Barry Church is quite possibly the most sure handed tackler I've seen on the Cowboys in nearly a decade. He is incredibly physical. As I've somewhat jokingly mentioned here - he is my favorite Cowboys linebacker.
To that point, at times it seems like the Cowboys are really playing a 4-4-3 with Church playing more linebacker than safety. I haven't seen a lot of him in coverage.
If the Cowboys ARE effectively playing a 4-4-3, it might explain the fact the Cowboys are tracking to have one of the worst pass defenses in the entire history of the NFL up this point.
To be plain, there isn't a team in the league that doesn't play safeties at some time at linebacker depth. There are plenty of ways to go about it, but almost no one lines up in it, outside of Virginia Tech (and really, they were playing a 4-2-5 disguised as a 4-4-3).
It is known in the coaching ranks that Monte Kiffin is an expert at disguising his use of 4-4 fronts.
Let me note that *most forms* of the Cover 3 involve a so called monster secondary man.
Ironically, in the history of defenses, ignoring the wide tackle six for the moment and concentrating on college defenses with 4 man backfields, the use of a concept similar to this appeared after colleges introduced the flanker as a serious weapon (note the pros had been doing it for years, but the split T ruled in colleges until the middle 1950s, and did not require a flanker or split end).
It was called the "inverted rotation" and appeared in the late 1950s. Later the monster, a safety stationed at linebacker depth, became common practice at the college level. It was a reaction to the effect that flankers had on run defenses in the 1950s. For a year, having a widely split flanker gave Army its last undefeated season (Lonely End formation).
In simplest terms, with a Lonely End, college teams can't cornerback force on the strong side end run. So they invert their secondary, using a three man rotation with safety closer to the line to handle the end run. This is also called the "safety force" in the book "Vince Lombardi on Football".
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