Quote:Would you say the 4 - 2 - 5 is similar to the defense Arizona is running?  I won't claim to have watched many of their games, nor do I pay enough attention to alignments and stuff like that, but they often talk about Deone Bucannon playing the hybrid S/LB role and they've always used Mathieu as a hybrid S/CB.  Maybe it's an alignment they mostly used prior to Mathieu going down, but it's seemed to work well for them.

From what I've seen of Arizona and looking back at the All-22 of their defense, their base defense is a 3-4 or 5-2. Bucannon pretty much plays at ILB the whole game but Arizona will play a 4-2-5 on obvious passing downs. In this instance, they bring another Safety on the field and bump Mathieu down into the slot. Bucannon stays at a ILB spot with 5 DB's on the field.

 

Because Bucannon is so athletic while also being able to play the run like  a LB, the defense is not only very flexible but also super athletic.

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