SteelerWatch

When you think 3-4 defense, you think linebackers.  This is due in large part to Steelers’ defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau and his mid-1990s scheming that spawned the Zone Blitz.

But the true anchor in a 3-4 defense is the Nose Tackle.  Without a good Nose Tackle, a 3-4 defense is going to get beat all the time.  The reasoning is simple: when you have three men on your line taking on five men on the offensive side of the ball, someone has to be responsible for two guys.  If the defensive line can’t occupy the offensive line, there will be no where for those linebackers to go.  The upper-hand just went back to the offense, and before you know it they’re scoring on you at will.

In 325-pound Casey Hampton, the Steelers have one of the best Nose Tackles to come along in the last decade.

Hampton has been regarded throughout his career as a top-three player at his position, often being cited as the best in football.  While 325 pounds is beig even for a nose tackle, he isn’t the biggest in the league; that distinction goes to San Diego’s Jamal Williams, tipping the scales at a monstrous 351 pounds.  In fact, Williams is Hampton’s biggest competition for the best in the league.  Comparing the two, they’ve had similar careers.  Through the first six of his nine seasons, Williams amassed 144 tackles, 5.5 sacks and three forced fumbles in 71 games, for an average of 2.02 tackles per game.  In Hampton’s six-year career, he has totaled 201 tackles, four sacks and three forced fumbles in 85 games for an average of 2.36 tackles per game.  Both players missed games due to injury in that time.

The problem measuring each player’s impact is that they play in two different schemes.  The Chargers have used the 4-3 defense in Williams’ career, meaning he wasn’t always double-teamed, whereas the Steelers have used the 3-4 in the vast majority of their plays since the mid-1980s when Chuck Noll switched away from the 4-3.  The Steelers have also used their defensive line almost exclusively to free up their linebackers, while the Chargers haven’t had a full group of gifted linebackers until the last two or three years.

And when it comes to rushing defense, where the Steelers’ defensive line truly shines, no one is better than Pittsburgh.  In the last five seasons, the Steelers ranked higher than the Chargers in rushing defense four times, including two seasons in which they led the league.  And it all comes down to Casey Hampton.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 at 6:51 am and is filed under My Opinion, Defense. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.