Just How Safe Is Steelers Inside Linebacker Stevenson Sylvester?

[Keyplay1]

Here is what the Steelers roster of LB looks like as of now:

chris carter, larry foote, james harrison, brandon hicks, mortty ivy, brandon johnson, marshall mcfadden, adrian robinson, sean spence, stevenson sylvester, lawrence timmons, lamarr woodley, jason worilds.

and yesterday the steelers released brandon lindsey and signed ryan baker who played at LSU.

I looked up the profile on baker and he looks promising. It said that he started 12 games for LSU as a WILL linebacker.

I noticed that in the main article there were mentions of strong side LB, weak side LB, the Buck LB etc. This always did confuse me. So I did a quick Google and it said the Will LB is the LOLB or WEAKside LB in both the 4-3 and 3-4 D's, so I guess he will be competing for the backup spot behing Lamarr Woodley. Probably look at him at the ILB spots also.

What's funny about this is for years I always thought the side Woodley plays on was the strong side. Oh well it really doesn't matter whether the guy is called the Sam, Mike, Will, or the 4th one is the Rush, the Butch, the Rover, the Buck. the Jack or the freaking whatever. I suppose it's what they do that counts. No? Me, I'm satisfied with the simple ROLB, RILB, LILB, LOLB.

[Slapstick]

Woodley does play on the strong side...

Strong side and weak side are determined by the offense...since roughly 90% of the population is right-handed, the right side is considered the strong side...

Although Woodley plays on the defense's left, it is the offense's right...

[Keyplay1]

Woodley does play on the strong side...

Strong side and weak side are determined by the offense...since roughly 90% of the population is right-handed, the right side is considered the strong side...

Although Woodley plays on the defense's left, it is the offense's right...

T

That is what I thought too.

But Wiki says: "In a 3-4 defense the "Will" Linebacker plays on the "weakside" of the two middle Linebacker positions and a 4th Linebacker comes in to play the weakside. Known as a "Rush", "Rover", "Jack", "Butch" and/or "Buck" Linebacker, their responsibility is more pass rush based but often is called into run stop (gap control) and pass coverage. The weakside linebacker is also known as the left outside linebacker (LOLB).

From Wiki: "The strongside linebacker (SLB) is often nicknamed "Sam" for purposes of calling a [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitz_%28American_football%29"]blitz[/URL]. Since the strong side of the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offensive_team"]offensive team[/URL] is the side on which the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tight_end"]tight end[/URL] lines up, or whichever side contains the most personnel, the strongside linebacker usually lines up across from the tight end. It then added, "The strongside linebacker is also commonly known as the right outside linebacker (ROLB).

When they start talking weakside, strongside, LB nicknames and stuff there is some confusion. The article said "Early in the off-season the Steelers released veteran James Farrior and it was thought that Sylvester would possibly be a lock to back up veteran Larry Foote as the strong-side linebacker in 2012. [Okay, Larry Foote is the IRLB [strongside]??, but since Farrior is gone is not Foote penciled in now as his replacement? Anyway Sylvester saw his limited action in the LILB slot last year and that is not the strong side. Anyway, late in the article it is cleared???up???. It says, "Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert was asked about Sylvester last Thursday when OTA sessions wrapped up, and if he would compete with Foote for the starting BUCK position this season. [I took that as what is expected, Foote takes over for Farrior and since that is the 4th LB slot it could be called the BUCK. Of course there are a half dozen other names for that spot also. And if you like you can make up your own. The one I like is the JACK, which is valid, but I like to call that spot the CLUB or the HAMMER among other things. [If this is getting confusing, Good, that is its intent.]

Later on in the article it mentions the new guy Brandon Johnson and it says, "While Sylvester has made his mark on special teams, the recently signed Johnson is also known as a superb special teams player, and was even the special teams captain at one time when he was with the Cincinnati Bengals. Johnson, while not regarded as a full-time starter type of player, has played both the strong-side and weak-side over the course of his career.

-----Johnson, has played both the strong-side and weak-side etc. [I took that to mean both the LOLB and the ROLB since that is how he is labeled. But, it could also mean that he has played the RILB which according to Wiki is the strong side ILB. Uh? This always could be very confusing until you see them play and then you know what there position is regardless of what they are calling them.

But, regardless of how anyone wants to read this LB situation,[or whatever they want to call them] the fact is there is plenty of work to do there and plenty of questions which will have to be resolved in the TC. I am getting the idea that the Steelers are not too thrilled with last years back up situation and probably will still bring in even more players there to compete.

BTW: I am still not convinced or sure which is the strong side or the weak side.

[Slapstick]

In most cases, a single TE lines up outside of the RT...

Of course, with all of the various formations, it is just easier to think of the offense's right side as the strong side...it simply avoids confusion...

Again, the defense is the mirror image of the offense in regards to strong side and weak side...Woodley lines up on the offense's right side (the defense's left)...He is one of the heavier 3-4 OLBs in the NFL, so the Steelers line him up on the offense's strong side...

The Steelers front seven in the base defense line up like this (facing the offense):


Strong Side ----------Offense------------Weakside

-----------------Line of Scrimmage-------------------

Strong Side DE (Hood) - Nose Tackle (Hampton/McClendon) - Weak Side DE (Keisel)

SOLB (Woodley) - Buck aka SILB (Foote) - Mack aka WILB (TImmons) - WOLB (Harrison)

[Slapstick]

In a 4-3 Base, it looks only a little different:

Strong Side ----------Offense------------Weakside

-----------------Line of Scrimmage-------------------

SDE DT DT WDE

SLB (Sam) MLB (Mike) WLB (Will)

[Pops8]

BTW: I am still not convinced or sure which is the strong side or the weak side.

From a base formation, the SOLB (Sam) will line up on the defensive left in a 43 or 34. Will LB lines up on the defensive right. Mac is the Middle LB in a 43 and MAC and Buck are the ILB's in 34. That is the base and presnap doesn't really mean too terribly much. Historically, most QB's are right handed so most teams run right (the QB's natural field of vision). So, defenses called their Left (offensive right) the strong side. The Sam Backer was generally your most athletic player and best tackler so you put him on the side the offense was most likely to run. These terms are pretty standard, but by no means the only ones. I've seen lots of systems that use different labels.

When the offense comes to the line the defense immediately begins to dissect the situation and start their adjustments. One of the first things they look at is the strength of the offensive formation. There are some variations to how defenses declare offensive strength, but in general it will account for both running and passing strength. Finding an offense's formation strength helps determine the adjustments. Lets consider a very basic situation:

______FS_________$
C_______________________C
______W___M___
____E___T___T__E__S
X____T_G_C_G_T_Y
__________1_____________Z

I did a quick base 4-3 here. Notice Sam (S) is not 3 yards off the ball but rather on the line. That is because the offensive formation strength is to that side (determined in this case by the TE or Y. Of course, that can change based upon where the two backs I did not draw line up.) The DE will stay in his assigned Gap which is outside shoulder of the OT, but the TE creates another running lane so Sam moves to the line to defend the outside run and quite possibly cover the TE if he releases to pass pattern. It depends on the other receivers and the coverage call. Lets just keep it simple and deal with run - the addtional run lane outside Y is now defended by Sam on the line.

But what if:

______FS_________$
C_______________________C
______W___M___S
____E___T___T__E
___Y_T_G_C_G_T_________X
Z_________1

Since I was determining strength in this case by TE (Y), it is now on the offensive left. To the Defense, this is Will's side. Different defenses deal with this in different ways. One way would be to have Will come to the line like Sam did in the prior formation:

______FS_________$
C_______________________C
______M___S
__W_E___T___T__E
___Y_T_G_C_G_T_________X
Z_________1

This might well be acceptable if the wide side of the field is still to the offensive right. However, if the wide side of the field is to the offenses left, you might want your best tackler (Sam) on that side. So, you might choose to flip flop Sam and Will.

______FS_________$
C_______________________C
______M___W
__S_E___T___T__E
___Y_T_G_C_G_T_________X
Z_________1

Neither solution is right or wrong. It just depends on your personnel and philosophies. HS and College have more variation in athletic ability which is to say there may be a huge difference between Sam and Will's capabilities. That athletic difference isn't so prevalent in the NFL and for that (and a few other reasons) you don't see LB's flip sides.

These are basic examples to illustrate the point. It gets a lot more complex especially with the modern passing game. By way of example, consider:


X_______TGCGTY
___Z______1_____________H
__________2

Again, different defenses might classify the offensive strength differently in this case. I would say the run strength is to the offensive right due to Y. However, the passing strength is balanced because you have Twins on the left with X-Z and you have a Twins set on the right with Y-H. The tailback (2) is balanced. How will the defense adjust? Well, it depends on a lot of factors. If its third and long and the DC wants to just stop the big play, he may sit back in a coverage package. Since a 5 yard run would not hurt, he may drop Sam off the line so he can more easily drop into his pass coverage zone. (pass coverage really drives the complexity over run strength).

Okay, I've rambled on too much. Just remember Defensive and Offensive strength are not the same thing. Defensive names like Sam, Will, Mac, Buck are labels for player positions (I could just as easily call them Lenny, Laser, Razer, and Rino). Any defense worth a plug nickle will flex/adapt their formation to meet the offense. Defenses flex or change based on a lot of things such as their own capabilities, offensive strength, knowledge of the opposition, down and distance, defensive philosophy/coaching preference, etc, etc. The run and pass strength of the offense is one factor in determining how the defense will adjust before the snap. (aside: this is why offensive motion into being - it is trying to get the defense to show their coverage based upon how they adapt.)

Hopefully that helped clear up the question of strength.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Baker was a starter at Will backer in LSU's 4-3 defense.

Johnson has experience at both Will and Sam in Cincinnati's 4-3 defense.

Those skill sets translate better to ILB's in our 3-4 rather than OLB's (where we'd be looking for undersized 4-3 DE's instead). Both players will have more of an impact on special teams than on defense anyway if, of course, they even manage to make the team.