Last week we took our first steps into the defensive side of the ball in our Summer School series by seeking to understand the 4-3 defense. As the base defense of the New York Giants, and one that was innovated by the Giants, it made sense to start there.
However, there is another defensive front commonly used in the NFL, the 3-4.
As you may expect, the 3-4 defense is named similarly to the 4-3 defense, though in this case it has three down linemen with four linebackers behind them. The two defenses, however, have very different origins and is better viewed as a case of convergent evolution.