I'm not sure if thats Coughlin's strategy or Reese's, but I think you're right, and I think they're on to something.
Although, I think a lot of teams have some flexibility at LB. I (unfortunately) get to watch a lot of the Bengals, and they play their DE at LB sometimes, just like we do with Kiwi, and move the other LBs around to other positions. But...they're the Bengals, so you know how that turns out.