around. I was not able to do that at SC. I was the defensive coordinator and putting the whole thing together at SC, but our guys just couldn't handle it. It was just too much stuff, and it was too much for the coaches. So we did variations of stuff. It worked out great, but in college, we weren't capable of doing all of that. Guys couldn't learn and couldn't teach it the way we needed to. But it made sense to Gus and all of our coaches -- the background and the principles of things -- and then we've melded it together and ended up with a pretty diverse package of defense."