1966 Cardinals defense

[Bryan]

this is from a 1966 Sports Illustrated article by Tex Maule talking about the increase in pass interceptions...

Says Defensive Coach Chuck Drulis of St. Louis: "People are not just sitting in the 4-3 alignment as much as in the past few years. They go into odd alignments, especially with a man over the middle to start with, in order to stop quick traps. From there they may overshift the line to the strong or weak side; that is, if the line shifts to the strong side, the linebackers shift to the weak side, and vice versa.

"This season we came up with a stacked defense, using ends as linebackers—either end first taking a position behind the tackle next to him and then shifting or starting a charge from there. It makes it difficult for the blockers on certain plays and takes some plays entirely away from the offense. We stunt off that formation and the ends may wind up covering on passes, so that if a linebacker blitzes he doesn't have to worry about covering. Of course, we change this every week a little bit."

So, did the Cardinals really use a formation with 2 down linemen with the DEs in a standing position behind the DTs? Did they have DEs drop into pass coverage while LBs blitzed...essentially a zone blitz? I know Drulis was pretty innovative with his defenses, but I've never heard of any reference to this before.

[Reaser]

I'm not in my office so can't put anything in but they had different alignments, the one you're describing I'm remembering like this:

The LLB was on the LOS, the LE lined up directly behind the LDT, MLB (two-pt) over the center then RDT and RE.

LOS: LLB, LDT, MLB, RDT, RE
_________LE

[JohnTurney]

this is from a 1966 Sports Illustrated article by Tex Maule talking about the increase in pass interceptions...

Says Defensive Coach Chuck Drulis of St. Louis: "People are not just sitting in the 4-3 alignment as much as in the past few years. They go into odd alignments, especially with a man over the middle to start with, in order to stop quick traps. From there they may overshift the line to the strong or weak side; that is, if the line shifts to the strong side, the linebackers shift to the weak side, and vice versa.

"This season we came up with a stacked defense, using ends as linebackers—either end first taking a position behind the tackle next to him and then shifting or starting a charge from there. It makes it difficult for the blockers on certain plays and takes some plays entirely away from the offense. We stunt off that formation and the ends may wind up covering on passes, so that if a linebacker blitzes he doesn't have to worry about covering. Of course, we change this every week a little bit."

So, did the Cardinals really use a formation with 2 down linemen with the DEs in a standing position behind the DTs? Did they have DEs drop into pass coverage while LBs blitzed...essentially a zone blitz? I know Drulis was pretty innovative with his defenses, but I've never heard of any reference to this before.

I think what he means is one of the two DEs would stack on a given down and in another situation the other DE might do the same. I seriously doubt both would occur on the same play. It's the same thing the Chiefs used in Super Bowl IV, when Jerry Mays would stack behind Culp and make his move. In that Super Bowl I don't recall Aaron Brown ever doing it, but Mays did it maybe 5-7 times. Some writers called it a "3-4".

Tactically, if both DEs did it on the same play the run front would have been too soft for that era with both DEs doing same thing.

As far as zone blitz, the 1964 Colts highlight film shows RDE rush, then drop and the LBer blitzes on at least one play, whether that DE, Braase, was dropping to a zone or taking the back to his side, I don't know, but the fact he took a step into his charge to engage the LT then drops, to me is a forerunner of the zone blitz. It looks exactly like the classic Zone-to-Bo blitz of the 1981 Dolphins. Of course, Arnsbarger was the defensive coach of the 1964 Colts.

As far as the 66 Cards, if there is film of both DEs doing what Maule describes on the same play it will be a big learn for me, but I have no doubt they would have done it from one side or another . . .

Here is a shot from Super Bowl XIV, note where Bobby Bell and Jerry Mays are

[Reaser]

Not the film i was looking for but popped this in and good enough example.

66Cards.jpg (32.02 KiB) Viewed 13663 times

[BD Sullivan]

Not the film i was looking for but popped this in and good enough example.

66Cards.jpg

AKA the first nationally televised Monday Night game of the Rozelle era

[Bryan]

Thanks for the information and pictorials, John & Reaser.

[SixtiesFan]

Not the film i was looking for but popped this in and good enough example.

66Cards.jpg

AKA the first nationally televised Monday Night game of the Rozelle era

It's forgotten that Monday Night games were tried in the late 60's by CBS.

[7DnBrnc53]

Not the film i was looking for but popped this in and good enough example.

66Cards.jpg

AKA the first nationally televised Monday Night game of the Rozelle era

It's forgotten that Monday Night games were tried in the late 60's by CBS.

What happened with them? Did they get lower ratings compared to their regular programming?

[BD Sullivan]

AKA the first nationally televised Monday Night game of the Rozelle era

It's forgotten that Monday Night games were tried in the late 60's by CBS.

What happened with them? Did they get lower ratings compared to their regular programming?

No, they got good enough ratings that CBS re-upped for 1968-69 after single games in 1966 & '67. Of course, CBS didn't want to preempt Andy Griffth during those first two seasons--Mayberry RFD the next two years, so they had the games start at 9:30 ET. That explains why St. Louis and Dallas (both CT) hosted the games.