Need Football Info

[sois]

This is mainly a question that I thought of when I was reading the Eric Henderson "Will, Mike and Sam" LB thread. I understand that the Will is a faster, smaller LB who can cover backs and slot WR's if needed. Sam is a strong side LB who stops the run and is usually bigger because he has to take on the TE.

What is the responsibility of the Mike?

Also, the main question: Are there similar responsibilities on the DL? What is a two-technique? I've heard that term for DT. What is three-technique? Is there a "Will" DL or anything like that? Thanks football experts.

[Jamie_B]

Linebackers...

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linebacker"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linebacker[/url]

Defensive Tackle

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_tackle"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_tackle[/url]

[Quaker]

...I know there is an article on Football Outsiders that gets really technical with the "techniques." Their archives suck and it's a pain in the ass to search through but I'll look for it.

..."Technique" usually refers to a position, certain spot along the Dline. The higher the "tech" gets, the further out along the line that player is supposed to line up. Take Freeny for example, a lot of times they seem to have him at the 5 or 6 technique, or very wide of the outside shoulder of the OT. It also does dictate what assignment that player has.

Here is the article from FO.com: [url="http://www.footballoutsiders.com/index.php?p=2704"]http://www.footballoutsiders.com/index.php?p=2704[/url]

[i]0-Technique: The defender lines up face-to-face with the center.
1-Technique: The defender lines up on the centers outside shoulder.
2-Technique: The defender lines up on the guards inside shoulder.
3-Technique: The defender lines up on the guards outside shoulder, between the guard and the tackle.
4-Technique: The defender lines up on the tackles inside shoulder, though often coaches want 4-technique linemen face-to-face with an offensive tackle.
5-Technique: The defender lines up on the tackles outside shoulder.
6-Technique: The defender lines up on the tight ends inside shoulder or (if there is no tight end) about 1.5 yards wide of the tackle. [/i]

[Guest OzBengal]

3 Technique usually refers to the Undertackle in a 4-3 system thats uses a NT and a UT. The NT plays 0 technique. In general you want your nosetackle to be strong at the point of attack and good enough to demand a double-team and you want your undertackle to be a bit smaller, have more quickness and the ability to get upfield quickly. They need good penetration and shoot the gap as the play develops. Warren Sapp and Tommie Harris and examples of a 3 Technique.

[sois]

Quaker and Oz, that is great info!

So I take it Sam is the 0 and JT is the 3?

Do the DE's have any particular assignments? Run stopping DE vs Pass rush DE? What side of the 3 technique do they go on?

[Quaker]

[quote name='sois' post='471932' date='Apr 13 2007, 04:45 PM']Quaker and Oz, that is great info!

So I take it Sam is the 0 and JT is the 3?

Do the DE's have any particular assignments? Run stopping DE vs Pass rush DE? What side of the 3 technique do they go on?[/quote]

...DEs line up at designated techniques as well but those would be more 4-5-6 techs than 0-1-2-3 techs. The techniques also are like a number line, like this: 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6. (DE-DT-DT-DE in a 43, it's a mix and match of techniques on defense, no team can obviously have one player for every technique.)

...Justin and Robert would be more 4 or 5 tech DEs where as a player like Freeny likes to rush from those 5 & 6 Techs where he can use his speed to just blow by lineman. Ideally you would like your DEs to have both run and pass stopping qualities as to not show what your defense is going to do.