Quote:well sure. But for whatever reason people have gravitated toward hating the leo/otto designations as if


a) were the only one who uses specific designations(were not)


b ) these designations are vastly different from the regular position(theyre different, but not by alot)


c) these designations are making it harder to find good players to play them (they dont, were just bad at drafting)

 

Quote:Someone get this man an apostrophe!  

 

(I'm kidding)

 

I actually appreciate usage of terms indicating alignments and gap assignments for d-linemen.  

 

Two DTs side-by-side in the middle of a 4/3 front can be employed a number of different ways and I don't mind being more specific about that stuff. 

 

Leo and Otto never bugged me either.  It's not that different. Folks are just annoyed by the hype it generated but never delivered on under Bradley -  and they take it out on the jargon.

 

It's not the terms that bug me, either.  I agree with both of you in that sense.

 

But to the extent the paradigms of the players those terms represent reflect the lack of productivity we see on the field, people are going to be bothered by them.

 

Skuta played OTTO and was never a difference maker on the defense, therefore people will hate the OTTO position.

 

The scheme itself has proven it works.

 

It worked in Seattle for years, bringing them to two Super Bowls, winning one.

 

It worked in Atlanta, especially later in the year, to the extent they reached the Super Bowl this season.

 

It worked here to a 6th overall ranking.  Now people may quibble over whether that ranking reflects true defensive effectiveness/dominance, but the numbers objectively are there.

 

The LEO concept has been utilized since the 1980s with the 49ers (Fred Dean, Charles Haley), and they won Super Bowls with it (though they called they called their LEO the "elephant).

 

I think to maximize the playmaking effectiveness of this scheme (with all of the quirky positional nicknames), we may need to see Allen or Garrett move to LDE, Ngakoue continue to develop at LEO, and move Fowler to OTTO.

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