I know this topic is how does the zone blocking play against the 3-4, but this article breaks down the 3-4 and talks about it's strengths and weaknesses.
Football 101: Defensive Line Alignments
This was at the end of the article:
Quote:
The 3-4 defense can have trouble matching up against a very fast offense. It's important for the success of the 3-4 in these cases for the defense to play an extremely physical game, jamming the receivers hard at the line of scrimmage. In the 2002 superbowl, the Patriots looked like their defense matched up poorly with the numerous fast receivers of the Rams, but by playing an intensely physical game the Patriots managed to slow the Rams enough to eke out a win. Similarly, in the 2004 playoffs the Patriots hosted the Colts, and again it looked like a bad match up for the Patriots. But by making the Colts play a more physical game than they were used to, the Patriots managed to almost completely shut down the Colts offense. Had this game been played indoors in Indianapolis on carpet instead of outdoors on grass in cold weather, it's quite plausible the Colts would have found a way to exploit the lack of speed in the Patriots secondary.
So in summary, the more traditional 4-3 defense seems better suited to the modern pass-friendly NFL rules, while the 3-4 defense seems more geared to stop the run based offenses of the 70s and 80s. However, by mixing up the rushers and zone coverages to confuse the quarterback and by forcing the receivers to play a far more physical game than they would wish, the 3-4 has been successful at the highest levels, in spite of its apparent drawbacks.
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