I've seen this question posed everywhere. The media was quick to quote Jason Taylor when he said that he was not being used in the same capacity as he was last year. I knew the answer as to the "why?" when the quote was used in their stories. The clowns in the media just used the quote for a simple condemnation story. They never investigated it in a football context. It is because they do not know anything about football. Hell, their latest writer came over from covering Tennis! WTF? Let me say this about Nick Saban. I think he is a brilliant coach. He (like Bill Bellichek) is a student of this game. He has acknowledged where the game has gone (the passing game) and he is determined to stop it. In 1996 he gave two lectures. One lecture was on "Winning with Team Defense" and the other was on the topic "Preparing to Defend Passing Teams". I have seen neither lecture. I just know that if you feel so strongly on a topic that you have it recorded, it's an area you have some conviction. The revitalized 34 concept did not come about as a result of a particular scheme. One can attain every front in a 34 alignments as one could attain with a 43 alignment. The difference between the two fronts is a single body. The 43 became reliant upon another lineman whereas the 34 was reliant upon another linebacker. That is the simple explanation to suit our need here. What was JT doing last year that he is not doing this year? It all started with a concept called "Zone to Bo". This was the origination of the zone blitz. Who was Bo? It was Kim Bokamper. Kim Bokamper had played linebacker. The Dolphins were using him as a DE. They wound us using him as both with the addition of "zone to Bo" where "BO" would drop off the line into zone coverage and the linebacker behind would blitz the QB. It was simple assignment exchange. This was the first (recorded) time a blitz was used along with zone coverage. All other blitzes prior to this occurence were used with man to man coverage. How many schemes were they using last year and what were they? The variations are limitless. I have no idea how many variations they were using. The point is that for Jason Taylor it was simple. He either dropped off in coverage or he rushed the passer. From either position (line or linebacker) it was simple for him. It was all the other players that have to accomplish the coverage along with him. "Zone to Bo" was run out of "6 sky" which is a three deep zone. There is essentially no change in the coverage nor how many men are rushing the passer (4) in "zone to bo". There were however many changes later added to the zone blitz scheme by Dick Lebau. The variations proved to be limitless but there was always risk as you had a lineman replacing a linebacker in coverage. The reward to the risk is pressure on the passer. It is all about causing havoc with the offenses blocking scheme.
