The Birth of the 4-3 Defense

This is one of those facts that you can pull out of your brain when you really need to impress someone. It's easy enough, too. Next time you're sitting with your buddies and the announcer mentions a team playing the 4-3 defense (4 down lineman with 3 linebackers), drop this question on them: "Do you know who invented the 4-3 defense?" Follow it up with, "Who was the first-ever middle linebacker?" and you'll be the toast of the party. Or something like that.

The answer is Tom Landry. You know him and love him from his days as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, where he led America's Team to victories in Super Bowls VI and X11. However, prior to joining the 'boys, Landry was the other half of the dreamiest football coaching team ever. Jim Lee Howell was hired as "head coach" of the New York Giants in 1954, and he hired two assistants to help him out. Those two assistants turned out to be Hall of Fame head coaches in their own right -- Landry as the defensive coordinator, and a guy named Vince Lombardi running the offense.

During his tenure, Landry started experimenting with what he called the 4-3 -- a defense that was designed to counteract the changing NFL. At this time, teams were starting to move away from the run-run-run mentality, mixing in more flanker passes and motion offenses. Landry also felt the 4-3 would help to stop legendary Cleveland Browns RB Jim Brown.

The trick was, he needed a middle linebacker. The first one to tackle the job? Hall-of-Famer Sam Huff, a converted lineman.

So much more I could write about this...but I said I'd keep these short. So, you have your knowledge bombs. Deploy appropriately.