I was surprised by the switch to the 4 - 3

[Reverend Conehead]

This team went through a lot of trouble to switch to the 3 - 4. The Cowboys had always been a 4 - 3 team. It used the 4 - 3 Flex under Landry and the standard 4 - 3 under Johnson and every coach thereafter -- until Parcells. So we got Rob Ryan's exotic defense, which didn't seem so terrible considering how many players he had to use off the street. The fact that his D kept us in games despite that big disadvantage made me wonder what he would do next year with healthy players. I was thinking that maybe the Ryan 3 - 4 would reach its turning point and really be special next season, or at least have a chance to be. To me it looked like our biggest problems were obviously the O-line and our anemic offense in general. That's why the Ryan firing and junking of the 3 - 4 came as such a shock to me.

I'm not knocking the change, mind you. If Kippen can come in and build an intimidating D that helps us win, you won't hear complaints from me. Many of our problems have nothing to do with the scheme that we use. We need help at safety. We need help at pass rush. I feel like we're wasting Ware's career by not giving him enough help.

I'm curious if others here were surprised by the change and if you like it or don't like it. I personally was surprised and am not sure if I like it or not. I'm keeping an open mind. If it works well, then I'll certainly like it.