I'm just spitballing here. I know Romeo's a system guy and all. Clowney and Watt at DE, Watt can play the Ray Childress role and move inside as needed. Merc at OLB, McK at his natural MLB, need to draft DT/coverage OLB (regardless of system). Crick is worthless, he's been by far the most disappointing guy on D this year. So.... can/could/would you even think about it? I guess if you want Watt/Clowney/Merc on the field at the same time you are pretty much running that, right?
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The thing about this version of the 3-4 is that it allows Watt to line up wherever the **** he wants to - which I think it pretty cool. He's certainly earned that right. I even saw him rushing from the OLB position a couple of times against J-ville. Can't imagine what's going through a LT's mind when he sees JJ Watt standing up on the line of scrimmage...yikes.... And Clowney and Merc are actually on the field at the same time a LOT as it is.
IIRC, Romeo's system isn't a true 3-4. It changes from game to game and within the game. They're able to go 3-4 and 4-3. There were some plays this week where they went 4-3 and then JJ moved into a MLB spot to rush from there. They'll find plenty of ways to have Clowney and Mercilus on the field at the same time.
You obviously have to use Mercy as the WOLB full time. In the league guys talk about building a rythum throughout the game. I would use Clowney as the Willie McGuinest aka old Patriot squads by having him rush off twist and a gap blitzes and let the guards deal with his track star speed. I think Clowney can be special if used that way. Too big and too fast. He's going to get some free runs.
How about the Texans switching their offense to the run and shoot? It worked great for the Oilers for like two years in the 90s.
Reggie White did the same thing in Philly. That's why I mentioned Childress, earlier in his career, before the Fuller/Jones DE tandem, he lined up at DE/DT depending on situation (when Doug Smith came out of the game, iirc). I was just thinking about how to maximize Clowney's and Merc's skillsets at the same time. No complaints at all, I love watching this defense the past few games.
When Clowney is healthy, he's pretty much exclusively been used on the edge (with Watt)... with Merciless getting opportunities to rush up the middle. If they wanted to let Merciless and Clowney man the edges, with Watt up the middle, I'm sure they'd find a way to make that work. The key is to not be predictable... to alway disguise where the pressure is coming from, and constantly have the offense on their heels in terms of assignments.
A 3-4 works better for Watt. The defense gives him more flexibility to move around. 3-4 is more flexible in the way you use linemen and LBs. There is no reason to move to a 43. It won't solve the Mercilus/Clowney issue because they both still favor one side over the other. The Texans have figured out how to use all their pass rushers at the same time over the last half of the season.
Sign Mario for the other DE spot (and rotate Crick in) on a hometown discount. Now you are able to send the entire house every single down. That would be an amazing front 7 Not to mention that we have Cliett back from injury and he can cover the TE's.
I love the 3-4 defense because it gives you more versatility but watt is best as a 4-3 DE. Most of his sacks comes from when he's coming off the edge as a 4-3 DE.
You all do realize there is more to moving from 3-4 to 4-3 than the line? It affects the secondary as well. The personnel and coaching staff were brought in to play and coach 3-4 and they have been successful so far. You can't just assume everything will work well after the switch. Having depth at OLB is not good enough reason to make a change.
Agree. I wouldn't change from the 3-4, but I would sign Mario (to start opposite Watt sandwiching Wilfork) freaking Williams to a hometown discount if available.
This isn't true. The last few games he was healthy they used Clowney on the inside as essentially a rush defensive tackle in passing downs. It's part of the reason that people who analyzed tape have been praising him despite the lack of sacks. He was blowing up the inside of the line and disrupting the pocket even when he wasn't getting sacks. This team doesn't run a 3-4 or 4-3 anyway. They run a hybrid gameplan defense that changes up constantly throughout the game, let alone week to week. The defensive schemes have been tremendous in the second half the year. The creativity from RAC in how he has used Clowney and Watt has been very impressive.
I like the alignment RAC uses right now, however I wish that JJ would be willing to rush from the inside more often. Especially on passing downs with Merc and Clowney as the edge rushers.
