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In American football, a nickel defense (also known as a 4–2–5 or 3–3–5) is any defensive alignment that uses five defensive backs, of whom the fifth is known as a nickelback. The original and most common form of the nickel defense features four down linemen and two linebackers .
4–2–5 nickel defense 4–2–5. There are a couple paths to the 4–2–5. One is by removing a linebacker from the standard 4–3 to add the extra defensive back. The second is by converting the ends of a wide tackle six to safeties (the defensive ends of a wide tackle six already have pass defense responsibilities).
It should not come as a surprise then that coaches from Oklahoma (Chuck Fairbanks with the New England Patriots) and Oklahoma State (Bum Phillips with the Houston Oilers) were among the first to introduce the 3–4 into the NFL as a base defense. [13] The 5–2 (or 5–4, or 3–4, or Okie, or 50 defense) is a popular defense at all levels of ...
By far the most common alignments are four down linemen and three linebackers (a "4–3" defense) or three down linemen and four linebackers ("3–4"), but other formations such as five linemen and two linebackers ("5–2") or three linemen, three linebackers, and five defensive backs ("3–3–5") are also used by a number of teams.
The 3-3-2 formation consists of three linemen, three linebackers and two defensive backs. It is one of the most flexible formations, allowing multiple looks and blitz packages and freeing the middle linebacker from most pass coverage responsibilities; this way, the middle linebacker can be used for stopping the run.
By the later 1950s, the 5–3 had died out in the NFL, replaced by the 5–2 Eagle or the 4–3. [ 9 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ] Hardy Brown , a 5–3 middle linebacker for the 49ers, and one of the hardest hitting linebackers of his era, was unable to adapt to changing times, and was cut because he could not deal with the demands of the new 4–3 defense .
But a conversation in the summer of 1998 with his linebackers coach, Walz, changed his mindset heading into the final year of high school. “He really pulled me along,” Clement, 43, said.
The Broncos had decided to adopt the 3–4 in 1977. Bill Belichick subsequently refined his understanding of the 3–4 as a linebackers coach and defensive coordinator under Parcells with the Giants. Belichick returned the 3–4 defense back to New England when he became coach of the team in 2000. [20]