Vikings Thinking of Switching To a 3-4?

Aww hell no?

But he lost some credibility for me with this nonsense.

It won’t

The following is just to entertain this idea before being knee jerk about it.

Jared Allen is actually good in pass coverage, remember that interception earlier in the year?
Also, Everson Griffen is extremely athletic and has been a gunner this year. I think he can probably cover a lot of ground, that could equate to being decent in pass coverage. We know he can rush the passer.

I actually think that line up of linebackers you listed would be pretty interesting. Plus, Erin Henderson and Jasper Brinkley would make great back-ups who can rotate in and out. I think the linebackers could be a pretty versatile group with that personnel.

The question of the front line seems a little different. I think Kevin Williams could make the transition to 3-4 de because he has the size and also the athleticism. He came into the league and played de to start out. That is where he racked up a lot of his sack total. I actually like guion and think that he could play the other de. But i think we might need a sure fire nose tackle to really anchor the line. Perhaps there is a good 3-4 nose tackle that we could pick up via trade or free agency?

Also, where does this leave Robison? I don’t know. He isn’t really big enough to play de in a 3-4, and I really don’t know if he would make a good olb. but he is a pass rushing specialist, and he would no doubt be able to get snaps like he did last year. I am sure that there could be some 4-3 packages to sprinkle into the mix as well, just to keep the opposing offense guessing. Maybe he is trade bait.

I guess the really big question this raises for me is WHAT ABOUT THE SECONDARY?
Because I actually think that the front seven has been doing a pretty good job of it, and that the defensive backs are the main liability on defense. We obviously need a change with that unit, be it coaching, play calling, personnel and scheme. The front seven have been covering for them.

One thing that stood out in the Pellisero article is that he quoted some of the d-backs as saying that they were complaining about the playcalling within the first month and were ignoring the coach’s calls and calling their own coverage in the defensive huddle. That can’t be a good thing ever. I guess I would expect to hear discussion of possibly changing up the cover-2 / tampa-2 scheme since we are getting killed so much and because it seems that we really need new personnel in the defensive backfield, so we could target guys that fit a different scheme in the process.

Lastly, I think Pellisero is right when he says that Pagac is as good as gone. But I really don’t want to thrust Singletary into a Defensive Coordinator position. He really handled things poory in San Francisco, and doesn’t get the blame he deserves for that fiasco. He made really questionable decisions with his qb situation and I think showed that he had trouble controlling and leading his team. If this defense has trouble playing the coverages that the defensive coordinator is calling, I might be a bit concerned that it could repeat with a guy like Singletary at the defensive helm. I could be wrong, I am only speculating.

Joking, but that was pretty badass.

I have a hard time believing anyone’s take on this sort of switch right now for two reasons:

1) everything is theory right now. Whether you are saying the Vikings should make the switch or they should never make the switch there are very little facts on the ground to go with it. The roster is at a point where they could make the switch (they probably have more pieces to a 3-4 puzzle than most care to admit), but then again they could stick with what they have and be fine. Really it’s all a matter of the coaching will and what their vision for the team is more than GM vision or what the pieces of the puzzle is currently.

2) To my knowledge Jared Allen hasn’t said anything about this one way or another. Right now any 3-4 talk is on the fringe of Vikingdom. Paul Allen isn’t talking much about it, nor are any of the beat writers talking about it with players. So there is nothing public about what Jared Allen would think about this sort of transfer right now. He has the physical ability, but does he have the desire? That’s the question and that’s the unknown. It would be my hope that IF the Vikings made this switch that the coaching staff would already know the answer to this important question. If they do know the answer and they do make the switch than the coaches are either idoits or Allen is open to the idea. If he’s open to the idea then I would expect him to be every bit the terror that Demarcus Ware or Mario Williams are right now.

The trade off might be that our middle linebackers seem to have trouble with their pass coverage duties, and swithing to a 3-4 would reduce that responsibility. I recall Jared Allen making a fantastic play in pass coverage downfield earlier in the year. And, he got an interception that had the announcers praising his skillset. I’m not saying a 3-4 is the right idea, but it is an interesting notion to try and piece together how it might possibly work.

I think PA’s right above. It’ll come down to his attitude towards it. Based on our 3-4, we usually have our best pass rushing OLB rush 70-80% of the time.

We had a similar situation with Kampman. It was obvious from the get go that he didn’t want to switch and he struggled early. But eventually, Capers let him put his hand in the dirt and rush and he started to look better. He blew his ACL in week 8 I think but I think it woulda worked out ok.

It certainly was working for Williams down in Houston.

That being said, I don’t think you guys should switch. The one thing your FO always seems to be able to do is find guys who can get after the passer. Griffen looks promising, and even Ballard has looked good in his time. You just need your FO not to swing and miss on pretty much every secondary guy they draft like they have been doing.

In my opinion the VIkings do need a new defensive coordinator, something they’d have to do if they switched to the 3-4 as well. However there would have to be much more flotsom and jetsom with the roster in order to make the 3-4 work. Right now the focus can be on an interior defensive lineman and the secondary. However if they were to switch to a 3-4 we’re talking complete overhaul. We’re talking using a high draft pick on a true NT. We’re talking going after at least 3 linebackers in addition to revamping the secondary.

The biggest issue would be what to do with Jared Allen? I mean the dude is at his peak right now. Why would you want to mess with that? Nah I say stay the course. Get a new DC, upgrade the secondary, get a 1 tech who can stand his ground and be disruptive and I think this defense is back as a top 10 defense.

I’d love to see the Vikings run a more aggressive 4-3 like Jim Johnson was famous for. Our scheme is too passive most of the time and that just doesn’t get it done unless you’ve got a great offense that can get you a lead. Basically we run the Indy scheme but don’t have the lead in games enough for it to be effective.