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By Brian Allee-Walsh
June 10, 2013

Two seasons.

That’s how long it took defensive guru Bill Parcells to assemble enough talent to switch to a 3-4 after becoming head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in 2003. His teams continued to play a 4-3 until he officially pulled the plug after the ’04 season.

By comparison, Saints coach Sean Payton is changing defensive schemes on the run in New Orleans, acquiring veteran free agents, drafting rookies and moving around players from last year’s roster to meet needs. In some cases, he is trying to fit square pegs into round holes. In others, the fit is less taxing.

Payton fired defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo in January and hired Rob Ryan in February to oversee the schematic transition. That was the easy part. Finding the right pieces to the puzzle is anything but.

Two seasons.

No one in Who Dat Nation should expect a quick fix.

“Being from north Louisiana, 4 and 3 is seven and 3 and 4 is seven, you just got to know what you’re dealing with,’’ Saints defensive line coach Bill Johnson said during a break between recent minicamp workouts. “I’ve been in both. Football is football. It’s all about gap control.’’

And having the right players to fill those gaps is critical to a successful transition.

As one source explained it: “Lining up 1-gap defensive linemen in a new scheme that will ask the front three to two-gap isn’t a matter of running a few practices in OTAs and showing the players cut-up instructional tapes from other teams.’’

Hardly.

Read more: Finding right players in new Saints defense no easy task | Saints | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA

Well that was then; and we've got the best offense on the planet...

Danno

We have more top players fit a 3-4 than a 4-3. Its not exactly apples to oranges especially since we played a lot of 3-4 packages under Williams and even some under Spags.

Its not as hard to switch now. Teams use a ton of different packages all season long so its not like the 3-4 alignment is something they've never done before.

Payton even mentioned that we'll be in a true 3-4 base less than 50% of the time.

jeanpierre

I think the transition from featuring Will Smith is why we're going from the 43 to the 34; but you're right, you attack anyway you can!

TheOak

I don't agree with the article.

There is no comparison. One is Bill Parcels the other is Rob Ryan, both transitions happened or will happen as fast as personnel will allow. Parcells may have been missing 1-2 pieces that Ryan presently has.

Unless someone goes back and does a comparison of players on the 2003 Cowboys vs the 2013 Saints and ALSO knows exactly what Ryan is going to do to compare against the 2003 Cowboys there are way to many unknowns.

Then you have to take into considerations the varying play styles of the NFC South 2013 and AFC North 2003, because defenses are built to succeed predominately in the division they play in. If you cant beat the teams in your division your not going anywhere.

You also have to account for the most important, what both defenses need to do. The 2013 Saints need to slow offenses enough for our #1 offense to take the game. In 2003 Dallas was a 15th ranked offense.

Its not exactly apples to apples.

Seer1

Yeah, great to be compared to the cow pies huh? Now are we going to have a perfect storm or a tough time converting to 3-4. Is this proof that you put enough monkeys in a room with typewriters and they'll eventually type two Saints articles for The Advocate?

Euphoria

I don't think its about getting personnel from a 4-3 to a 3-4.

Its more about not being the worse D in the nfl... ever.

Seer1

Or even in the bottom ten...

Rugby Saint II

I believe that success will be determined by just how well our nose tackle gets pressure up the middle. Whether it's a one gap or two gap doesn't matter as much as the end results................defense in the back field.

TheOak

Dont knock bottom 10 so quickly... it won us a Super Bowl in 2009.

Actually worse, we were bottom 7

Seer1

Great way to look at it. I actually meant bottom ten... ever, but to be (I thought we were) 22nd in 2009 or whatever doesn't sound so bad put that way. But to then realize that 22nd is actually in the bottom ten... well now...