2014 Free Agency Rumors and or Speculation

[3irty1]

Its tough to parse. But it can still be very simple. You can still run only the basic concepts, but like McCarthy does with his offense, you swap out bodies to get different match ups.

So with Jones and Neal on the field at the same time, Neal might always be the interior pass rush and Jones at OLB/DE. You could go four OLBs with Daniels and Jones and play nickel. The only thing that would need to change is question of who rushes and who drops back. You put Hawk and DB in and take Jones and OLB out and play psycho dime.

Same defenses, different personnel.

What is clearer is what Capers does now. Defined packages and groups. Outside of injury, you know if they call base, nickel or dime who will be where. Even fans can tell you this. Blitzes are standard with exceptions for occasional slot/corner or safety blitz. Offenses plan for this and scheme and use formation to out matchup them (especially first two 49er games) to create mismatches (Perry on WR, Gore on ILB, etc.). To combat this and provide solid coverage, Capers relies on some pattern reading and some complex rules in the secondary to reign in what offenses are trying to do. This is where injuries and youth hurt them. They often blow those adjustments.

If the Packers had the talent to overwhelm (2010) it wouldn't matter. Capers can call a good enough game and scheme to put players in a good spot and if they make plays, everything is OK. But the big talent edge (Collins/Woodson) is gone. And the INTs that used to bail them out have disappeared.

I think you're right. Less volume but more variance by cross training players to avoid injury. I don't expect the scheme to look different either.

[Bossman641]

I think you're right. Less volume but more variance by cross training players to avoid injury. I don't expect the scheme to look different either.

I honestly have no clue how to take the quotes about the defense. I hope we go with less volume but more variance and cut down on coverage breakdowns. But it also seems like MM laments that we only used XX% of the playbook and would like to delve deeper into it.