Principle vs. Reality for Ted Thompson

[SMACKTALKIE]

From ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert

They tricked us. Or, at least, they fooled me.

When Green Bay acknowledged this winter it was shifting to a 3-4 defense, my thoughts moved immediately to free agency. Finally! Packers general manager Ted Thompson would be forced to dabble in a market he has historically disdained. After all, the Packers were built as a 4-3 team and it's unreasonable to expect every player can make the transition. You figured the Packers would need at least one or two new veteran starters to smooth out the makeover.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfcnorth/0-9-149/Principle-vs--reality-for-Ted-Thompson.html

[mission]

Decent article, but :

The Bears went 9-7 and lost three games after leading late in the fourth quarter. The Packers, on the other hand, dropped seven of their final nine games and produced the ninth-worst record in the NFL. To stand pat after a 6-10 season is to stake your career on the idea that it was an aberration rather than a sign of long-term trouble.

How do modify a 9-7 record by talking about how they lost three games after leading in the fourth quarter without even a mention of our (what was it?) seven losses by 4 points? I don't know if those (my) numbers are right but it seems like a pretty important exclusion in this case.

[Lurker64]

At the same time though, it is important to note that our base defensive formation this year is the same as our base defensive formation last year when three guys take a step and Kampman puts his hand on the ground. It's not a ridiculous transition.

I would be willing to bet that more than anybody, it's Capers who's comfortable with the defensive talent after a few draft picks. The man does know quite a bit about defense, after all.

[sharpe1027]

Thompson being exposed to high accountability has nothing to do with how many FAs he signs and everything to do with how well the Packers do. If he signed a bunch of FAs, does he get a magical pass this year? The writer seems to try to make some sort of profound statement, but fails miserably.

[CaptainKickass]

I find myself wondering just how long ago did TT/MM decide they wanted to transition to the 3-4 defense.

Is it ridiculous to speculate that they may have been drafting for this very transition since before last years draft?

I'm also curious to know what some other 3-4 coaches or scouts would think of the current talent on the Packer D with regards to using a 3-4 Defense.

[retailguy]

[Merlin]

Thompson got himself a 2-3 year pass with the switch to the 3-4. Now he has an excuse for the next two seasons if things don't go well. If we bomb in 2009 it's because of the "new" defense and it "takes time", like the ZBS we still haven't mastered in 3 seasons. There is always an excuse for Thompson to keep his job and I am sure if we aren't successful in 2009 there will be another one that extends his tenure another 2-3 years. 4 years under Thompson and still his loyal followers see things like he does "I like who we have here" and "I hope we are successful". Coming off of a bad season and the only move we make is to fire the DC? Sound familiar?

[sharpe1027]

Thompson got himself a 2-3 year pass with the switch to the 3-4. Now he has an excuse for the next two seasons if things don't go well. If we bomb in 2009 it's because of the "new" defense and it "takes time", like the ZBS we still haven't mastered in 3 seasons. There is always an excuse for Thompson to keep his job and I am sure if we aren't successful in 2009 there will be another one that extends his tenure another 2-3 years. 4 years under Thompson and still his loyal followers see things like he does "I like who we have here" and "I hope we are successful". Coming off of a bad season and the only move we make is to fire the DC? Sound familiar?

Honestly, what will you say if they were to win the Division this year? I want to hold you to it, so think long and hard before you answer.

I will tell you right now that if they don't make the playoffs, I will be all for a new staff.

I guess if I am going to be accused of having "rose colored" glasses for wanting to giving our GM and head coach another year, then maybe you are using "piss colored" glasses for not recognizing a team that is only one year removed from playing the NFC championship game to a near tie?

[Waldo]

Decent article, but :

The Bears went 9-7 and lost three games after leading late in the fourth quarter. The Packers, on the other hand, dropped seven of their final nine games and produced the ninth-worst record in the NFL. To stand pat after a 6-10 season is to stake your career on the idea that it was an aberration rather than a sign of long-term trouble.

How do modify a 9-7 record by talking about how they lost three games after leading in the fourth quarter without even a mention of our (what was it?) seven losses by 4 points? I don't know if those (my) numbers are right but it seems like a pretty important exclusion in this case.

The Packers were losing in 3 games in 2008 with 5:00 to play in the 4th. Winning or tied in all 13 others.

[Packnut]

2009 Season

This is just Teddy being Teddy. After the Giants ran at will against us in the Championship game, Teddy decided it was nothing but an aberration. Then the 2008 season came and proved Teddy was WRONG once again as everyone ripped our run D apart.

Thompson has severely over-rated the talent he has put together on the defensive side of the ball. I chuckle everytime someone here mentions Hunter or Bishop (am I the only one who remembers the RB blowing by him on his way to a long TD reception?) or some of the other back-ups we have as starting material. They sucked in the 4-3 and they will suck in the 3-4.

I also first thought this move was made to give Teddy more time, but I now believe the natives are very restless and his time is limited if he is wrong again.

[Bossman641]

Thompson got himself a 2-3 year pass with the switch to the 3-4. Now he has an excuse for the next two seasons if things don't go well. If we bomb in 2009 it's because of the "new" defense and it "takes time", like the ZBS we still haven't mastered in 3 seasons. There is always an excuse for Thompson to keep his job and I am sure if we aren't successful in 2009 there will be another one that extends his tenure another 2-3 years. 4 years under Thompson and still his loyal followers see things like he does "I like who we have here" and "I hope we are successful". Coming off of a bad season and the only move we make is to fire the DC? Sound familiar?

Honestly, what will you say if they were to win the Division this year? I want to hold you to it, so think long and hard before you answer.

I will tell you right now that if they don't make the playoffs, I will be all for a new staff.

I guess if I am going to be accused of having "rose colored" glasses for wanting to giving our GM and head coach another year, then maybe you are using "piss colored" glasses for not recognizing a team that is only one year removed from playing the NFC championship game to a near tie?

He'll do the same thing he did when they went to the NFC Championship Game: he won't show up around here again until they start to struggle again. Then he will pretend the success never happened. We've seen it before.

[Dylan McKay]

The way I look at it, is that Thompson would be under even more pressure if he would have signed 85% of the free agents out there because I don't think this team would be all that much better with overpaying the minimum amount of talent that hits the free agent market each year. The Packers now are comfortable salary cap wise when it comes to signing all of their own talent.

I guess with the switch to the 3-4 I expected to see a couple of more free agents on the defensive side of the ball, but that is not how Thompson works as a GM, he is going to put a majority of his eggs in his ability to scout college talent and build the Packers through his drafting ability.

That is reality.

[RashanGary]

I think the reality is that it seems like a good idea to pay whatever the price is to get top tier FA's, it's not nearly as good in practice.

Teams that win championships in todays football do not use FA very often. Ted wants to win a championship. I'm all for shooting for a championship too.

[Bretsky]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdUr5hF0yGc

I picture TTT putting in the word free agency instead of playoffs for a realistic video bit for Packer fans

[HarveyWallbangers]

It isn't too hard to see that, like it or not, Thompson is saving up the cap space to resign the players that that he wants that will be FAs soon.