Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau was certainly not averse to new ideas on the defensive side of the ball. After all, there are many staple features of today’s defenses that are rooted in some of LeBeau’s own innovations and refinements in years past.
One principle that he remained fairly steadfastly dedicated to, however, was the principle of lining up with the players you have and beating your opponents, stuffing their running game to make them predictable, and forcing them into making mistakes.
More of that philosophy constituted a tendency to remain in the base 3-4 package as often as possible, which has become increasingly difficult with offenses continuing to utilize three-receiver sets and with the other skill positions becoming increasing involved in the passing game.