Stopping the run, 1 goal for any defense!

[xwalker]

For those that want more of an visual eye ball test of how Rams dominated Cowboys vs run
( while ironically did very little to nothing vs Saints and Pats in following weeks)

Decent analysis. Much much better than those law whatever videos.

Video 1:40
Watch the 1tech (#99) on the play. See how he takes himself out of the inside by moving quickly to the outside.

Video 2:38
Watch the 3tech DT (#51). The OT beats him to the inside allowing the LG to get a clean release to block a LB.
Watch the 1tech. I appears that he got bullied but in reality he is trying to move to the outside.
- The OC didn't have leverage to cause the sudden surge to the outside without #99 taking a step in that direction.

3:22
It is easier to see from the camera behind the DL that #99 is taking himself outside initially.

The backside 3tech DT (#96) allows the OT to get inside and gives the OG a free release.

General
Notice how all handoffs from under center alignments were to the side of the 1tech DT.

Notice that the 2 handoffs to the opposite of the 1tech were from shotgun with the RB aligned opposite but angling to the 1tech side at the handoff.

 

[quickccc]

Woods was solid when healthy. The problem is that he was often not healthy. He missed games and was limited in some others due to playing through injury.

• Woods and Poe
  • The best thing about either Poe or Woods is that they allow the Cowboys to limit each others snaps.
  • Poe has also had injury issues.
  • A lower percent of snaps for both improves their chances of staying healthy.
  • It will be a challenge to have 2 pure 1techs active but the new 48 man game day roster helps.
  • Even if both are not active for a game, they can rest either one for a game if that player would have to play thought injury.
  • Most 4-3 teams tend to have 4 DTs active on game day.
    • Usually with only one pure 1tech, two 3techs and the 4th DTs is usually more 3tech than 1tech depending on the roster options.

• Snacks Harrison
  • "And Poe is a much better athlete than Snack."
    • Based on combine numbers yes. Based on game footage at their peak...not really.
  • At his peak (2016 and 2017) with the Giants, Snacks was better than Poe has been at his best.
    • Snacks showed an amazing ability to make tackles outside the OTs.
    • Nobody would believe how many tackles he made out near the sidelines if they don't watch the game footage themselves.
  • Mega-sized players can decline very quickly and Snacks did just that.
    • He was a shell of himself in 2019 and part of 2018.
    • I'm not certain if he was playing though injury or just got too fat or if age/weight just caught up to him.

There are only 2 players that I've seen give Frederick and Martin problems with power. Yes, it was Snacks and Poe.

• Gallimore and Hill
  • As a rookie they should have Gallimore focus on one position if possible.
  • They drafted Hill to be the "quick twitch" 3tech that Marinelli was always craving; however...
    • Hill's best college seasons were as a 3-4 NT.
  • If Gallimore and Hill are both active, it's more likely that Hill plays more 1tech and Gallimore plays more 3tech.

Poe has always more athletic than Snack. And that's as a player and pre-draft testing.

- it was a reason why Poe was high drafted in first round... while the other went undrafted.
you're not gonna see Snack leap frog over crowded defenders for TD's
and again at top shape, Poe has better pass rush traits that Snack doesn't/never did have.

- But you are quite correct in that those two aforementioned players are the only ones that i've
seen Martin physically bull- mauled and prove quite a handful to control.

- i strongly assume the plan is to have Gallimore (who has drawn comparisons to ATL Grady Jackson)
be groomed as a 3 tech (the way he put on a show at Senior Bowl practices i don't it differently)
but as a backup on game day active list, i do think they have to be prepared for emergency roles
in event of injury.

Malik Collins surely wasn't suited for 1 tech, but team was forcef to play/start him at 1 tech
because of rash of injuries at 1 tech that season.
at 1 tech. If Poe is down, Woods gets hurt in a game, who else can they go to on the game day active list?
Hill ? We dunno if Hill will up against the game day inactive list, should he even make the team.

 

[Fredbeard]

Thanks for sharing;

If some observed more closely the Cowboys defense was mysteriously surrendering rushing yards ON THE ROAD in 2018, even before the Colts game

- And they can choose to keep their eyes only on Pats/Rams SB, but the very next week after obliterating our porous run defense, (while ironically we're ON THE ROAD again) ...gimpy Todd Gurley and fatso CJ Anderson were shut down vs NO Saints run defense; made non-factors- so.it wasn't like Rams run game was so special and something so unique vs us ,,, it was that our run defense was just so bad.

Marinelli has always preferred and valued " quick twitch " movement over size girth space eaters.
His philosophy in his 4-3 one gap scheme is stopping the run, on the way to the QB,

- Ironically Jimmie Johnson also preferred movement interior over size- girth players, he wanted guys like Casillas, Henning like 1 techs over mammoth Gilbert Brown types.

- My point is if you proving that you can make the movement quick twitch work effectively - so be it ...
but if you're seeing all kind of signs where this slanting quick twitch preference, then it's time to advance to a new different stage, a different approach.

- But the big serious problem was with Rod Marinelli - he simply does not know anything else, ..he only knows one beat drum song, one ole school, and thus the trend of bringing in low regard, average 1 techs per his recommendations ( hayden, McClain, richard ash, stephen paea, thorton, woods, etc .etc.)
He was never committed to top rated 1 techs, per draft , per free agency. And we paid the price for it ..for years!

I thought Jimmy utilizes a 4-3 under and Rod utilizes a 4-3 over?

 

[buybuydandavis]

Woods was solid when healthy. The problem is that he was often not healthy. He missed games and was limited in some others due to playing through injury.

• Woods and Poe
  • The best thing about either Poe or Woods is that they allow the Cowboys to limit each others snaps.
  • Poe has also had injury issues.
  • A lower percent of snaps for both improves their chances of staying healthy.
  • It will be a challenge to have 2 pure 1techs active but the new 48 man game day roster helps.
  • Even if both are not active for a game, they can rest either one for a game if that player would have to play thought injury.
  • Most 4-3 teams tend to have 4 DTs active on game day.
    • Usually with only one pure 1tech, two 3techs and the 4th DTs is usually more 3tech than 1tech depending on the roster options.

• Gallimore and Hill
  • As a rookie they should have Gallimore focus on one position if possible.
  • They drafted Hill to be the "quick twitch" 3tech that Marinelli was always craving; however...
    • Hill's best college seasons were as a 3-4 NT.
  • If Gallimore and Hill are both active, it's more likely that Hill plays more 1tech and Gallimore plays more 3tech.

​

If Woods is just the 1T back up to Poe, hard to see him finding enough snaps to make a gameday roster spot worthwhile. I'd like both Woods and Poe available for short yardage. I wonder if they'd give Woods some snaps at RDT with McCoy trimming down.

If he's simply behind Poe, it's practically the end of his career. He'll spend a couple years as a barely seen backup then hit free agency at 29. Raw deal.

Base
RDT McCoy, Gallimore
LDT Poe, Woods

Nickel
RDT McCoy, Crawford
LDT Gallimore, Poe?

It doesn't look good with Woods out there, but really, Hill stunk and I doubt he's making much progress this year with the rona.

I expect we go McCoy,Poe,Woods,Gallimore, plus Crawford in nickel. Looks skimpy on pass rush, but it is what is is.

Maybe they can move ASmith in to DT on nickel? He says he's at 287. That's big enough. We could have two RDE/RDT tweeners. That bumps Gallimore, but that's ok.

 

[buybuydandavis]

• Jaylon in 2019
  • It is really difficult to know exactly how much the remnants of the injury limit Jaylon at this point.
  • I've spent a good bit of time reviewing game footage of him from 2019 and certain movements do look a bit awkward at times but at other times he moves better than expected.
  • I really think he played at a much higher weight last season.

I think Jaylon often looked awful. Shying away from straight up contact. Catching his foot in the field. Unable to break down and cut.

Most of the season he was moving like a guy with a weight vest on. Top heavy.

But if you want to see him really looking bad, watch him get completely stonewalled by the first heavy bag of the Gridiron Gauntlet Pro Bowl 2020 - You actually have to push 3 bags and he couldn't push 1. Goto 43 seconds and play on slow mo. He just *refused* to plant his left leg and drive.

Jaylon ain't right.

 

[Cowboyny]

• Jaylon in 2019
  • It is really difficult to know exactly how much the remnants of the injury limit Jaylon at this point.
  • I've spent a good bit of time reviewing game footage of him from 2019 and certain movements do look a bit awkward at times but at other times he moves better than expected.
  • I really think he played at a much higher weight last season. Seeing him, Quinn and DLaw in street clothes, Quinn looked like the smallest of the 3. Quinn is listed at 260.
    • I really wouldn't be surprised to someday find out that Jaylon was at 260 in 2019 but was at 245 in 2018.
    • We didn't find out until he was long gone that Rolando McClain played MLB at 270 one season.
    • Fisher or one of those other pseudo media guys claimed he hit 280 at one point.
  • There was an impressive play last season where Jaylon got a late start in picking up an athletic TE running a deep crossing route.
    • It appeared that somebody else should have been covering the TE but I'm not 100% certain.
    • Regardless, Jaylon dropped back from several yards away and ended up running with the TE in tight coverage.
• 
  
• 
  
• New Scheme
  • The good news is that Mike Nolan likes to use big hybrid LBs that are more like 3-4 OLBs than 4-3 LBs.
  • Nolan used Cory Biermann as a hybrid in 2014. Biermann would never be a LB in a pure 4-3 scheme, not even SLB.
  • Biermann was 6-3, 255. I'm confident that Jaylon has superior athletic ability even with limitations than Biermann had on his best day.
  • Belichick has made good usage of LB Donta Hightower (6-3, 260) and he is not the most nimble of Linebackers.
  • Hightower is not close to LVE in terms of athletic ability in coverage or sideline to sideline range.
• 
  
• 
  
• The Rams exposed the Cowboys defensive scheme weakness against specific zone running plays in the 2018 season playoff game.
  • Other teams copied the Rams when they played the Cowboys in 2019.
  • All of the LBs were out of sorts in 2019 due to scheme problems.
  • Kris Richard tried to make changes to correct the problems with Marinelli wouldn't change his DL scheme.
    • That put the LBs in impossible situations.
• 
  
• The #1 goal of the Rams in the playoff game was to target the Cowboys LBs with blocks by OLinemen.
  • The Rams realized that on specific zone running plays they could easily get 2 OL and a TE free to get out and block LBs.
  • The Rams tweaked their run blocking specifically to get the Cowboys LBs moving sideways and then to get OLinemen out to to block them.
  • A 250 pound LB is at a disadvantage against a 320 OLinemen but the LB has the agility advantage if the OL is coming at them.
  • When the LB is moving sideways, he has far less leverage to shed blocks than if he and the OLineman are running straight at each other.
• 
  
• Play-side LB
  • Zone run starts outside.
  • Play-side LB moves outside.
  • OL moves into position to the inside of the LB.
  • RB cuts back inside.
  • The LB reverses directions and runs directly into a 320 pound OL.
  • Even if the LB sheds the block, the delay allows the RB to get past that point.
• 
  
• Backside LB
  • The 2nd OL just waits to see if the backside LB moves hard towards to the play-side or if he hangs back to protect against backside misdirection.
  • If he LB stays in his area, the OL gets between the LB and the play-side.
  • If the LB moves quickly to the play-side, then the OL gets into position to keep him pinned on the play-side when the RB cuts back inside.
  • Either way the middle of the field is open and the Safeties have to come up and make the tackle.
• 
  
• 2019
  • In 2019 the LBs became focused on getting to the correct side of the blocker.
  • Sometimes that meant over-running the block to the outside to avoid getting boxed inside.
  • Sometimes that meant an exaggerated delay before moving outside to avoid getting boxed outside against an inside cut-back by the RB.
• 
  
• Details on the specific scheme problems.
  • It all came back to the fundamental problem that the DL was not preventing the free releases by 2 OL to get out and block the LBs.
  • The scheme caused specific DLinemen to basically take themselves out of position.
  • On the zone run that starts outside, the Cowboys play-side DT would quickly move towards the outside.
  • That meant the DL was taking himself out of position against the inside cut-back.
  • In the 2018 season Super Bowl, Belichick had his DTs playing straight up instead of flowing outside.
  • That kept the OLinemen occupied AND it kept the DTs in place against the inside cut-back.
  • He moved one of the LBs from behind the DL to the outside.
  • The Rams could not cut off the LBs path to the outside or back inside because the LB played his area.
  • The inside LB played the inside area. The outside LB played the outside area.
  • Having the DTs play straight up offset only having 1 LB behind the DL instead of 2.
• 
  
• Even More specific
  • The Rams figured out that the Cowboys were weakest against the zone run when the run started outside to the side of the 1tech DT.
  • Play-Side DT
    • When the 1tech is the play-side or front-side DT on an outside run, he is 1 full gap further from the outside than if the 3tech was the play-side DT.
    • That meant the 1tech in the Cowboys scheme was jumping a gap off the snap when he detected an outside run to his side.
  • Backside DT
    • The Cowboys 3tech always takes his 1st step as a pass rush step.
    • That meant that he would most often be jumping to the outside of the OG in an attempt to go around him as a pass rusher.
    • The Rams took advantage of this movement by getting their OT inside the 3tech DT on zone run that started to the other side.
    • Against most defenses, the backside OG would have to initially block the backside 3tech and then hand off the block to the OT.
    • The Cowboys made it easy for the OT to get inside the 3tech without help from the OG.
    • That gave the OG a clean release to get out and block a LB.

Thanks for the through, detailed explanation. It's like when they found a hole in Mike Tyson's defense, Evander Holyfield exploited the weakness and others followed suit, Tyson was never the same fighter again and failed to make the necessary adjustments. By reading this, Marinelli scheme was completely exposed, tried to tweak it without too much success. It's very surprising that his failures got him hired so quickly, good luck Raiders Nation!

 

[bigdnlaca]

Stopping the run sounds good but it only works if the opponent wants to be balanced on offense.

If the opponent is pass happy like the 2016 Packers in the playoffs against the Cowboys ,where they almost passed 3 times more than they run, that top rush defense will struggle.

Overall coaching and installing the right scheme against each opponent instead of doing the same thing every week is best.

 

[Future]

Do 3-4 teams always play Nickel?

I don't know what this question means, or why it matters.

But the only team in the league who played more base than nickel last year was Seattle, and it was by a huge margin.

Nickel is base for every team in the league, except SEA.

 

[CowboyoWales]

For those that want more of an visual eye ball test of how Rams dominated Cowboys vs run
( while ironically did very little to nothing vs Saints and Pats in following weeks)

Had to look up the DT no.51 as he featured quite a bit (especially eating turf).

Caraun Reid …. those Princeton boys.

 

[xwalker]

I don't know what this question means, or why it matters.

But the only team in the league who played more base than nickel last year was Seattle, and it was by a huge margin.

Nickel is base for every team in the league, except SEA.

It means that teams do play the 3-4 defense.

It means that some 3-4 defenses like when the Cowboys had DWare and Spencer, are similar to a 5-2 defense.

In the Nickel 4 man DL, both DWare and Spencer played DE, not LB.

That means when DWare and Spencer were in the 3-4 they were small DEs playing LB. They lined up at each end of the DL (i.e. A pseudo 5-2).

 

[xwalker]

Poe has always more athletic than Snack. And that's as a player and pre-draft testing.

- it was a reason why Poe was high drafted in first round... while the other went undrafted.
you're not gonna see Snack leap frog over crowded defenders for TD's
and again at top shape, Poe has better pass rush traits that Snack doesn't/never did have.

- But you are quite correct in that those two aforementioned players are the only ones that i've
seen Martin physically bull- mauled and prove quite a handful to control.

- i strongly assume the plan is to have Gallimore (who has drawn comparisons to ATL Grady Jackson)
be groomed as a 3 tech (the way he put on a show at Senior Bowl practices i don't it differently)
but as a backup on game day active list, i do think they have to be prepared for emergency roles
in event of injury.

Malik Collins surely wasn't suited for 1 tech, but team was forcef to play/start him at 1 tech
because of rash of injuries at 1 tech that season.
at 1 tech. If Poe is down, Woods gets hurt in a game, who else can they go to on the game day active list?
Hill ? We dunno if Hill will up against the game day inactive list, should he even make the team.

• Which of these players is the "better athlete" on the field?
  • Jamal Adams: 4.56 forty, 31-1/2" vert
  • Jeff Heath: 4.48 forty, 37" vert

I'm a fan of the Poe signing. It's possible that in 2020 he will be the better player as compared to Snacks; however...

Snacks in his peak seasons was better than Poe in his peak seasons. Snacks was the best 1tech DT in the NFL in 2016 and 2017.
- The associated press ranked him the 96th best player of 2017 and 1tech type DTs normally don't get those accolades.

Neither Poe or Snacks are going to be on the field in obvious passing situations but that does not mean they can't rush the passer.
- 350 pound DL would wear down if used as "3 down" players chasing QBs around on 3rd and long as well as stopping the run in the base defense.

Watch the play at 1:01 and 1:23 in the video below:

 

[xwalker]

If Woods is just the 1T back up to Poe, hard to see him finding enough snaps to make a gameday roster spot worthwhile. I'd like both Woods and Poe available for short yardage. I wonder if they'd give Woods some snaps at RDT with McCoy trimming down.

If he's simply behind Poe, it's practically the end of his career. He'll spend a couple years as a barely seen backup then hit free agency at 29. Raw deal.

Base
RDT McCoy, Gallimore
LDT Poe, Woods

Nickel
RDT McCoy, Crawford
LDT Gallimore, Poe?

It doesn't look good with Woods out there, but really, Hill stunk and I doubt he's making much progress this year with the rona.

I expect we go McCoy,Poe,Woods,Gallimore, plus Crawford in nickel. Looks skimpy on pass rush, but it is what is is.

Maybe they can move ASmith in to DT on nickel? He says he's at 287. That's big enough. We could have two RDE/RDT tweeners. That bumps Gallimore, but that's ok.

Hill was stout against the run when he did play in the regular season. He just didn't rush the passer that way the Marinelli wanted.

Mike Nolan runs a multiple front which makes it hard to predict the roles of DLinemen.

Nolan likes to go with a heavy front 7 in order to stop the run with 7 men in the box.
- It is the opposite of Marinelli with a small front 7 plus a SS up near the line.

Belichick uses many similar concepts to what Nolan has used in the past.
- When Belichick wanted to stop the run in 2019, he would have a DL of (by weight): DE (320) NT (340) DE (300)

I can see Nolan wanting to use Woods and Poe together in his max run defense sets.

 

[xwalker]

I think Jaylon often looked awful. Shying away from straight up contact. Catching his foot in the field. Unable to break down and cut.

Most of the season he was moving like a guy with a weight vest on. Top heavy.

But if you want to see him really looking bad, watch him get completely stonewalled by the first heavy bag of the Gridiron Gauntlet Pro Bowl 2020 - You actually have to push 3 bags and he couldn't push 1. Goto 43 seconds and play on slow mo. He just *refused* to plant his left leg and drive.

Jaylon ain't right.

All of the other teams used a Lineman to push the bag...

 

[xwalker]

Thanks for the through, detailed explanation. It's like when they found a hole in Mike Tyson's defense, Evander Holyfield exploited the weakness and others followed suit, Tyson was never the same fighter again and failed to make the necessary adjustments. By reading this, Marinelli scheme was completely exposed, tried to tweak it without too much success. It's very surprising that his failures got him hired so quickly, good luck Raiders Nation!

Gruden was the Head Coach when Tampa Bay won the 2002 season Super Bowl.
- Marinelli was his DLine coach.

Marinelli needs a Head Coach that will yell at him when he gets stuck in a rut.

Jon Gruden will yell at him. Garrett wound not.

The Cowboys did finally start changing things up later in the 2019 season but it's almost impossible to really implement significant scheme changes during the season without causing confusion.

Practice reps are very limited during the season. Jimmy said one of the biggest surprises to him in his 1st season in the NFL was how hard it was to accomplish any changes once the season started.

 

[QuincyCarterEra]

He's a hard nose runner that the Colts can trust to run the ball 24 times a game when healthy.

He's an average to below-average running back who gets more touches when a team is winning games just like every other running back in the league. They trusted him so little they traded to the top of the 2nd round to replace him.

Thinking that we struggle against teams willing to hand odd to one singular back X amount of times is backwards thinking. Teams hand it off to their backs a ton when they are up on the scoreboard, there for "struggle".

 

[Future]

It means that teams do play the 3-4 defense.

It means that some 3-4 defenses like when the Cowboys had DWare and Spencer, are similar to a 5-2 defense.

In the Nickel 4 man DL, both DWare and Spencer played DE, not LB.

That means when DWare and Spencer were in the 3-4 they were small DEs playing LB. They lined up at each end of the DL (i.e. A pseudo 5-2).

I know. But that is irrelevant to the fact that nickel is base today.

 

[quickccc]

• Which of these players is the "better athlete" on the field?
  • Jamal Adams: 4.56 forty, 31-1/2" vert
  • Jeff Heath: 4.48 forty, 37" vert

I'm a fan of the Poe signing. It's possible that in 2020 he will be the better player as compared to Snacks; however...

Snacks in his peak seasons was better than Poe in his peak seasons. Snacks was the best 1tech DT in the NFL in 2016 and 2017.
- The associated press ranked him the 96th best player of 2017 and 1tech type DTs normally don't get those accolades.

Neither Poe or Snacks are going to be on the field in obvious passing situations but that does not mean they can't rush the passer.
- 350 pound DL would wear down if used as "3 down" players chasing QBs around on 3rd and long as well as stopping the run in the base defense.

Watch the play at 1:01 and 1:23 in the video below:

Not sure why the Adams vs Heath workout measurement comparisons had to be brought up,..as i said before
with Poe/Snack, it's not just better athleticism, but considered a better player coming into the draft and it's a reason why one was drafted high in the first round and one went undrafted.at the time they were drafted

Imo, ..at their very peak and prime of their NFL careers, i think Snack was the more elite run stuffer (per 2016)
With Snack and Jonathan Hank in middle, we had all kind of issues running inside and only reason why
zeke had 105 yds rushing is amount of touches Giants sorry offense gave our own touches/possessions on offense (2nd Giants game)

When combining younger, more athletic and more of a pass rusher, that's why i believe Cowboys chose
Poe. According Snack per tweet, the Cowboys never even reached out to him. (And he still resides in Dallas area)

Since we're throwing Poe-Snack highlight reels (and it's a reason why they're called " highlight" reels)
- two of the following Poe reels includes Poe overpowering All pro Zack Martin for his only allowed sack of that year. (0.45) ....and (1.41) we get to see one in slow motion while other runs full speed.


(per Akoye Media)


(NFL Films)


(NFL Films) Poe's goal line 3 TDs and Combine drills ( 44 reps bench/4.87 in 40/29' inch vertical)


(per mattydubs)

 

[xwalker]

Not sure why the Adams vs Heath workout measurement comparisons had to be brought up,..as i said before
with Poe/Snack, it's not just better athleticism, but considered a better player coming into the draft and it's a reason why one was drafted high in the first round and one went undrafted.at the time they were drafted

Imo, ..at their very peak and prime of their NFL careers, i think Snack was the more elite run stuffer (per 2016)
With Snack and Jonathan Hank in middle, we had all kind of issues running inside and only reason why
zeke had 105 yds rushing is amount of touches Giants sorry offense gave our own touches/possessions on offense (2nd Giants game)

When combining younger, more athletic and more of a pass rusher, that's why i believe Cowboys chose
Poe. According Snack per tweet, the Cowboys never even reached out to him. (And he still resides in Dallas area)

Since we're throwing Poe-Snack highlight reels (and it's a reason why they're called " highlight" reels)
- two of the following Poe reels includes Poe overpowering All pro Zack Martin for his only allowed sack of that year. (0.45) ....and (1.41) we get to see one in slow motion while other runs full speed.


(per Akoye Media)


(NFL Films)


(NFL Films) Poe's goal line 3 TDs and Combine drills ( 44 reps bench/4.87 in 40/29' inch vertical)


(per mattydubs)

Did you watch the video? Did you see Snacks out-quick Frederick?

The point of Heath/Adams is that Heath had better measurable(s) but Adams has better functional athleticism on the field but you're obsessing about the measurable(s) of Snacks and Poe.

I've already mentioned that the only 2 DL that I've seen cause problems for Frederick and Martin with regards to power were Snacks and Poe.

I've already said that Poe might be the better player in 2020 because Snacks' performance declined significantly in 2019.

My point(s) are not related to which player the Cowboys should have signed for 2020.

My primary point is that you're severely underrating Snacks in his prime seasons based on combine measurable(s).

 

[xwalker]

I know. But that is irrelevant to the fact that nickel is base today.

I don't know what the fact that Nickel is Base has to do with this thread. I don't dispute that.

You said they would have to play 5 DBs in order to run the front that the OP described.

My point is that the 3-4 alignment is a non-Nickel alignment and is similar to a 5-2 front.

 

[Future]

I don't know what the fact that Nickel is Base has to do with this thread. I don't dispute that.

You said they would have to play 5 DBs in order to run the front that the OP described.

My point is that the 3-4 alignment is a non-Nickel alignment and is similar to a 5-2 front.

No, I said you will get torched through the air without 5 DBs on the field.

Meaning you basically can't run it with 5 DBs.

Since nickel is base, the 5-2 can't be your base defense.