JY'S D: Etcheverry/Jones/Hall 2.0?

[Slingin Sammy]

I know many on this forum remember our D from 2014 under Gary Etcheverry. It was a D that was vulnerable to the run but relatively stout against the pass.  Etcheverry would consistently rush 3 and drop 9 into coverage; but the 3 he would rush weren't always D linemen...he valued speed over size...we often lined up a 220 L Backer at nose and DBs at D End while dropping smaller dbs into coverage...the overall stats win/loss results were horrible.  He was fired shortly after he was hired.

Fast forward to 2024 and we've seen other iterations of the "rush 3 drop 9" philosophy...C Jones is probably the biggest proponent..Richie Hall has also been a proponent.  JY has had exposure as a player and coach to each of these philosophies...and he's seemed to adapt it to being effective against current CFL offences in his first year as D Coordinator.

Below are some quotes and links to old articles from Etch's tenure.  Consistent themes between the two philosophies include valuing speed and versatility on D, and a stronger focus on defending against the  pass. In 2014, less emphasis on defending the run resulted in larger O lines and R backs gashing our D.

I think that perhaps the best move we made as an organization over the previous off season was to promote JY to the D Coordinator position.  It seems apparent to me that he's adapted what he's learned over the years as a player and coach into a system that is effective against today's CFL Offences...given what I've observed during games and practices this year, and during this week, I'm confident that he has a plan that's tailor made to minimize Sasks strengths on O...

Anyone else remember Etch?  Anyone else see an evolution of the rush 3 drop 9 philosophy in JY'S system?



https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bluebombers.com%2F2014%2F12%2F17%2Farticle-osheas-decision-to-release-etcheverry%2F&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4

"There's the philosophy that the CFL is a quarterback driven pass-first league, and we're in the West and teams run the ball. I just think we were more committed to stopping the pass, and we lacked a little balance in that regard. The sense of how teams were going to try and beat us, through the air or the history of the league that would suggest it's a passing league, in this season, against us it wasn't."

https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwinnipegsun.com%2F2014%2F12%2F17%2Fbombers-fire-etcheverry&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4

"His preference to use smaller players for their speed made the Bombers vulnerable to big, physical offensive lines and running backs."

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Etcheverry might have liked dropping nine but he didn't really have a play book and was unorthodox in essentially everything he did. It was very much chaos for the sake of chaos and there was no way to fix or adjust to things. Mad scientist gets thrown around too much but he was closer to that and it was ultimately a terrible and flawed defense.

Younger's defense is not that. He likes to drop nine but there are concepts to limit the run game and it's structured and organized and schemed.

I am not sure Younger would like the comparison but it's interesting, as you point out, he was exposed to all those systems.