Capers' Accountability

[The Shadow]

If you were given :
Clay Matthews, Charles Woodson, BJ Raji, Tramon Williams, Ryan Pickett, Bishop & Hawk - would your defense come in LAST in the NFL?
I think not.
When your only wrinkle is to blitz Charles Woodson constantly, I think your status as a 'defensive genius' is open to scrutiny.
And how can a defense go an entire season without the secondary 'being on the same page'?????? Are Whitt & Perry the answer?

[pbmax]

Well, Tramon played like death warmed over in coverage for a significant part of the season and even when he regained some of his form, he tackled horribly. BJ regressed a little despite being counted on to deliver in the NT position and Hawk is very limited though he did have an active game yesterday. Plus Woodson is not what he once was in coverage or the blitz either.

So with Matthews and Bishop and Pickett, yes, I could see finishing last in yards gained.

[mmmdk]

Well, Tramon played like death warmed over in coverage for a significant part of the season and even when he regained some of his form, he tackled horribly. BJ regressed a little despite being counted on to deliver in the NT position and Hawk is very limited though he did have an active game yesterday. Plus Woodson is not what he once was in coverage or the blitz either.

So with Matthews and Bishop and Pickett, yes, I could see finishing last in yards gained.

Some D players had a down year, some are truly declining and there's no doubt we tend to overrate our own players at times. Our defense talent is overrated but thank goodness that our offense is the real deal sans the true talent and depth of the O-line.

Btw, glad I wasn't the only one thinking Hawk played fine sunday...ya see? Probably overrating Hawk right there!

[Tarlam!]

Well, Tramon played like death warmed over in coverage for a significant part of the season and even when he regained some of his form, he tackled horribly.

Sorry to pick this critique out, PB. It one of a coupla dozen saying TW played poorly.

A few weeks ago Joe Whitt Jr. came out and stuck up for Tramon. He said they had him playing on an island oftentimes on the opponents' #1 WR. Whitt said they were forced to play him that way for some reason that I don't recall. He went on to say that, despite the obvious that the fan sees, Tramon was playing the position as designed and didn't complain once, despite being set up to be burned.

I remember thinking the coaches must be mad setting him up for failure.

[KalamazooPackerFan]

There's all kinds of reasons the defense gave aup as many yards as it did, leaving us always at risk for a game like Sundays where theoffense being outof sync can't be overcome. One major factor I think is the prioritizing of getting turnovers over tackiling, over assignments and over sound fundamental coverage. Regardless of the validity of that and all the other reasons the defense was a constant disaster waiting to happen, Capers is accountable. He's the DC on a team with an offensive minded head coach. I'm nowhere near ready to give up on him, he's been too good for too long, but some serious self study is needed not too mention assessment of his assistants.

[packrulz]

The D actually stuffs the run pretty good, the guys that should be worried are Walden, Peprah, and Bush. If Collins can't make it back, they should move Woodson to safety.

[pbmax]

Sorry to pick this critique out, PB. It one of a coupla dozen saying TW played poorly.

A few weeks ago Joe Whitt Jr. came out and stuck up for Tramon. He said they had him playing on an island oftentimes on the opponents' #1 WR. Whitt said they were forced to play him that way for some reason that I don't recall. He went on to say that, despite the obvious that the fan sees, Tramon was playing the position as designed and didn't complain once, despite being set up to be burned.

I remember thinking the coaches must be mad setting him up for failure.

Don't recall the article but if you find it I'd like to see it. Its possible he was a victim by design but he also played poorly after his return from injury.

I have little doubt he was prefers press man to the off coverage (McGinn identified the dominant coverage this year as Cover 4) the Packers used and received less help from the safeties.

But Tramon's greatest strength was keeping close tabs on the receiver and being in a position to make a play on the ball or rec. quickly. He rarely found himself in that position this year. Late in the season he repeated retreated and tracked the receiver and as soon as the receiver broke, TWill would look for the ball back towards the pocket. The receiver and QB seemed to know this and the first WR move would be a feint and the receiver would then move somewhere else and be wide open. It happened in the Giants game once that I saw live and another that I saw on replay (though this could have been the same play).

[ND72]

Capers was trying to create something out of nothing sometimes. If we were in our base 3-4, Wilson & Wynn were horrible, and the OLB on their side either Walden, Zombo, or Jones were horrible, so there is a weakness. Tramon was not the 2010 Tramon, Woodson was trying to do more than he is able to, Burnett was essentially having his rookie season, and Peprah is a joke. If we were in any other defense, the 2-4-5, we then lacked run support, and if Bush was in he's just as bad as Peprah, so there are more weaknesses. If we truly want our defense to improve, we need to replace the a DE, OLB, and S to start with unless Collins is able to come back. Then we need to hope that Shields continues to develop, but we need another DB caues Bush, Lee, Peprah should all be gone.

[ZachMN]

The Defense plays the way it does because MM wants to play that way! Another poster mentioned priority of turnovers over tackling and that is what I see week after week after week. MM is the head coach- he tells Dom what he wants and that's it unless he can't see what EVERYONE with a pair of eyes sees. MM is responsible plain and simple for the BS way they play defense! Can't be consistent with that and consistency is what matters- Run what You 'Brung and hope you 'Brung Enough! (I do recall MM describing the way he wants defense played and it was exactly how this bs crap of defense looked all year!)

[Smeefers]

I think the pass rush needs to drastically improve. How long do you expect db's to cover wr's? Maybe 4 seconds at most? People have had all day to throw against us all year long. That's where the problem is. We need to at the very least be able to get occasional pressure with 4 and create serious pressure with 5 rushing the qb. If you put even a little bit of pressure on qb's, their completions go down and it doesn't give time for those deep tosses to develop.

[Smidgeon]

Anyone want Peprah to start over Burnett next year?

[Smidgeon]

The Defense plays the way it does because MM wants to play that way! Another poster mentioned priority of turnovers over tackling and that is what I see week after week after week. MM is the head coach- he tells Dom what he wants and that's it unless he can't see what EVERYONE with a pair of eyes sees. MM is responsible plain and simple for the BS way they play defense! Can't be consistent with that and consistency is what matters- Run what You 'Brung and hope you 'Brung Enough! (I do recall MM describing the way he wants defense played and it was exactly how this bs crap of defense looked all year!)

You really think MM doesn't want his team to tackle?

[Cheesehead Craig]

You really think MM doesn't want his team to tackle?

MM secretly wants the defense to be poor so he can get his shiny offense on the field and show the world what it can do. It's all a big conspiracy by him.

[Pugger]

Capers was trying to create something out of nothing sometimes. If we were in our base 3-4, Wilson & Wynn were horrible, and the OLB on their side either Walden, Zombo, or Jones were horrible, so there is a weakness. Tramon was not the 2010 Tramon, Woodson was trying to do more than he is able to, Burnett was essentially having his rookie season, and Peprah is a joke. If we were in any other defense, the 2-4-5, we then lacked run support, and if Bush was in he's just as bad as Peprah, so there are more weaknesses. If we truly want our defense to improve, we need to replace the a DE, OLB, and S to start with unless Collins is able to come back. Then we need to hope that Shields continues to develop, but we need another DB caues Bush, Lee, Peprah should all be gone.

Like someone said on Packerchatters yesterday, Capers was trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit all season.

[Pugger]

The Defense plays the way it does because MM wants to play that way! Another poster mentioned priority of turnovers over tackling and that is what I see week after week after week. MM is the head coach- he tells Dom what he wants and that's it unless he can't see what EVERYONE with a pair of eyes sees. MM is responsible plain and simple for the BS way they play defense! Can't be consistent with that and consistency is what matters- Run what You 'Brung and hope you 'Brung Enough! (I do recall MM describing the way he wants defense played and it was exactly how this bs crap of defense looked all year!)

Nonsense. If this were true why did the defense play so much better the past 2 seasons?

[ND72]

Like someone said on Packerchatters yesterday, Capers was trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit all season.

And Bishop & Hawk didn't play at the level they did last year, so you had Matthews who was obviously trying to do more than he should, and Woodson trying to do more than he should.

[PA Pack Fan]

And Bishop & Hawk didn't play at the level they did last year, so you had Matthews who was obviously trying to do more than he should, and Woodson trying to do more than he should.

I don't think Mathews did either.

[LEWCWA]

For my money, I saw the D winning early downs consistantly sunday. 3rd and longs all day were picked up, because they play 8 man coverage with 3 man rush. Only superb rushers are going to get any pressure with a 3 man rush. Later in the game they started bringing pressure and it worked for awhile, enough to keep the pathetic offense in the game. Like anything though when the Offense gives the ball away, we kick an onside kick early in the game the D just wore down.....to blame this game on the D is ludicrous.

[LEWCWA]

Seems to me Capers played conservative all year, counting on the offense to score a bunch and the other team to make enough mistakes to win the game. That philosophy is fine in certain situations, but sometimes you just have to take the game to the other team. I feel that with the Offense being so high octane you wouldn't mind taking chances on D and really come after the other team, but it seems Capers and MM thought differently.

[ZachMN]

Nonsense?!?!?!?! MM is the Head coach and he TOLERATES this defense! Yeah he wants an aggressive defense that emphasizes takeaways at the expense of fundamentals!

Per the TMQ:

"Now about the Green Bay defense. It finished last in the league; Packers faithful said this was because Green Bay was often so far ahead that the defense faced a lot of extra snaps from teams with no chance to win, allowing opponents to pad their yardage. Against the Giants, Green Bay was behind the entire game. The "we're just cleaning up for the offense" excuse did not apply. And the defense was cover-your-eyes awful.

Jersey/A converted eight of 16 third downs. On six of the eight conversions, the Packers blitzed, which meant someone would be open. If you're going to blitz you'd better get to the quarterback, which Green Bay did only once. During the season, the Green Bay defense compensated for its yards allowed by 31 interceptions, as the Packers finished second in the NFL with plus-24 in give/take. Sunday, Green Bay was minus-three in give/take as the defense got the ball only once. Maybe emphasizing fundamentals on defense would have been a better plan for Green Bay.

TMQ supposed last week that one reason for this season's offensive stat-a-rama is that: "Today's defensive players are bored by topics like tackling fundamentals or stripping blockers so a teammate can make the play: They want to generate flashy 'SportsCenter' visuals." I cited the Packers as my example. What did the Packers' defense do versus the Giants? Tried for flashy plays instead of using fundamentals.

Game tied at 3, Hakeem Nicks caught a short pass over the middle. Packers safety Charlie Peprah had the angle for a routine wrap-up tackle. Instead he hurled himself into Nicks, trying to make Nicks fly sideways for a SportsCenter-class highlight play. Nicks bounced off the poor-form tackle attempt and went 66 yards for a touchdown. "

Make apologies for that crap- they were bad the year they lost to Arizona- they aren't allowing mega yards to just high powered offenses- they allow every team to go insane against them!! Most teams could forgo suiting up their punter against us!

PLUEEEEEEZ take off the green and gold goggles!