Will We See More Of The 3-2-6 Defense From Dallas?

Jiggyfly

Banned
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
9,220
Will We See More Of The 3-2-6 Defense From Dallas?
BY MARCUS MOSHER · OCTOBER 15, 2015


On Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys faced one of the most brilliant defensive minds in the history of the NFL in Bill Belichick. I’ve always been fascinated with Belichicks’ ability to alter his scheme based on his current talent that he has on his roster. I’ve watched Belichick change from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 within a matter of few plays. For most teams, that transition typically takes years of roster construction to transform themselves into a different looking unit. Belichick on the other hand, seemingly does it weekly depending on his opponent. That is impressive.

But the Cowboys also have one of the brightest minds on the defensive side of the ball in Rod Marinelli and he too likes to become creative with the different kinds of formations and personnel groupings he uses. However, he has been hamstrung by injuries this season and has had to cut back on the creativity because of a lack of talent and overall depth. But on Sunday, with the return of Greg Hardy and Rolando McClain, he debuted one of the most innovative defensive formations that I’ve seen in a long time; the 3-2-6 defense.

As a quick primer to explain what the 3-2-6 defense (sometimes known as the Mustang defense) does, here’s what I know. The 3-2-6 defense is commonly used at the college level as a way for defenses to counter-act opponents who play out of the spread. The extra two defensive backs on the field and can help match-up against teams who like to employ two slot receivers at the same time. Typically, for this defense to be successful, your three down lineman must be able to generate at least some pressure versus the five offensive lineman. Next, the two linebackers who are on the field need to be stars. They need to be able to blitz vs guards and have the ability to run sideline to sideline to make plays if need be. But before we get into all of that, here is what a typical base defense looks like:



For Dallas, they rarely used the “base” formation of this defense on Sunday. Instead, they chose to play just five men in the box (3 DL and 2 LB) or they decided to crowd the box with seven defenders (typically Byron Jones and Barry Church would play the roles of linebackers). Let’s examine some of the ways that Cowboys used this formation to slow down Tom Brady.

One of the first obvious passing downs, Dallas lined up with Hardy and Lawrence at the ends with Tyrone Crawford inside. Essentially, the Cowboys bring five on a delayed stunt. Crawford will try to occupy #69 and #60 as McClain will try to run between the center and right guard. Lee will do the same as he will try to run outside of the right tackles reach before the tackle has a chance to recover after passing the defensive end down to the guard:




Dallas got this sack for a few reasons. First, McClain is freakishly quick and has a great feel as to where the quarterback is going to be, not where he is currently at. Secondly, Lawrence and Crawford were both able to occupy their offensive lineman long enough for McClain and Lee to get a free rush. That’s what we like to call “unselfish play.” Here’s the GIF if you want to see it in full motion:



So now that we’ve looked at a play in which New England was clearly going to attempt to pass the ball, let’s look at how Dallas adjusted their defense versus a more traditional offensive formation:

2 Brady 1



Above, The Patriots line up in 11 formation (1 back, 1 tight end) and Brady is under center. Dallas reacts by bring Byron Jones up to the line of scrimmage to jam the tight end as well as adding Church (SS) up into the box. The Patriots actually have the advantage if they want to run the ball, but with Rolando McClain’s ability to beat guards with power and quickness, Brady decides he wants to take a chance with play-action.




Let me make something clear; Dallas does not run this defense without Greg Hardy. This play was specifically designed to get Hardy one-on-one with a left tackle with lots of space to operate. The Cowboys defensive line and linebackers only mission on this play is to muck-up the middle of the line and force the quarterback to move off of his spot. Fortunately for Dallas, Brady moves just a tad to his right and doesn’t feel the back-side pressure from Hardy:




Here’s the full GIF:





What also makes this defense hard to figure out is that Dallas can also disguise their typical cover-2 look by lining up their linebackers in the A-Gaps and then drop them into coverage to take away a quarterback’s initial read. This confused Brady during Sunday’s game because Dallas was shooting their linebackers into the gaps and causing Brady to feel panicked. Here’s how they fooled him while only rushing three:

Brady Confusion



Dallas didn’t force a sack, but they forced an errant throw outside of the numbers because Brady’s primary and secondary route were taken away. Brady started to feel the pressure from Hardy again and decided to just live for another. A masterful design by Dallas. Unfortunately for Dallas, they went to the well a little too often with this formation. New England was able to adjust in the second half and ran more on the Cowboys when they only rolled out one defensive tackle. Nevertheless, the 3-2-6 package presented problems for one of the smartest and best offenses in the NFL.

Obviously, this isn’t a defense that you would consider as your “base” defense, but what does do is present just another possible formation for teams to game-plan for. I fully expect Dallas to employ this defense versus the Giants in two weeks as they primarily play out of the shotgun. I still think Dallas will prefer to use their NASCAR package on obvious passing downs, but Dallas showed how they can cause havoc with this odd-looking formation.
 

Genghis Khan

The worst version of myself
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
37,350
Love this stuff.

This seems like it might be useful against Philly, too.
 

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
119,583
Yeah, I like this package a lot.
 

Clay_Allison

Old Bastard
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
5,488
I remember when Wade tried out a package like this that worked really well. Then he never used it again.
 

NoDak

Hotlinking' sonofabitch
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
22,899
F'n Church. On Hardy's strip sack, he had what looked like a pretty easy chance at a scoop and score. The ball bounced up to him as he's moving forward. Instead, he gets his feet tangled and completely misses the bounce, letting the Patriots recover. I really with they'd just give up on him as a starter and move Wilcox over to SS and put Jones at FS full time.
 

ravidubey

DCC 4Life
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
20,134
Nothing we do this year will matter defensively until our offense gets its shit straight.

If you can't throw, get open, or run worth a damn the OL and defense can be all HOFers and still lose.
 

Clay_Allison

Old Bastard
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
5,488
F'n Church. On Hardy's strip sack, he had what looked like a pretty easy chance at a scoop and score. The ball bounced up to him as he's moving forward. Instead, he gets his feet tangled and completely misses the bounce, letting the Patriots recover. I really with they'd just give up on him as a starter and move Wilcox over to SS and put Jones at FS full time.
I agree.
 

UncleMilti

This seemed like a good idea at the time.
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
17,977
F'n Church. On Hardy's strip sack, he had what looked like a pretty easy chance at a scoop and score. The ball bounced up to him as he's moving forward. Instead, he gets his feet tangled and completely misses the bounce, letting the Patriots recover. I really with they'd just give up on him as a starter and move Wilcox over to SS and put Jones at FS full time.
Our S play has been horrendous for years, and needs upgraded ASAP.
 

UncleMilti

This seemed like a good idea at the time.
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
17,977
It sure seems like the draft has been really shitty for safeties in recent years.
Agreed.

But the Cowboys braintrust doesn't even bring guys in to promote competition, even though the position has been a liability for years.

Its like Jones and Company sit up there and don't see what every knowledgable fan sees....shitty S play.

Church is good for at least 2-3 missed tackles per game.
 

Cowboysrock55

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
52,341
Agreed.

But the Cowboys braintrust doesn't even bring guys in to promote competition, even though the position has been a liability for years.

Its like Jones and Company sit up there and don't see what every knowledgable fan sees....shitty S play.

Church is good for at least 2-3 missed tackles per game.
Somehow Church has become untouchable which makes no sense to me. I get that he acts like a team leader, but his play on the field doesn't justify it. It's like the coaches are afraid to call him out for his shitty play.
 
Top Bottom