FanPost

Schwarz and the defense, and looking back

I have a question about the defense in its current form, that I am hoping others with more knowledge than me can answer.

In the horror of the Wannestadt defense, we had a 4-3 defense that was designed to play pretty vanilla schemes, get pressure without blitzing, and "win with talent, not scheme" as I remember someone here saying about Wannestadt's defenses in Dallas. It didn't work.

Then Pettine came, the defense started lining up in crazy places, moving all over the field, the other team never knew where the blitz was coming from--it was fun to watch and 1000 times better.

Then Schwartz came in, and the defense has been even better. Though we are once again playing a 4-3 defense, that generates pressure without blitzing, and doesn't seem to do anything exotic....

So my question: is Schwartz doing things differently than Wannestadt, within the basic 4-3 look (wide 9 and so forth) that are effective? Or does the defense just have a lot more talent than it did back then? Primarily in the form of one more elite pass rusher in Hughes, better linebackers, and better cornerback depth.

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.