This week, we explore the most common defensive scheme in the NFL today.
Last week, we learned about Tom Landry’s historic 4-3 defensive scheme. This week, we tackle another scheme, the 3-4, which has taken the NFL by storm over the past decade and a half.
Originally the brain child of 1940’s Oklahoma Sooners coach Bud Wilkinson, the 3-4 scheme trickled down to some of his contemporaries, most notably 1970’s New England Patriots head coach Chuck Fairbanks. Bill Belichik admitted in a 2007 interview that a majority of the nomenclature and terminology Fairbanks installed in the 70’s remained in use by Patriot players and coaches while they employed the 3-4 prior to switching back to the 4-3 in 2011.