CSNbbs

Ok, i've read a few articles now talking about how Army uses this so-called "flex" defense. Could someone explain to me what the flex defense is and how it differs?

I've read Coach Doeren explain that not only has the team had to prepare against the triple option but also they've been preparing against the flex defense.

Thanks for the help...

They have 2 positions, Bandit and Rover, that are interchangeable with other parts of the defense. The Bandit can put his hand on the ground as a pass rusher or drop off the line into a LB type of position. The Rover is essentially a safety who can play up near the line as a pseudo-LB or drop into pass coverage. Because those 2 guys can line up at various positions in any defensive formation, it's called a Flex. Sometimes teams will also offset their defensive tackles in the flex, although I'm not sure if Army does or not. How often the Bandit gets used, and how he is used, can vary quite a bit from team to team.

They can play a 3-4, a 4-3, a 4-2-5, , a 3-3-5, etc. simply by moving those guys around. If you're wondering what it looks like in practice, Illinois began running something similar last year.

The basic theory is it gives an offense more looks than a standard 4-3 or 3-4 and gives you some flexibility against spread teams to get more DBs on the field and drop a defensive lineman into a LB position to cover underneath. The downside is you need quality defensive tackles because the Bandit and Rover are usually a little undersized when played on the line (Bandit) or LB (Rover). If your DTs can't hold up, you can get run over.

Here's a pretty detailed explanation from Army's Scout site:
http://army.scout.com/2/1018129.html

Any Army guys feel free to correct me on that, but I believe that's the basic idea behind it.

Thanks UI, I know I would have assumed it was a variation of a 3-3-5 or something.

But this thing is interesting. Googling around I've seen in compared to a 46 defense a la the Ryans.

Also found this: "Desert Swarm" style double eagle flex

(08-29-2011 07:35 PM)DogTracks Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks UI, I know I would have assumed it was a variation of a 3-3-5 or something.

But this thing is interesting. Googling around I've seen in compared to a 46 defense a la the Ryans.

Also found this: "Desert Swarm" style double eagle flex

That's because they "Eagle" the DTs, meaning they line them up over the guards, thus covering the three interior offensive linemen. That comes from the old "46".

The bandit and rover positions allow the different looks and mess with protection schemes, like the the double A gap blitz does for 4 down linemen defenses.

(08-29-2011 06:09 PM)epasnoopy Wrote: [ -> ]Ok, i've read a few articles now talking about how Army uses this so-called "flex" defense. Could someone explain to me what the flex defense is and how it differs?

I've read Coach Doeren explain that not only has the team had to prepare against the triple option but also they've been preparing against the flex defense.

Thanks for the help...

They give up points and yardage in large chunks and thus are flexible.

You can see the first several pages (including descriptions of the positions, although our staff doesn't use all of the same terminology* ) of a book about it on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/15851889...=sib_dp_pt



* for example, we don't use "Blood" as a position name; what the book calls "Weak End", we call "Quick"

knew Lost Lettermen had covered it, but took me a minute to find the link:

http://www.lostlettermen.com/looking-bac...x-is-born/

Sounds like Tom Landry's Flex Defense with Too Tall Jones, Jethro Pugh, Randy White, Charlie Waters, Hollywood Henderson etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Landry

When Landry was hired by the Dallas Cowboys, he became concerned with then-Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi's "Run to Daylight" idea, where the running back went to an open space, rather than a specific assigned hole. Landry reasoned that the best counter was a defense that flowed to daylight and blotted it out.

To do this, he refined the 4-3 defense by moving two of the four linemen off the line of scrimmage one yard and varied which linemen did this based on where the Cowboys thought the offense might run. This change was called "The Flex Defense," because it altered its alignment to counter what the offense might do. Thus, there were three such Flex Defenses — strong, weak, and "tackle" — where both defensive tackles were off the line of scrimmage. The idea with the flexed linemen was to improve pursuit angles to stop the Green Bay Sweep — a popular play of the 1960s. The Flex Defense was also innovative in that it was a kind of zone defense against the run. Each defender was responsible for a given gap area, and was told to stay in that area before they knew where the play was going.

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http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-...roncos.ece

Cowboys pay tribute to Tom Landry, run 4-3 Flex defense on first play vs. Broncos

By RAINER SABIN

Staff Writer

rsabin@dallasnews.com

Published 12 August 2011 12:58 AM

ARLINGTON -- There were three linebackers on the field and in the middle was a player wearing the No. 54. For a brief moment at the outset of Dallas' 24-23 victory over Denver on Thursday, Cowboys fans were transported to the another time and another place, when their team was the best of the best.

On the first play from scrimmage, new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan called for the team's starters to line up in the 4-3 Flex, a formation conceived by Tom Landry -- the legendary coach whose fingerprints are all over this franchise.
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