Another good response and thank you as well. OLBs, outsdie of rushing, also do a bit of pass defense. Often droping into Zone or sometimes man to man on a TE when not rushing. This would actualy play to Vilmas skills. As for his ability to pass rush I'm unsure on just how good he is having not seen much of it, but I would assume he's no worse then Bryan Thomas who is awful. I don't think he is a great fit outside by anymeans, but maybe better then what we have now. Maybe after seeing him inside with Harris for a full year it will be a moot point. Hopefully that combo is very strong inside for us this year.
Well for one, Harris is good and Barton sucks. Harris can stop the play North-South and Vilma can stop the play East-West. When Barton was next to him, Vilma was THE Guy which means the OL had to target him on every play and Barton couldn't do squat to stop them. If Harris is in there he has demonstrated an ability to stop the play at or around the line. Even with Vilma on the field they will have to key into him first giving Vilma more room to roam and if they don't, then Harris is going to kill them. Basically Vilma goes from an over matched #1 to a side kick role, where I believe he is over qualified and will excel.
If the OL is closing alleys for the defense he is closing them for the offense as well. I don't understand what you are trying to get at. Obviously people are going to be blocked, but if the blockers are occupied and a running back can get through a lane, then a linebacker can as well. So drop him back a yard and move Harris up a yard. Basically you are going to switch his responsibilities anyways so they shouldn't both be pursuing the same gaps. As I mentioned earlier Vilma would switch from a pursuit backer to more of a sidekick/clean up the mess/coverage linebacker.
a 34 OLB is usually either uncovered, or covered by a TE. When a O runs to that side, the LB is the priority to block for the O to make the Play work, either bei a double team TE/FB or TE/T or you trust your FB to hit him off the line or you send a pulling OL to kick him out. The idea for the LB then is to hold his ground and make the runner stretch the play further, than he wants to, that allows the rest of the Defense to puruit and to close the hole before the Runner can turn the corner. I don?t think vilma can do that on a regular basis. In the Blitzing game a common blitz out of the 34 is a overload weakside blitz, where you pinch your DE, which forces the T to react to the inside, than you atack with your OLB the Tackle, which creates a whole in the pass coverage underneatch the Back. I remember Harris beeing very sucsessful with that Blitz, cuz he?s a huge pain in the ass for a Back who doesn?t have the right angle to pick him up, when he comes full speed out of the backfield. I also remeber when Vilma ran this Blitz, backs were most of the time able to push him out of his blitzing lane, even if they were in bad position. If he?s lined up on he outside, i think most teams will trust their backs to pick him, cuz he just doesn?t have the power to fight throu a block while staying in his blitzinglane. This would pretty much avoid all our Blitz packages to be sucessfull over his side. no, i don?t think vilma is able to play the OLB sucsesfull
^wow GJF...that's the best 3-4 OLB explanation I've ever heard...thanks. It also shows why a JV wouldn't be able to do that type of thing, while a guy of Thomas/McGinnest/Suggs size would be perfect for it.
Too bad we don't have a defensive minded head coach, a genious mabey, that could create something new like "The Eash Coast Defense" that's a hybrid 3-4 with that relys on two talented ILB, like harris and vilma. A defense like non other and never seen before.
it?s simple, a DL is blocked at the LOS, a ILB is blocked let?s say 2 yards in the backfield. When a LB follows a Play, a DL doesn?t bother him unless he gets pushed back. A LB who is in a Block two yards in the backfield is in his pursuit lane to follow the play, and he has to get around it. If Harris would be suposed to shed Blocks for Vilma, he would simply stand in his way. Vilma?s strenght in the 43 was to be quicker than the OL and escape the block, the time it would take him to get around Harris wouldn?t allow him that. And when he gets around, the cutback is wide open. ILBs in a 34 are supposed to go up against the OL agressive, closing running lanes and cutback lanes. The idea of a free man collecting Tackles will never work in 34, cuz the additional traffic off the LOS pushes that free man out of his responsabilities. This would cost Harris a yard, he needs to read and react to the play and it would make it easy for the OL to work up from the DL to Vilma, cuz they simply have more time to do so.
If they bring in a guy like Gholston, they would have 2 guys that could line up on the line, providing the ability to line up in a 4-3 with the additional DE lining up on either side. It would even allow for 5 down lineman looks. Anytime we do one of these looks Vilma is the same guy, with the same responsibilites, as he was in the old 4-3. In fact, Vilma would likely outperform Harris in these alignments. So if Harris plays better in the 3-4, you suddenly have a very complimentary partnership.
