And if "looks can be deceiving" as YOU said, then when you saw what you thought was a 3-4 may not have been a 3-4 and so your "count" as to the number of thimes the Skins were "REALLY" in a 3-4 is nothing more than a guess. If you assert that I cannot tell a 3-4 from a 4-3 without knowing what was called in the defensive huddle, then neither can you - - unless you are ready to demonstrate your mind reading abilities.
What I said originally - - and what Smootsmack took to a higher level than I had guessed - - was that the Redskins were not always a 3-4 defense last year. Using the "switch to that scheme" provided a couple of convenient "covers" for the coaching staff so that excuse was carried on; but what I saw with my eyes - - and what Smootsmack confirmed - - was that the Skins played a ton of 4-3 fronts too maybe about HALF the time.
Why was it convenient for the Skins to maintain that they had made this momentous change?
1. Well, the players were not "right" for the 3-4 defense so the defensive coaches could not be totally blamed for the horrible showing last year. Sometimes, that is called CYA...
2. How better to explain the continued intransigence of Albert Haynesworth who the coaches and the GM handed a $21M check in April only to find out that he was an uncoachable toad in August? He and the coaches disagreed on "the scheme" and it wasn't that he and the coaches simply could not get along... It would not behoove the coaches to point out that half the time they called exactly the defensive front that Fat Albert preferred to be in - - but he still dogged it. Looking at it that way MIGHT call into question the level of control the coaches had in the locker room and/or their motivational talents.
3. The focus on the "defensive changes" took some of the scrutiny off the fiasco happening on the offensive side of the ball where the coach and the offensive coordinator could not work with the QB that the team traded for in April.
Those two "trobulemaking" guys are gone now. If there are going to be excuses/diversions this year, new ones will need to be manufactured
So, this year, do you think the Skins will be a 3-4 team for 80% of the defensive snaps? I don't. I think Jim Haslett's defensive concept is to mix up the fronts - - as it has been in other of his stops in the league. The success or failure of the defense will be due to the competency of the players to make the defense work. Haslett is NOT one of the top defensive coordinators in the league but he is not a stumblebum either.
It's the players that matter more... And this year, the only "distraction" for the moment is the question as to whether or not this is the dawning of the John Beck Era or the sunset of Mike Shanahan's reputation as a shrewd judge/developer of QB talent.