Color me stuck in the past. Nevertheless, I grew up watching the Denver Broncos‘ legendary 3-4 defenses of coordinators Joe Collier and Wade Phillips (in his first stint as DC) in the late 1970s and 1980s. As such, I see an essential part of the 3-4 scheme as having a stout middle of the defense; and that starts at nose tackle…and by the way, former Baltimore Ravens‘ head coach, Brian Billick agrees with me; you build a defense from the inside out.
Under Collier, the defense that put the Broncos firmly on the NFL map was the iconic Orange Crush defense.