Official Fire Dom Capers Thread

[Smidgeon]

I've been waffling about whether our DC needs to be replaced. On one hand, the results are in black and white. We see it every week. Either our pass defense gives up big play after big play, or we play 2 deep and the opposing offense nickels and dimes us to death. Our run defense is a sieve when we play decent pass defense, or it holds strong and we can't stop a 3rd and 14 pass.

But, we need to put this into context. Patler provided some excellent analysis when he said:



Add in the seasonal injuries that we seem to always be facing, and I think that better explains the average to below average results.

On the other hand, defensive coordinators don't usually hold that job for as long as Capers has. If Stafford actually said that the Lions knew what plays the Packers were running, and some Packers players have said in interviews that it seemed like the Lions knew exactly what plays to dial up, then perhaps too much film is out there on our tendencies. It might be better to see if we can change things up by bringing in someone from outside the organization. It might also be better to see if someone else can coach some of the good players we have into what might be called a "special" player. With 2 or 3 of those, next year might look like 2010.

When I watched the last game Romo called (don't remember which), he was often calling plays ahead of time. If he knows it, then the defensive stars know it too. It's just a matter of execution or playing against your own tendencies. It makes me think from film study that most players can guess the plays based on personnel and field position (Charles Woodson was exceptional at this), and success is based on "beating your guy".

[pbmax]

When I watched the last game Romo called (don't remember which), he was often calling plays ahead of time. If he knows it, then the defensive stars know it too. It's just a matter of execution or playing against your own tendencies. It makes me think from film study that most players can guess the plays based on personnel and field position (Charles Woodson was exceptional at this), and success is based on "beating your guy".

Smidgeon is again correct and the panicky masses over Stafford's comments are wrong.

1. Pre snap reads almost always reveal whether a team is playing man, or some combo. The Lions took this a step farther by putting someone in motion on almost every pass play. Rodgers does this all the time. Its nothing new.

2. Blitz. Capers likes to pressure on 3rd and long and Stafford said they expected 2 different kinds of pressure most often. Between motion and cadence, Stafford can make the D reveal the blitz as well if he has some play clock.

3. Capers himself said the playbook for the Lions game was thin because of communication issues they have when Burnett is out. They wanted to eliminate the mistakes.

So we are back to the oldest two critiques of this defense. Played with the full playbook, the team cannot function without its vets (and Burnett was lost in the first half). And left to their own devices, the players do not defeat and offenses passing game enough on third down.