Very interesting to see how Pettine lines our guys up. He's used all kinds of formations, but the keywords to describe most of them are aggresiveness and versatility. Since we've been drafting CB/S, LB/S and DE/DT(OLB) hybrids left and right and have been in prevent-like defenses a bit too much for my liking, I'm liking what I see.
Anyway, more on topic, two interesting articles regarding formations and how he deviated from the standard 3-4/4-3 on a regular basis.
Defining Mike Pettine's Bills defense: a philosophical endeavor Buffalo Bills, Mike Pettine defensive scheme: defining versatility I especialy like this little snippet.
One other quick note: that 1-4-6 dime didn't have a defender more than eight yards behind the line of scrimmage; it's an extremely aggressive alignment. When did the Jets employ it? As Brady and the Pats were trying to march down the field for a game-tying field goal late in the fourth quarter. Brady got the job done, but Pettine certainly wasn't in prevent mode.
That psycho package Capers ran always intrigued me. Now, I very much doubt we have the personel to pull that 1-4-6 off effectively, but I do like a package like that. I can imagine we wouldn't want to take off a guy like Daniels, but you do want a big guy like Kenny Clark to play that NT role and eat two blocks.
Maybe something like a 2-3-6, with Clark playing a 1 technique and Daniels playing 3 technique, creating more of a traditional 4-3 centre with LBs and safeties able to come from just about anywhere.
Can't wait to see what Pettine will serve up.