Personnel grouping I'd like to see on defense

[RashanGary]

Recently, Capers said Jenkins has the athletic ability of a big linebacker. So hey, let's use him as such in pass rush situations.


In our 2-4-5 alignment, it would look like this:

Jolly/Raji (interior pass rushers)
Jenkins/Kampman (standing up)


Another thing that would be interesting to see would be a 3-3-5 like this:

Jenkins/Jolly/Raji (interior 3)
Kampman/Mattews (possible outside pass rushers)



Let's look at the 3-3-4 and face it off against a 7-man protection scheme.

5 OL
1 TE
1 RB


Raji and Jenkins are going to be lined up just outside the OT's. Their job is going to be to crash hard into the OT and try to push them inside.

Jolly's job is going to be to hold his ground inside, kind of spying the QB if he tries to escape inside.

Let's say the offense brings their TE to Kampmans side (wanting to give extra protection to Green Bays best outside pass rusher). Now we have Kampman on a TE and Matthews on a running back. Either matchup seems good. Jenkins and Raji could win their matchups. We still have 6 guys in coverage defending 3 recievers. That's a guy jumping short stuff and a guy over the top for every pass catcher.

Talent makes DC's look smart, and with as much good pass rushing talent as we have, there are a few things we can do that will be very hard to protect against.

[sepporepi]

I am not so sure Jolly can hold his ground against 2 Gs and a C....

[RashanGary]

I am not so sure Jolly can hold his ground against 2 Gs and a C....

That's the beauty of it, the DE's are crashing into the OT's, leaving the OLB's with a TE and RB and Jolly (our least effective pass rusher) against 3 lineman. It's a way of setting up mismatches in favor of the defense. It's a way of challenging protection schemes.

[hoosier]

I think the benefit of having a DE who has the athletic ability of a LB and the size of a lineman in the 3-4(Capers is embellishing just a little here for effect) is that you're forcing the opp to use a plodding hippo to try to block him. That advantage is lost if you line him up at OLB. Not to mention that if you start comparing Cullen Jenkins in space to Clay Matthews, Jenkins isn't going to amaze you with his athleticism quite as much!

[RashanGary]

I think we'll see both of the groupings I just listed at some point against some matchups.

I like the 3-3-5 the best. I love the idea of Kampman getting a 1 on 1 with a TE and I love them having to use 7 to block 5.

[superfan]

This defensive scheme certainly seems to offer more variety than the last scheme, and the players on the roster are capable of performing a variety of roles.

It's like the defensive version of the Wildcat. So many different choices. :lol:

Still, it's early and I would prefer to see focus and repetition on the core plays and alignments. I would rather see the defense play consistently good in the new scheme before asking the players to learn even more variations.

[pbmax]

Recently, Capers said Jenkins has the athletic ability of a big linebacker. So hey, let's use him as such in pass rush situations.


In our 2-4-5 alignment, it would look like this:

Jolly/Raji (interior pass rushers)
Jenkins/Kampman (standing up)
Jenkins is not going to be standing up in the normal nickel alignment. WHat we did see was Kampman inside of Jenkins (I think it was Cullen) to create a better, clearer lane to blitz through. But Jenkins will not be DE/OLB except as an exotic look.

[KYPack]

In the nickel they go 2-4-5.

But Kamp takes a charge, rushing the passer.

So it becomes the 3-3-5 you wanna see. Dom has done a great job of learning everyone's strengths and putting 'em in position to make plays.

In one of Raji's first games, he went into coverage on the second snap, so he knows zone blitz already.

[RashanGary]

Sort of, KY. I'd like to see Jolly in there too. Jenkins, Raji and Jolly with Kamp and Matthews.

That is a lot of big guys that can get after the QB. We haven't seen it yet because we don't have Raji back yet. Hopefully we can see it soon. I think that's a tough 5 to block.