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The very-large Casey Hampton’s nickname is Big Snack. Not coincidentally, the 4-2-5 alignment the Steelers showed off Sunday against the Jets is called the Big Nickel because it pairs four big defensive linemen with two linebackers and five defensive backs. “A lot of teams try to put us in the nickel defense and try to run the ball,” Hampton said. “It’s our way of combating that and doing something different.”
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Dick LeBeau also unveiled a controversial new scheme that took Woodley out of the game. On third down no less. Woodley never comes out of games, but in what coaches call the Big Nickel, the Steelers took both outside linebackers out, and went with four defensive linemen in a 4-2-5 alignment.
LeBeau explained:
"We always have an eye for down the road and make sure we have enough packages in place. When we get thin at any one position as we are right now at outside linebacker, we make sure we have enough defenses that if we lose a guy or two on Sunday we have something to go to.
"They did a good job. They're getting a few snaps in practice, but it's just making sure we have enough people at enough spots to go through a 16-game season."
The coaches only ran that defense three times, but don't look for Woodley to leave the field again anytime soon. After all, they had to play defense too much without him last season.
Read more: [URL]http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/on-the-steelers-lbs-hobbling-but-woodley-making-a-healthy-impact-654324/#ixzz27BzeNI8z[/URL]
---The above snatches were okay I guess but left a lot of questions. Who was in the big N. No Woodley? Get real. I did read some of the explanations but I also had my own. But anyway I kept looking and did come up with some plausible answers to my questions. This stuff was found in another new site[for me] which I will now check out more often since this info was impressive:
From Steelblitz.com
The Steelers have been forced into a lot of nickel defensive packages in recent years. It comes with the territory of the new NFL. Offenses, including the Steelers, are now being built around quarterbacks and big play wide receivers. With three and four wide receiver sets becoming the norm for offenses the Steelers use a lot of nickel which puts five defensive backs on the field.
The nickel defense uses two defensive ends as defensive tackles, two outside linebackers as defensive ends, two inside linebackers over the line, three corners and two safeties. This leaves the middle of the defense more susceptible to the run with the lack of a nose tackle on the field. Guys like Casey Hampton and Steve McLendon demand double teams and are run stuffing lineman, but aren’t included in the nickel defense. This leads teams, like the Broncos in week 1, to run against the smaller front of the nickel package.
That is where the “big nickel” comes into play. The “big nickel” includes one of the nose tackles and three defensive lineman. On these occasions Cameron Heyward, Brett Keisel, Ziggy Hood and Casey Hampton were on the line. Behind them was Lawrence Timmons and Larry Foote at linebacker and the five defensive backs. With Ryan Mundy (usually Troy Polamalu) and Ryan Clark at safety and Ike Taylor and Keenan Lewis at corner the Steelers usually add Cortez Allen to the package as the fifth man in the secondary. Will Allen has also seen some time in the “big nickel” package as the fifth man.
There are good and bad aspects to this plan. First, it helps to protect against the run which forces the offense to short runs or passing attempts when the defense goes to the nickel. It also is a solid third down defense protecting against the draw play. However, this set takes LaMarr Woodley off the field and did so five times on third down against the Jets. That means for five plays the Steelers took their best pass rusher off the field to protect against the run. Woodley is big enough to be in the “big nickel” as one of the edge defenders, but was not used as one in the game Sunday.
The Oakland Raiders like to use their running backs in the passing game and run them out of passing sets so the “big nickel” package may see more time on Sunday. However, with the lack of quarterback pressure being applied early in the season the Steelers may want to put Woodley on the edge to force Carson Palmer to get rid of the ball quicker and potentially force him into some bad throws or interceptions.
The Steelers have been forced into a lot of nickel defensive packages in recent years. It comes with the territory of the new NFL. Offenses, including the Steelers, are now being built around quarterbacks and big play wide receivers. With three and four wide receiver sets becoming the norm for offenses the Steelers use a lot of nickel which puts five defensive backs on the field.
The nickel defense uses two defensive ends as defensive tackles, two outside linebackers as defensive ends, two inside linebackers over the line, three corners and two safeties. This leaves the middle of the defense more susceptible to the run with the lack of a nose tackle on the field. Guys like Casey Hampton and Steve McLendon demand double teams and are run stuffing lineman, but aren’t included in the nickel defense. This leads teams, like the Broncos in week 1, to run against the smaller front of the nickel package.
That is where the “big nickel” comes into play. The “big nickel” includes one of the nose tackles and three defensive lineman. On these occasions Cameron Heyward, Brett Keisel, Ziggy Hood and Casey Hampton were on the line. Behind them was Lawrence Timmons and Larry Foote at linebacker and the five defensive backs. With Ryan Mundy (usually Troy Polamalu) and Ryan Clark at safety and Ike Taylor and Keenan Lewis at corner the Steelers usually add Cortez Allen to the package as the fifth man in the secondary. Will Allen has also seen some time in the “big nickel” package as the fifth man.
There are good and bad aspects to this plan. First, it helps to protect against the run which forces the offense to short runs or passing attempts when the defense goes to the nickel. It also is a solid third down defense protecting against the draw play. However, this set takes LaMarr Woodley off the field and did so five times on third down against the Jets. That means for five plays the Steelers took their best pass rusher off the field to protect against the run. Woodley is big enough to be in the “big nickel” as one of the edge defenders, but was not used as one in the game Sunday.
The Oakland Raiders like to use their running backs in the passing game and run them out of passing sets so the “big nickel” package may see more time on Sunday. However, with the lack of quarterback pressure being applied early in the season the Steelers may want to put Woodley on the edge to force Carson Palmer to get rid of the ball quicker and potentially force him into some bad throws or interceptions.
---Dammit! This last article was the only one that I really wanted to see a link posted. The first two posted the link itself. Well anyway, the site was called Steelblitz.com. This article was reprinted on a site something about yardbarker. I got the idea they reprint articles of interest from numerous sites.
[url]http://steelblitz.com/big-nickel-big-part-steeler/2093/2012/09/19[/url]
Okay! I did find the site and am not sure if the link will work. It is too risky to preview the post to see if the link is live. But if not, that is the correct site. If that is an example of the quality of the posts there, then I would think it is a site worth going to now and then.
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