Matching Up With the Niners

[RashanGary]

Fritz, I’m being a bit of a contrarian with the hyperbole, maybe ever so slightly inching toward troll status. But truly, during the stretch the DEFENSE was struggling we were missing Jaire, Savage and Campbell was banged up. We had:

7th round rookie corner
Undrafted rookie corner
Special teams player nickle (who’s not horrible, but barely average)
Special teams player safety in Ford who is atrocious
And
Owens who’s maybe average and only because he can tackle.


The entire back end was a sieve based on TALENT.


So while I am exaggerating Barry’s greatness, it’s not coming from a place of being a contrarian. It’s coming from the place of being annoyed by the lazy takes about the coach that don’t bother to consider what he’s working with. You guys deserve it for being so silly.

[bobblehead]

Fritz, I’m being a bit of a contrarian with the hyperbole, maybe ever so slightly inching toward troll status. But truly, during the stretch the DEFENSE was struggling we were missing Jaire, Savage and Campbell was banged up. We had:

7th round rookie corner
Undrafted rookie corner
Special teams player nickle (who’s not horrible, but barely average)
Special teams player safety in Ford who is atrocious
And
Owens who’s maybe average and only because he can tackle.


The entire back end was a sieve based on TALENT.


So while I am exaggerating Barry’s greatness, it’s not coming from a place of being a contrarian. It’s coming from the place of being annoyed by the lazy takes about the coach that don’t bother to consider what he’s working with. You guys deserve it for being so silly.

Barry HAS done a pretty good job in the playoffs. Its a fucked up dynamic where he just hands the keys to bad offenses, but then handles Detroit, Dallas, KC...even the 49ers when they needed a blocked punt to beat us.
I'm just hoping that he continues to gameplan better for elite teams. Just a couple more times. I'm ok with him saving his job if we win the next 3.

[RashanGary]

What’s interesting about Joe Barry’s stint in Detroit is that in 2006 the lions were 30th in points against. Then 32nd in 2007 and 2008 with Joe Barry. And then 32nd again the year after he left.

It’s almost like the talent was the constant in those lions teams considering 3 defensive coordinators all finished as one of the worst 3 teams in a span of 4 years. And let’s not forget that Rod Marinelli was the head coach and the leader of the defense. He was a highly successful DC in his time in the league so maybe talent does play a role?

[smuggler]

About the only thing that might save us is the 49ers only have an average pass-blocking line. Other than their LT, they are pretty meh. Sadly, Gary has gone MIA and we just lost Engabare. We might not be in a position for the edge guys to exploit it, but maybe Clark, Wyatt, and Brooks can do some work...

Getting the early lead might be pretty imporant to slow down their run game.

[RashanGary]

The other interesting thing about Joe Barry’s time as a defensive coordinator is that the year before he got to Washington they were 28th in points against. Then 17th and 19th with Barry and then back to 28th after he left.

Let’s say for shits and giggles that talent is part of the performance of a defense. With similar talent, Joe Barry was significantly better during his years than the DC before and after him.

How does that work?


I’m really not being a contrarian, I just can’t get over how much this Joe Barry hate has steam rolled. And I was already being critical of it before Jaire and Savage came back, so seeing the secondary play so much better with the weak links out just emboldened me more to harp on how silly you guys sound.

[Bretsky]

Joe Barry can go yesterday IMO. I think his game plans overall are sub par and predictable, and he doesn't adjust well.

[texaspackerbacker]

Owens has been better in coverage than he gets credit for. Rudy Ford did a damn good job as a Safety. Keisan Nixon had a few bad moments, but he also had some excellent ones - way more good than bad IMO. V and B -allentine both were above average cover Corners in comparison to the league in general, and in zone, arguably they played better than Jaire.

The jury is still out on Joe Barry IMO. His D has had a string of good games, and especially in the last one, it was scheme/changing things up in an effective way that did it. Hopefully that string continues this week. I and most people thought pressure was the key against Dak and the Cowboys. Joe knew better. I'm thinking again that we need a healthy dose of pressure on Purdy along with some switching to the umbrella coverage we saw against the Cowboys. We'll see what Joe thinks about that and if it works.

[run pMc]

The other interesting thing about Joe Barry’s time as a defensive coordinator is that the year before he got to Washington they were 28th in points against. Then 17th and 19th with Barry and then back to 28th after he left.

Let’s say for shits and giggles that talent is part of the performance of a defense. With similar talent, Joe Barry was significantly better during his years than the DC before and after him.

How does that work?

It can work a number of ways: the teams you face, injuries, roster construction, luck, etc. Being ranked 17th is still bottom half, although barely. GB's defenses have often been ok to good in points against, but at leasst some of that is masked by the pace of their offense. Rodgers milked the clock all the way down to 0 constantly, and they have had a very slow pace offense (comparing # of plays and TOP) under MLF. If your offense is on the field, your defense isn't giving up points.

[texaspackerbacker]

LaFleur was smart to take the ball rather than defer, as Barry's D generally is better at the beginning of a game than it is after the opponent adjusts and he tends to not be good at countering the adjustment. Jump on them early, get a stop, then jump on them again, and maybe you limit the things they can do.

[MadtownPacker]

I agree, the decision to take the ball may have been the game winner. Packers came right out and punched the cowboys in the mouth. Put them in a daze that wouldn’t wear off. The equivalent of walking up to a group of motherfuckers and knocking out the baddest one. The rest of the crew immediately doubts how tough they really are. I’m still kinda blown away how dominating it was.

Should they do the same thing Saturday if presented?

[George Cumby]

I agree, the decision to take the ball may have been the game winner. Packers came right out and punched the cowboys in the mouth. Put them in a daze that wouldn’t wear off. The equivalent of walking up to a group of motherfuckers and knocking out the baddest one. The rest of the crew immediately doubts how tough they really are. I’m still kinda blown away how dominating it was.

Should they do the same thing Saturday if presented?

Fuck yes.

We are gonna' take this ball and fucking score and there is nothing you can do about it.

[Fritz]

I agree, the decision to take the ball may have been the game winner. Packers came right out and punched the cowboys in the mouth. Put them in a daze that wouldn’t wear off. The equivalent of walking up to a group of motherfuckers and knocking out the baddest one. The rest of the crew immediately doubts how tough they really are. I’m still kinda blown away how dominating it was.

Should they do the same thing Saturday if presented?

Nah. If the Packers win the toss, they should take the ball, then come out and punch the Niners in the nutsack.

Weirdly, Tex makes a rational point about Barry's defenses and posts what seems to me to be a thoughtful post.

I wonder if he's passed out and his wife is now posting as "Tex." Ya never know.

[texaspackerbacker]

I'd say yes because of Barry.

[Joemailman]

Based on EPA, Packers and 49ers basically the same since week 12.

[QBME]

Based on EPA, Packers and 49ers basically the same since week 12.

Help a fellow Rat out - what is EPA?

[Joemailman]

Help a fellow Rat out - what is EPA?

Expected Points Added (EPA) is a commonly used advanced statistic in football. In short, this stat measures how well a team performs compared to their expectation on a play-by-play basis. EPA and EPA per Play, along with other stats using EPA, can help us evaluate team and player performance.

In this table, the further to the right you are, the better your offense. The closer to the top you are, the better the defense.

[QBME]

In this table, the further to the right you are, the better your offense. The closer to the top you are, the better the defense.

So the goal is to flat line along either the x or y axis or more preferably shoot a 45 degree?

[smuggler]

So the goal is to flat line along either the x or y axis or more preferably shoot a 45 degree?

Top right diagonal stripe contains the best overall teams and then teams get progressively worse as you approach the bottom left stripe. GB/SF are effectively neutral in this comparison.

[Fritz]

Help a fellow Rat out - what is EPA?

It's the Environmental Protection Agency, but how that applies to football, I do not know.

Odd to me that no one's really mentioned the Nick Bosa interview, in which he talks about how Rodgers, HOFer and all, often went so far oft script nobody knew what he was running. Then Bosa said maybe it was better that Love just did what the coaches wanted.

Stenavich more or less confirmed the Rodgers part of it, saying that sometimes the Packer sideline didn't even know what Rodgers had just run. So if the offensive coaches don't know, how the hell were the young players supposed to know? And as has been pointed out, that made it near-impossible to set up plays for later cuz The Flower didn't really know what Rodgers was going to do. Sounds like Rodgers was playing 3-D chess but only about three guys on the offense knew what that was, because Rodgers would change things last-second with his Martian hand signals and blips and buzzes - no wonder the young guys couldn't get up to speed. Rodgers may have seen things no one else could see, but if he couldn't get that info to the whole offense in a manageable amount of time, and if he couldn't fit it into a bigger strategy, then it sounds like it might've been really tough at times.

It sure sounds like LeFleur is able to run strategy for a game instead of just tactics play-to-play as Rodgers seemed to do. Sounds like it's easier for the young guys, too.

Man, this team has a good vibe right now. Instead of being the older, favored team with the weight of expectations, these guys are young and loose and playing hard and fast. I couldn't believe that was a Green Bay defense out there flying around against Dallas.

I think this team is in a better mental and emotional place to take out the Niners than the last two Packer playoff teams were. They really do seem on a hot streak.

I hope it's a fun game. Especially for the Packers.

[MadtownPacker]

Thought Tex is the only one here who doesn’t consume alcohol.

But he could be passed out after playing tennis and getting laid.