Dom Capers?

[Bretsky]

I've never even read of a hint of the Packers offering either a contract. You have to offer the contract in order to "whoo" (I assume you mean woo) or be accused of ponying up anything.

What will happen first

The PR community admits Green Bay offered a DC job to anybody
or
The PR community admits TT offered a free agent contract to anybody

Bretsky, the Packers WILL have a defensive coordinator next season.

And your early stance on all this seemed to be that anybody would be better than Sanders, so MM needed to "grow a pari" I think you wrote, and fire Sanders.

MM obviously fired Sanders. And the team will have a DC next season.

So unless I'm wrong that you were on the "anybody would be better than Sanders" bandwagon, what has changed for you?

Yes, you are right; although I did preface that later indicating if we settle for Moss I'm not sure we're any better off than Vanilla Bob.

Either way with MM out and interviewing everybody I find it incredibly unlikely GB goes back to hiring from within..........and hiring a LB coach whose until didn't play that well last year to boot.

So I'm sure I'll be happy with the DC whether it happens in January or Feb. or March

[Packgator]

as a former HC who was used to calling his own defense, Williams clearly did not want to have to clear things with Del Rio or call his suggestions.

I think you are correct. A (potential) big drawback to hiring a former HC. One that has to be looked at closely when considering such a situation.......regardless of his resume.

[Partial]

from PFT this morning:

The Cowboys are one of only three NFC teams, with the Redskins and Lions, who haven’t been to a conference title game since 1995.

I am telling you, we are going to hire Wade Phillips. I think every fibre of Jerry Jones snare-drum-taut-new-face is itching to hire Shanahan or Gruden. I think his sons may be keeping the newspapers away from him or pulling the plug on the Valley Ranch cable modem.

I'm going to laugh if you're right. You've been on that bus for a good month now!

[Packers4Ever]

If we want Caper where going to have to act fast because Dallas in now interested in him.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/packers.html

unlikely for MM to act fast IMO

Hmmm, maybe it's a case where he has to get permission first
to talk $$ following the interview ??

[pbmax]

Bretsky wins if you can believe the PFT Rumormill. Williams had a contract offer.

[Fred's Slacks]

It's official, Capers is the man:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/37807024.html

[pack4to84]

Even though McDermott theoretically became available Sunday after the Eagles lost the NFC Championship Game, a high-ranking Eagles executive said there was no way the organization would let him out of Philadelphia.

The source said McDermott, 34, had at least another year on his contract. Therefore, coach Andy Reid would deny a request from Green Bay or any other team to interview him.

Looks like last night Reid deny the Packers.

[Fritz]

Even though McDermott theoretically became available Sunday after the Eagles lost the NFC Championship Game, a high-ranking Eagles executive said there was no way the organization would let him out of Philadelphia.

The source said McDermott, 34, had at least another year on his contract. Therefore, coach Andy Reid would deny a request from Green Bay or any other team to interview him.

Looks like last night Reid deny the Packers.

Yes, this makes as much sense as any scenario tossed out there. Except wouldn't MM have gotten some indication earlier already that Reid would not part with McDermott? You can't tell me those guys don't put feelers out there and get responses from other organizations. That's my only sticking point with this theory.

Or maybe MM thought he'd get permission, signals were go, and something changed recently (Jim Johnson's health?) that caused Reid to change his mind.

But I thought Capers was hot to go to NY with Coughlin.Wonder why he jumped at the Packers' offer? I thought he and Coughlin were buds.

[Bretsky]

Bretsky wins if you can believe the PFT Rumormill. Williams had a contract offer.

Of course he had an offer

Just preferred the Saints

[pbmax]

Unless that high-ranking Eagles exec is named Andy Reid, that may not have been the answer. You never know. Fritz has a point about Johnson's back and age perhaps playing a factor.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I missed his stint as DC for Miami. Update below

1992 - Pittsburgh - 2nd (points allowed); 13th (yards allowed)
1993 - Pittsburgh - 8th (points allowed); 3rd (yards allowed)
1994 - Pittsburgh - 2nd (points allowed); 2nd (yards allowed)

1999 - Jacksonville - 1st (points allowed); 4th (yards allowed)
2000 - Jacksonville - 16th (points allowed); 16th (yards allowed)

2006 - Miami - 5th (points allowed); 4th (yards allowed)
2007 - Miami - 30th (points allowed); 23rd (yards allowed)

In 1992, he was DC for a team with a new coach. Pittsburgh's defense ranked 24th in points allowed and 22nd in yards allowed in 1991.

In 1999, he took over as DC for a Jacksonville defense that ranked 17th in points allowed and 25th in yards allowed in 1998.

In 2006, he took over as DC for a Miami defense that ranked 15th in points allowed and 18th in yards allowed in 2005.

Great track record. I'll take him.

Average rank of his defenses = 9th in points allowed and 9th in yards allowed.

If you take out his stint on a diseased Miami team in 2007, the average rank of his defenses = 6th in points allowed and 7th in yards allowed

Average rank of those defenses the year before = 19th in points allowed and 22nd in yards allowed.

[Lurker64]

Even though McDermott theoretically became available Sunday after the Eagles lost the NFC Championship Game, a high-ranking Eagles executive said there was no way the organization would let him out of Philadelphia.

The source said McDermott, 34, had at least another year on his contract. Therefore, coach Andy Reid would deny a request from Green Bay or any other team to interview him.

Looks like last night Reid deny the Packers.

If this is true, then it might explain the timing on the Capers thing. I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it's conceivable that after the NFC Championship McCarthy calls Philly and asks if he can interview McDermott, he is rebuffed. So since McDermott isn't going to be on the market, McCarthy hurries up and puts the full court press on Capers, signing him before Dallas or NY has a chance to.

[rbaloha1]

Even though McDermott theoretically became available Sunday after the Eagles lost the NFC Championship Game, a high-ranking Eagles executive said there was no way the organization would let him out of Philadelphia.

The source said McDermott, 34, had at least another year on his contract. Therefore, coach Andy Reid would deny a request from Green Bay or any other team to interview him.

Looks like last night Reid deny the Packers.

If this is true, then it might explain the timing on the Capers thing. I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it's conceivable that after the NFC Championship McCarthy calls Philly and asks if he can interview McDermott, he is rebuffed. So since McDermott isn't going to be on the market, McCarthy hurries up and puts the full court press on Capers, signing him before Dallas or NY has a chance to.

Not conspiracy -- wise move by TT and MM.

[mission]

Just judging by Capers' track record, we can expect nothing less than a Top 5 defense this season. I'm calling it!





(and *kind of* joking, but not really... i *should* be joking )

[vince]

Bretsky wins if you can believe the PFT Rumormill. Williams had a contract offer.

Of course he had an offer

Just preferred the Saints

Of course he did. Depends on who you want to believe I guess. That was the whole point I and (at the risk of incriminating him) Fritz were making. They may have made an offer to Williams. That was stated all along - but there was no way to know, and certainly no justification for assuming they did with no credible support for that claim, because the press was absolutely clueless throughout this process right through the end. There has been no reason whatsoever to believe what they've said when they have been so consistently wrong.

Here's what Mike Lombardi of the National Football Post says, the Andrew Brandt website who has been more consistently right - insisting that the Packers would be taking their time to find their man - than any publication throughout this process.

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/2009/01/diner-news-around-the-nfl-11/

I love the Packers fans who read our site and I love the passion they have for their team. At times, however, there seems to be some misguided anger toward Packer head coach Mike McCarthy, especially during this process of finding a new defensive coordinator. First, McCarthy decided he wanted to be a 3-4 team, and he started out looking for the right 3-4 man to run his defense. Right or wrong, McCarthy has a plan and knows what he wants; for that fundamental belief, he deserves credit. He has talked to many coaches, but the reality is that he never got to the point of offering the job to anyone. He followed the carpenter’s rule: measure twice, cut once. He took his time, and do not confuse taking time for not knowing what he wanted. At first, I believe McCarthy’s dream scenario was to hire his good friend Greg Manusky, the defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers. Nevertheless, NFL rules prevented him from getting the chance to make that move. Manusky is under contract to the 49ers, and the 49ers would’ve had to give permission for the right to interview, which they clearly did not want to do. Once he was unable to get Manusky, which I’m sure McCarthy knew was a longshot, he went about interviewing all the other candidates and learning from their presentations if they could convince him they should be the Packers’ DC. However, what Mike did well was not buying into the perception or the names of the people. He knew what he wanted, and he made sure he got the desired results. I hear he reviewed all possible candidates and did a complete analysis of them. Often times, a coach will settle for a name or a person — and three months later feel like he made a mistake. I admire what McCarthy did, not backing off his beliefs and searching until he found the person who met his expectations.

Dom Capers will give the Packers a new scheme that will rely on the speed of the defense to make plays and force turnovers. He will need to find the right pieces on the outside to rush the passer. The most important part of Capers’ scheme is the outside rushers, and he will need to invest time and energy in finding those kinds of players.

One rumor making the rounds is that the Giants wanted Capers. Capers was never in the mix in NY, and the Giants were always going to promote from within. Why would the Giants want a coach who is a 3-4 man to run their 4-3 defense?

TT and MM can't close the deal. I'd say that, given Capers shared experience, that says more about the individual who may (or may not) have been offered a deal than it does the Packer organization.

I've been through a lot of interviews both as a head coach and as an assistant coach, and the one thing that really impressed me was from the very beginning, from the initial contact right on through to when I got home, the impression I left with and I told my wife this when I got home, I said this is a class organization. Mark Murphy called me before I came out. I had a great visit with him. You can tell how organized and how detailed people are I think by the way they handle the interview process. It was very professional all the way from when you're picked up at the airport and the accommodations and all those things. Those little things, they make an impression on me because those are the types of things that I always wanted the organizations that I was with, and having had a chance to start two organizations from scratch, that's the type of procedure that you wanted to have, a very organized approach and very detailed approach. And then even being around the facility here and see how things operate, I've been very, very impressed, and I think first impressions are always important.

GBPG, and particularly JSO, should be embarrassed for their cluelessness, misaccusations and unwarranted character assassination of McCarthy and the whole Packer organization. What an absolute joke they have been jumping to wrong conclusions throughout this process. This is the worst I've seen from them yet.