Nickel and Dime - explanation please

fisgon

I've been following the NFL for a while now, on and off, and have only gotten back into it properly in the last few years. I'm familiar enough with most of the terminology, and the intricacies of the game, but with only five weeks to go to the start of the season i thought I might try and find out all the stuff that still leaves me baffled...so .....

.....What exactly is a nickel package, and a dime package. They are defensive formations, right? but what are they exactly?

......The Tampa 2 offence, explain please..

.......the difference between a 3/4 defence and a 4/3. I know it has to do with how many defensive linemen are in a three-point stance, with the hand on the ground, but why do teams, like Green Bay this year for example, change from one to the other? What are their relative advantages?

Any illumination with any of this would be gratefully received. Apologies if these questions are a little too technical, but I like to know exactly what's going on.

Max Power1

fisgon wrote: »

I've been following the NFL for a while now, on and off, and have only gotten back into it properly in the last few years. I'm familiar enough with most of the terminology, and the intricacies of the game, but with only five weeks to go to the start of the season i thought I might try and find out all the stuff that still leaves me baffled...so .....

.....What exactly is a nickel package, and a dime package. They are defensive formations, right? but what are they exactly?

......The Tampa 2 offence, explain please..

.......the difference between a 3/4 defence and a 4/3. I know it has to do with how many defensive linemen are in a three-point stance, with the hand on the ground, but why do teams, like Green Bay this year for example, change from one to the other? What are their relative advantages?

Any illumination with any of this would be gratefully received. Apologies if these questions are a little too technical, but I like to know exactly what's going on.

Nickel and dime defenses are pass defenses, with more defenders in the secondary. A nickel defense has 5 DBs (3 CB, FS, SS), whereas a dime defense has 6 (4 CB, FS, SS) and is for a really obvious passing situation, (eg 4th and long)

Tampa 2 is a defensive scheme, and is a variation on the 4-3 defense. See here

3-4 is a defensive scheme which relies heavily on having a good LB corps, with depth, and also a run stuffing NT, whereas a 4-3 is more based on an ability to generate pressure with the DEs to avoid the need to blitz often with LBs, allowing the LBs to concentrate more on coverage.
More info here

Hynzie

Yeah they are formations. A nickel defense is when you have five defensive backs (usually three cornerbacks) on the field instead of the usual four, and dime is when you have six defensive backs. They are used to defend obvious passing situations or when teams use multiple receivers as the defensive back(s) that come in are better in coverage that the linebackers they replace on the field.

The 4/3 is where you have four linemen and three linebackers behind them. The 3/4 is where you have three linemen and four linebackers. The 4/3 is the defense the teams traditionally used but many are changing to the 3/4 mainly because of the advantages it has in pressuring the QB.

Usually defenses send a minimum of four after the QB. In a 4/3 the offense knows for the most part that the linemen are the four. but in the 3/4 there are only three linemen so the offense doesn't know where the fourth guy is coming from. It could be from the left outside linebacker, or the right one, or both (If they send a blitz) or up the middle, or from another position. This is confusing for the offense and make pass protection more difficult.

To run the 3/4 is you need bigger linemen to take up space because the there are only three of them. They need to be able to demand double teams to keep offensive linemen off the linebackers in the running game. These are not as easy to find as regular 4/3 linemen.

The tampa two defense is basicly a form of cover 2 defense but really it is somewhere between cover 2 and cover 3.

In cover 2 the safeties cover a deep half of the field each. the cornerbacks and linebackers split the field into zones underneath the safeties deep zones. Thus having virtually all of the field cover by someone. (This is a cover 2 zone) Or they cover the receivers man to man. (This is a cover 2 man)

Cover 3 is where the free safety and cornerbacks divide the deep part of the field into three zones. The linebackers cover the field across in zones underneath that or cover man to man. The strong safety moves up closer to the line and can blitz or help in underneath coverage.

In tampa 2 the two safeties again take half the deep field each. The corners and linebackers again take the underneath zones or cover man to man except the middle linebacker drops deep and covers a zone in the middle of the field deeper than underneath zones but not quite as deep as the safeties.

Hopefully that helps, sorry if it was too convoluted!

Lothaar

Nickel and Dime are personnel packages. The defense can align in any formation they want. The key is that they have swapped 1/2 LBs for one (nickel) or two (dime) extra DBs.
In the basic offense 'Pro Formation', there are 2 wide receivers. However, when the offense brings on another one or two wide receivers, the defense may choose to bring on an extra defensive back to cover them. Otherwise they will end up with a slower LB covering a superfast WR.

To take this a bit further (stop me if I'm losing you here!), you go into the area of 'matchups'. Offenses will try to create favourable matchups as much as possible. This means they WANT to end up with a LB covering a WR on a passing play. Or else they want an extra DB on the pitch when their monster Tight-End is just going to block him on a running play.

More recently in the NFL there has been a move towards multi-threat hybrid Tight-Ends like Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzales, Dallas Clark and Vernon Davis. These guys are equally good at blocking, running and catching. Can you afford to cover them with a LB, who they might zoom past? Can you afford to put in an extra DB, who might simply get steamrolled?

This game of cat and mouse goes on before the ball is even snapped! Keep an eye out for that when the season starts. All it takes is for a stud player to be matched up against the wrong guy, and the O can get a big play.

Tampa 2 defense is as described in above posts. It's called 'Tampa 2', AFAIK, because the Tampa Bay Buccaneers used it with great success on their way to a Superbowl a few years ago. It's been around for longer than that, but nicknames tend to arise when a team is particularly successful with a system. It's like 'Cover 2', but with the MLB dropping deep to fill the middle of the field.

There are various reasons for switching from 4-3 to 3-4 and vice versa. In the NFL, it's often to do with personnel. If you have a stud nose tackle, 3-4 is the way to go as he will draw two blocks. If you have a stud MLB, 4-3 is generally better as there is less chance for the Offensive Line to pick him up with all those D-Linemen in the way.
Neither is 'better' - if it was, then everyone would do it. But each has different strengths and weaknesses that coaches can exploit/mitigate with their overall defensive philosophy.

Hope that helps... and feel free to ask any more technical questions!

jdivision

The key in the 3-4 is the nose tackle, who has to be a quality two gap defender meaning he covers the space either side of the centre and must command a double team, ie two offensive linemen must block him and he must not be pushed back. That frees up the linebackers to flow to the ball. Hence Vince Wilfork, Casey Hampton and Jamaal Williams are worth their weight in gold (even if the latter two are slipping)

eagle eye

Nickel = 5 cents
Dime = 10 cents

Hazys

A quick note on the 3-4 defense on Run Defense.

When defending the run, its the Outside LBs job to force the runner back into the inside so the tackle can be made by the DL or the Middle LBs. So an OLB cant get beaten and let the runner get to the outside.

So an OLBs in the 3-4's tackle stats will nearly always be lower than an OLB in a 4-3's tackle stats and vica versa a MLB in a 3-4 defence would have a higher tackle count than a MLB in a 4-3 defense.

fisgon

Great stuff guys, muchas gracias, I bow before all of your encyclopedic knowledge of the intricacies of the NFL. All of the above posts have cleared a lot up for me.

I also don't mind if it gets too technical, I'm a bit of a nerd that way and like to know exactly what's what. It only heightens the enjoyment of the sport, the more you know and understand the better you can appreciate everything that's going on on the field.

jdivision

jdivision wrote: »

Hence Vince Wilfork, Casey Hampton and Jamaal Williams are worth their weight in gold (even if the latter two are slipping)

I should have added that as of this year I think Haloti Ngata will be the best 3-4 nose tackle in football (if not the best tackle full stop)