The Bobcat Nation

Since "Cardiac Cats" loves the Chargers and this article sounds like it was written for MSU (just change the names of the team and players) I thought I would share it:

Chargers find their strength in foursome
By: JAY PARIS - Staff writer

The strength of a decent Chargers defense is the four linebackers in its 3-4 alignment.

Donnie Edwards and Randall Godfrey are back patrolling the interior, with Steve Foley and Ben Leber on the outside. On passing downs, the likes of Shaun Phillips and Shawne Merriman appear.

Fast is what this unit is. That's the wave of the football future, as teams switch from the 4-3 scheme to put more athletic bodies on the field.

"That is the way the league is going," said Edwards, whose 105 tackles last year paced the squad. "Getting linebackers that can run. We definitely have athleticism and speed. Everyone can run, even that guy with his shirt off."

Edwards points to Merriman, the team's top pick who isn't shy about showing off his muscles. While Merriman is expected to contribute, the heavy lifting will still be done by the starting four.


What's been a winning proposition is the flip to the 3-4. The Chargers found their strut again after the switch, especially in stopping the run, at which they were No. 3 last season.

And that came in the first year of the transformation. Year two should bring a more effective attack, say the current linebackers and a former one.

The thinking among the Chargers' (AND MSU) brass is the linebacker spots are among the deepest on the team.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/08 ... _16_05.txt[/url]

Sweet BobcatLionFan ... I love seeing the Chargers get some props in other papers outside of San Diego. The Raiders/Broncos/Cowboys I have read are also going to the 3-4 as well. All I know is watching the Chargers defense last year (3-4) -vs- the previous years (4-3) team they could sure stop the run. They do have a stud DT in Williams though. One thing you will notice this year though is a lot more guys around the ball it seems like. Another thing that article didn't note was the difference in the amount of turnovers the Chargers caused last year. I think the 3-4 makes the QB"s job a lot tougher as there are more bodies in the 5-10 yard range and if you can get pressure at all and make him throw then any mistake is usually an INT etc. If MSU can just be decent at stopping the run on first down (and somewhat on 2nd) .. this defense should be fun to watch this year. I'm excited to see Lowe/King/Marudas/Mollohan swarm to the ball. One thing I see about the 4-3 is how the DL can get bottled up and trapped on certain plays to the outside a lot. Once one guy gets bottled up it traps all the other 3 mostly on outside plays etc (effectively taking 4 guys off the field). With 4 LB's it is much hard to trap play them etc. and get them stuck inside. So I would bet to wager that the Bobcats do not give up as many big plays this year as they did last year just because of that (especially big running plays).

Thanks for the article BcatLionFan!