Bretsky
10-20-2006, 07:54 AM
Defense has regressed under Sanders
New coordinator under some fire
By ROB REISCHEL
Special to Packer Plus
Posted: Oct. 18, 2006
Green Bay - What about Bob?
This is one of the first questions being asked these days by Packer Nation. Whether it's Internet chat rooms, talk radio or via a simple conversation with the guy on the next bar stool, Green Bay fans seem to be wondering two things when it comes to beleaguered defensive coordinator Bob Sanders.
First, why has Green Bay's defense regressed immensely under the guidance of Sanders? Second, does Sanders have the knowledge and communication skills to spearhead a revival?
Of the dozen or so Green Bay players surveyed recently, none had a solution to question No. 1. When it came to the second query, though, they all seemed to have faith in Sanders.
"Coach Sanders isn't the problem," Packers defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. "I just think he's new. It's his first time doing this and I think he has some adjusting to do.
"He has a lot of new players and players that need to adjust to him. It's just one of those things where everybody needs to adjust and have faith in everybody else."
Added defensive tackle Colin Cole: "You can't place all the blame on what's going on here on coach Sanders. He doesn't play the game. He just coaches it."
Just how well Sanders coaches it is a hot debate these days.
Under the direction of Jim Bates, Green Bay's defense was one of the more surprising units in football in 2005. The Packers finished seventh in total defense, No. 1 against the pass and ranked in a tie for 19th in points allowed (21.5).
Green Bay brought nearly that entire unit back in 2006 and felt it had upgraded by replacing defensive tackle Grady Jackson with Ryan Pickett, weakside linebacker Robert Thomas with A.J. Hawk and cornerback Ahmad Carroll with Charles Woodson.
With roughly one-third of the season complete, though, the Packers have gone backward in virtually every major statistical category.
The biggest slide has come in passing defense, where Green Bay has inexplicably gone from first to worst.
After allowing 179.8 yards per game last season, Green Bay is now giving up 275.8 and has plummeted to 32nd.
The Packers are an extremely disappointing 31st in total defense, allowing 378.0 yards per game - 84.9 more than a year ago.
But where the Packers have been stung the worst is on the scoreboard. Green Bay has allowed 27.6 points per game, which ranks 31st in the NFL, ahead of only San Francisco (32.3). Since 1959, the only Green Bay teams to allow more points in the first five games came in 1986 (31.2) and 2004 (28.4).
"I don't know what the problem is," defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila said. "I wish I did and then we could just go and fix it. But I don't know it."
The easy answer is to point to Sanders, who had never been a coordinator at the NFL level before this season.
Sanders, who spent 22 years coaching at the collegiate level, worked under Bates in Miami from 2001-'04 as his linebackers coach. Bates then brought Sanders to Green Bay to coach the defensive ends in 2005.
When Mike McCarthy beat out Bates for the head coaching job, Bates rejected McCarthy's offer to stay on and run the defense. Finally, nine days after McCarthy was named head coach, he chose the route of continuity and tagged Sanders to be his defensive coordinator.
Sanders hasn't changed Bates' scheme or much of the terminology. But the results have been night and day.
"It's not surprising," safety Nick Collins said. "We just have new guys, you know. Everybody doesn't know everybody yet."
When Dick Bennett turned the University of Wisconsin men's basketball coaching reigns over to Brad Soderberg three games into the 2000-'01 season, Soderberg left virtually everything the same, too. But Badgers fans quickly found out the coach is more important than the system.
Green Bay might be realizing that right now with Sanders, as well.
While Sanders has done very little tinkering with Bates' system, the two men are polar opposites when it comes to personality and coaching styles.
Bates was a hard-charger who did his teaching with a hands-on approach and had no problem getting in the face of a player. Sanders is more reserved and does much of his teaching in the classroom.
There's no right or wrong way to coach. For whatever reason, though, the Bates way has produced greater results for most of the players.
"Where we are right now isn't Coach Sanders' fault," Gbaja-Biamila said. "He's doing exactly the same things coach Bates did last year.
"It's on us. We're not getting the job done right now as players. Coach Sanders was my (position) coach last year. I know how good of a coach he is."
The evidence right now doesn't back it up.
In addition to major slippage in most categories, Green Bay has had communication problems and lined up with either too many or too few men in each of the last two games.
Sanders had the bye week to fix that, and several other glaring weaknesses. If improvement isn't shown over the final 11 games, Green Bay could be looking for its fifth defensive coordinator in as many years once the season ends.
"The whole start to the year has been very frustrating," Jenkins said. "I feel like our offense has been playing pretty good for the most part. They're putting up points on the board.
"And I feel like as a defense, we're letting them down. We're not helping out as much as we should by allowing that many points, making our offense have to work too hard. So, we need to get that taken care of."
New coordinator under some fire
By ROB REISCHEL
Special to Packer Plus
Posted: Oct. 18, 2006
Green Bay - What about Bob?
This is one of the first questions being asked these days by Packer Nation. Whether it's Internet chat rooms, talk radio or via a simple conversation with the guy on the next bar stool, Green Bay fans seem to be wondering two things when it comes to beleaguered defensive coordinator Bob Sanders.
First, why has Green Bay's defense regressed immensely under the guidance of Sanders? Second, does Sanders have the knowledge and communication skills to spearhead a revival?
Of the dozen or so Green Bay players surveyed recently, none had a solution to question No. 1. When it came to the second query, though, they all seemed to have faith in Sanders.
"Coach Sanders isn't the problem," Packers defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. "I just think he's new. It's his first time doing this and I think he has some adjusting to do.
"He has a lot of new players and players that need to adjust to him. It's just one of those things where everybody needs to adjust and have faith in everybody else."
Added defensive tackle Colin Cole: "You can't place all the blame on what's going on here on coach Sanders. He doesn't play the game. He just coaches it."
Just how well Sanders coaches it is a hot debate these days.
Under the direction of Jim Bates, Green Bay's defense was one of the more surprising units in football in 2005. The Packers finished seventh in total defense, No. 1 against the pass and ranked in a tie for 19th in points allowed (21.5).
Green Bay brought nearly that entire unit back in 2006 and felt it had upgraded by replacing defensive tackle Grady Jackson with Ryan Pickett, weakside linebacker Robert Thomas with A.J. Hawk and cornerback Ahmad Carroll with Charles Woodson.
With roughly one-third of the season complete, though, the Packers have gone backward in virtually every major statistical category.
The biggest slide has come in passing defense, where Green Bay has inexplicably gone from first to worst.
After allowing 179.8 yards per game last season, Green Bay is now giving up 275.8 and has plummeted to 32nd.
The Packers are an extremely disappointing 31st in total defense, allowing 378.0 yards per game - 84.9 more than a year ago.
But where the Packers have been stung the worst is on the scoreboard. Green Bay has allowed 27.6 points per game, which ranks 31st in the NFL, ahead of only San Francisco (32.3). Since 1959, the only Green Bay teams to allow more points in the first five games came in 1986 (31.2) and 2004 (28.4).
"I don't know what the problem is," defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila said. "I wish I did and then we could just go and fix it. But I don't know it."
The easy answer is to point to Sanders, who had never been a coordinator at the NFL level before this season.
Sanders, who spent 22 years coaching at the collegiate level, worked under Bates in Miami from 2001-'04 as his linebackers coach. Bates then brought Sanders to Green Bay to coach the defensive ends in 2005.
When Mike McCarthy beat out Bates for the head coaching job, Bates rejected McCarthy's offer to stay on and run the defense. Finally, nine days after McCarthy was named head coach, he chose the route of continuity and tagged Sanders to be his defensive coordinator.
Sanders hasn't changed Bates' scheme or much of the terminology. But the results have been night and day.
"It's not surprising," safety Nick Collins said. "We just have new guys, you know. Everybody doesn't know everybody yet."
When Dick Bennett turned the University of Wisconsin men's basketball coaching reigns over to Brad Soderberg three games into the 2000-'01 season, Soderberg left virtually everything the same, too. But Badgers fans quickly found out the coach is more important than the system.
Green Bay might be realizing that right now with Sanders, as well.
While Sanders has done very little tinkering with Bates' system, the two men are polar opposites when it comes to personality and coaching styles.
Bates was a hard-charger who did his teaching with a hands-on approach and had no problem getting in the face of a player. Sanders is more reserved and does much of his teaching in the classroom.
There's no right or wrong way to coach. For whatever reason, though, the Bates way has produced greater results for most of the players.
"Where we are right now isn't Coach Sanders' fault," Gbaja-Biamila said. "He's doing exactly the same things coach Bates did last year.
"It's on us. We're not getting the job done right now as players. Coach Sanders was my (position) coach last year. I know how good of a coach he is."
The evidence right now doesn't back it up.
In addition to major slippage in most categories, Green Bay has had communication problems and lined up with either too many or too few men in each of the last two games.
Sanders had the bye week to fix that, and several other glaring weaknesses. If improvement isn't shown over the final 11 games, Green Bay could be looking for its fifth defensive coordinator in as many years once the season ends.
"The whole start to the year has been very frustrating," Jenkins said. "I feel like our offense has been playing pretty good for the most part. They're putting up points on the board.
"And I feel like as a defense, we're letting them down. We're not helping out as much as we should by allowing that many points, making our offense have to work too hard. So, we need to get that taken care of."