4-3 Field General

[Lucky Colts Fan]

Who will be the Field General for our 4-3 this year?  Ideally, our MLB will have the green dot on their helmet and be a 3-down player calling plays for the defense.  Do we have that guy on our roster?  I hope between Walker, Adams, and Franklin, somebody steps up to man that position.  If other teams start running a no-huddle up-tempo offense, we need our defensive captain to be able to adjust and call the right plays on the fly.

 

The LB corps is my biggest concern this year.  The DLine should have a pretty straightforward job: get whoever has the ball in the backfield.  The Secondary should also have a pretty straightforward job: don't let the ball get behind you.  But the LBs are going to have to do a mix of both jobs, being able to blitz, drop into coverage, or chase down the ball on any given play.

 

This defense will probably sink or swim with its MLB play.  We need that Field General to be successful.

 

[Hark]

Well said. I share your concern. It seems pretty rare that a 4-3 would be executed well without a good MLB

[TKnight24]

Anthony Walker Jr. 

[Coffeedrinker]

I know Goode has been practicing at the WILL but I think once TC starts and once Leonard gets on the field they will move Goode from WILL to MIKE.

 

If Walker is the MIKE, I won't be disappointed, he played pretty well as the starter the last two games of 2017, I just don't know enough about his coverage ability to pencil him as the starting MIKE.

[Indy1996]

39 minutes ago, Hark said:

Well said. I share your concern. It seems pretty rare that a 4-3 would be executed well without a good MLB

Anthony walker jr has been taking 1st team reps at MIKE since OTA

[Scott Pennock]

Both middle linebackers that were drafted were doing so for thier respective teams (though I feel Adams may be at the SAM when the dust settles) and Walker did the same at NW as well as last year in the final 2-3 games....

[1959Colts]

May the best man win.

[Mike Tahoe]

Mychal Kendricks was an above average coverage linebacker for the Eagles,  and he wasn't even brought in for an interview to my knowledge.   Hopefully that means the coaches feel good about the potential they already have at LB.

 

Once training camp is over we should be able to have identified the three best linebackers on the team and still have quality depth behind them for start the season.

[CR91]

its walker's job to lose. Franklin and Moore are darkhorses though

[The Peytonator]

I believe we’ll see Walker and Leonard get most of the snaps and everything else will be a linebacker by committee situation. I think Goode and Morrison get a lot of early down work with Moore getting more third down work. The whole ‘field general’ label gets overused in my opinion. We had a ‘field general’ with D’Qwell Jackson and he wasn’t good, nor was the defense. It’ll be fun to watch this year, and there will be growing pains. 

[Lucky Colts Fan]

7 hours ago, Scott Pennock said:

Both middle linebackers that were drafted were doing so for thier respective teams (though I feel Adams may be at the SAM when the dust settles) and Walker did the same at NW as well as last year in the final 2-3 games....

 

That crossed my mind when I thought of this topic.  Walker, Adams and Franklin were all the Field General for their team in college.

 

That must be a prerequisite for being the MIKE in Ballards 4-3.  This should be a very good competition.

 

[Smonroe]

15 hours ago, Lucky Colts Fan said:

Who will be the Field General for our 4-3 this year?  Ideally, our MLB will have the green dot on their helmet and be a 3-down player calling plays for the defense.  Do we have that guy on our roster?  I hope between Walker, Adams, and Franklin, somebody steps up to man that position.  If other teams start running a no-huddle up-tempo offense, we need our defensive captain to be able to adjust and call the right plays on the fly.

 

The LB corps is my biggest concern this year.  The DLine should have a pretty straightforward job: get whoever has the ball in the backfield.  The Secondary should also have a pretty straightforward job: don't let the ball get behind you.  But the LBs are going to have to do a mix of both jobs, being able to blitz, drop into coverage, or chase down the ball on any given play.

 

This defense will probably sink or swim with its MLB play.  We need that Field General to be successful.

 

 

LB should be our biggest concern.  I bet there aren’t too many teams in the league who have such an undecided group at even this time of the year.  

 

We do know that it’s going to be relatively inexperienced, but we think they’re all going to be fast.  

 

To me, the Dline looks pretty decent and deep.  The starting three CBs are passable and the S position is acceptable once Hooker comes back.

 

But, as you said, that linebacker group...well they better be fast learners.  I think they plan on a simpler D scheme with less decisions, at least at the start of the season.  

[Defjamz26]

I think Walker will surprise. I’m betting on him being the starter at Mike. He was the leader of his defense in college. They called him The Franchise.

[Hoose]

Walker. His down year as a senior at Northwestern was the only reason the Colts got him later in the draft. As a Junior, he was a beast, and a highly regarded player and leader. The verdict on his Senior year seems to give him a pass due to intentional weight gain. A lighter and more experienced Walker should pleasantly surprise this year. 

[LockeDown]

I think Walker as well. Did Ballard indeed draft his first year knowing he would go to a 4/3 the next year?  Well, he is a planner, so maybe.  Wouldn't that be something if Walker and Basham end up being Cornerstones of the core team he keeps talking about.  That's what I choose to believe at this time  

[Lucky Colts Fan]

24 minutes ago, LockeDown said:

I think Walker as well. Did Ballard indeed draft his first year knowing he would go to a 4/3 the next year?  Well, he is a planner, so maybe.  Wouldn't that be something if Walker and Basham end up being Cornerstones of the core team he keeps talking about.  That's what I choose to believe at this time  

 

I bet if we had a chance to look at Ballards famous Binder, we'd see that you are exactly right.  He probably had the 4-3 plan from the start and knew he should go ahead and start drafting for it since Pagano was most likely a lame duck that first year.

[Dark Superman]

Would love to see a lot of packages with Leonard, Walker Jr, and Goode together. Hopefully, AWJR can be the MLB this team hasn't had since the Mike Peterson.

[ColtStrong2013]

On 6/9/2018 at 10:45 AM, Lucky Colts Fan said:

 

I bet if we had a chance to look at Ballards famous Binder, we'd see that you are exactly right.  He probably had the 4-3 plan from the start and knew he should go ahead and start drafting for it since Pagano was most likely a lame duck that first year.

He absolutely knew what defense he wanted going forward. He came from a strong 3-4 defense in KC and knew how hard it is to replicate. I think we all saw the handwriting on the wall with his first draft. Across the board. You don't draft a defensive end that doesn't fit the defense you're inheriting without visioning where he is going to be down the line. He knew Basham could be a solid pass rusher in the system he excelled in at Ohio. He hired Matt Eberflus in a quick minute while waiting on McDaniels. It wasn't McDaniels guy. It was Ballards'. 

[ColtStrong2013]

14 hours ago, Savage said:

Would love to see a lot of packages with Leonard, Walker Jr, and Goode together. Hopefully, AWJR can be the MLB this team hasn't had since the Mike Peterson.

This team has sorely lacked a disrupting MLB. I was sold on Smith for that reason, but definitely think he made the right and easiest pick in Nelson. Smith could have changed this defense himself. We couldn't go wrong at #6 this year. 

 

I think Walker Jr. can be the guy. His first start late last season was impressive and gives me great hope going forward. Very intelligent guy that has all the traits necessary. 

[a06cc]

I’m going to say this because it came from his mouth. The reason for the 4-3 was based off of wanting more speed. We’re playing most of our games in warm weather and on turf fields. 3-4 defense was lacking the speed. We weren’t taking advantage of this. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.indystar.com/amp/337214002

 

[a06cc]

12 minutes ago, ColtStrong2013 said:

He absolutely knew what defense he wanted going forward. He came from a strong 3-4 defense in KC and knew how hard it is to replicate. I think we all saw the handwriting on the wall with his first draft. Across the board. You don't draft a defensive end that doesn't fit the defense you're inheriting without visioning where he is going to be down the line. He knew Basham could be a solid pass rusher in the system he excelled in at Ohio. He hired Matt Eberflus in a quick minute while waiting on McDaniels. It wasn't McDaniels guy. It was Ballards'. 

I don’t think he would’ve had a hard time replicating it. It’s all about our set of circumstances. Taking advantage of the turf fields we play on.