What defensive innovations will we see in the next ten years? Probably not many – there’s nothing new in football. But there’ll be adjustments, tweaks, and without a doubt, cool new nicknames for the same idea. What is the best defense to use this season? Whatever you know best, or whatever fits your personnel best. Depends on who you are, how you operate, and what you believe. Here’s my Top 5 Defenses for 2010 and the decade to follow:
5. 46 Bear Defense
I’m no expert on the true 46 Defense. I know enough to know that it is not a 4-6 Defense (46 was the number of Doug Plank – I had to double check that with the 46 Bear Wikipedia Article). What I consider to be a bear front is anything with two 3-Technique Defensive Tackles, and a head up Nose Guard. At least, that is the simplest way to identify the front.
The Bear Defense relies on Man Coverage most of the time. It is a great run-stopping front, there’s no question. But if you’re not a big time Man Cover guy, you may not be excited about running it against a passing team. The true Buddy Ryan-created Bear Front also does some funky things with the backers and Strong Safety that I’m not going to get into. A great resource is Rex Ryan’s book, Coaching Football’s 46 Defense
