Yesterday I wrote that Cal has not seen tapes of Maryland's new defense as the Terps have a new defensive coordinator Don Brown. Maryland players expressed joy that Cal would be surprised by their new look system. It was also reported that Cal's looking at last year's Maryland tapes, for some reason. But as it turns out, the new look is an old look: the Buddy Ryan 46 Defense. According to this Washington Post article , Brown is bringing a version of the "46" - named for Chicago Bears Safety Doug Plank , who was a key rover in the Ryan defense - to Maryland. Don Brown's defense, called "The Bear" reminds me of the kind of system Artie Gigantino brought to Cal when he was defensive coordinator under Keith Gilbertson at Cal: the linemen positioned opposite the tight end or the side with the most receivers, and both outside linebackers on the strongside of the offense. Artie called his defense the "Split" 43. The Bear's the s...
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