Is this simply frustration with the players, or is MM starting to run out of patience with his defensive coaching staff? He's stuck with Capers for a long time, but he's fired his defensive coaching staff before."We need to tackle the damn ball carrier and put him on the ground," he said. "That's what we'll be focused on."
I hope the latter. The players, mostly, are there.Originally Posted by Joemailman
"We need to tackle the damn ball carrier and put him on the ground," he said. "That's what we'll be focused on."When I hear this kind of thing from McCarthy, I get frustrated. It's kind of like the Sales Manager of a declining company saying: "We've got to go out and beat the bushes and close sales." As PB might say, it's just "word salad."
There is definitely something wrong in Green Bay and it's been wrong for some time. The Packers' defense is a mess. In a big game against an elite QB the defense got gashed for 200 yards on the ground and 300 yards through the air.
What's the answer? "We need to tackle the damn ball carrier." Well, tackling the ball carrier helps, but the problems run deeper than that.
PERSONNEL -- The Packers are undersized and under-manned on the D-line. The Saints had five guys on their O-line who are well over 300 lbs. The Pack's D-line is barely over 300 lbs. per man. Two of these men are untested rookies. And this undersizing is by design. Bigger, tested D-linemen like Pickett and Jolly have been available all season after Raji went down, but the Packers' brain trust passed on them.
SCHEME -- So, what is Dom Capers' answer to this intentional mismatch? Play only two D-lineman! That didn't work out too well against the Saints, so reportedly Dom is reconsidering. According to Rob Demovsky:
"Capers might have to decide whether he can continue to play his undersized nickel package, which features just two defensive linemen, as his primary defensive look."
While Stubby rages about putting the ball carrier on the ground, Dom doesn't seem too worried:
Are you kidding me? He has seen his team "have our moments" of good run defense?"I’ve seen us through the first half of the season play pretty good run defense, so I feel like we can," defensive coordinator Dom Capers insisted Monday. "You look at last night, you might question it a little bit. But I've seen us have our moments where we've played good run defense. That's what we've got to do this second half. We know when you have something like that you get tested, and you get tested until you take care of it."
Now that's the sense of urgency Stubby is no doubt looking for out of his Defensive Coordinator!
To be fair to Dom, I've seen the Packers' run defense have its moments too, but it's been damn few and far between.
HEAD COACHING -- However, Stubby doesn't want to talk about scheme and personnel, which I have just done:
Yes, our 200 lb. DB's need to fill the gaps between those 300+ offensive linemen and stay square. I can see that."Everybody wants to talk about scheme and personnel," McCarthy said. "That's something that you’re always weighing or looking at. Or are there other individuals who deserve opportunities? Can we use other individuals a certain way? That's really what we talk about as coaches day-in and day-out. Our issue is on run D are fundamental. We need to do a better job of staying square [and] getting in our gaps."
In my judgement the real problem IS scheme and personnel. Our personnel have been tailored to fit Capers' scheme and we're paying the price for it.
One time Lombardi was disgusted with the team in practice and told them they were going to have to start with the basics. He held up a ball and said: "This is a football." McGee immediately called out, "Stop, coach, you're going too fast," and that gave everyone a laugh.
John Maxymuk, Packers By The Numbers
Actually, the Packers have played decent (not outstanding) run defense in half their games. The problem is they've played terrible run defense in the other half. And it's not like the teams that have run over them are so much better running the ball than the other teams. They've just been maddeningly inconsistent when it comes to playing the run. I think that's what has MM so frustrated. It looked like they had had 3 consecutive pretty good weeks, and then New Orleans happened. I don't think the problem is really the scheme, or the lack of size up front. If that were the case, I think they'd be consistently bad unless facing a poor running team. The real problem I think is a combination of poor tackling, and poor gap discipline. Whether the Packers need a wholesale personnel change or a coaching change is the big question. The Packers under Capers will never be a great run-stuffing team because of the amount of nickel Capers uses. But they have shown the ability to play middle-of-the-road run defense which would be good enough if they could do it consistently.
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