A new wrinkle for the 3-4 defense?

[Patler]

Just a thought:

It is doubtful that Capers (or any other DC running a 3-4) has ever had a collection of DBs as skilled at and experienced in man-to-man coverages as Capers will have this year. There aren't all that many CBs that do it real well, and not that many teams use it as much as the Packers have in recent years. The Packers have a stockpile of physical corners, or at least corners that don't mind that style of play.

Capers is said to be a fairly creative guy in molding his defense to the abilities of his players.

Since he will have a somewhat unusual set of skills among his corners, might he now have the opportunity to fashion a new wrinkle for the 3-4 that uses man coverages much more than typical 3-4s? Ten years from now might people talk about the "Capers/Packers 3-4" as another principle variant of the 3-4 concept?

[RashanGary]

The ravens play a lot of man. The pats used to before the bump rule became more strict.

It's not new. The only corner on our roster that is more man than anything is Harris and he's too old to make a full change for.

Blackmon and Bush are useless. I think Lee is useless. I'm all about scrapping those jokers.

[Patler]

Blackmon and Bush are useless. I think Lee is useless. I'm all about scrapping those jokers.

You keep saying it, so I'll keep responding. You are way, way overboard in your criticisms of Blackmon as a corner. He is not nearly as bad as you imply.

[RashanGary]

I'm really looking forward to seeing Underwood play. OSU thought of him as their best corner prospect before the injuries mounted and the academic issue came up. OSU does a great job training and turning out NFL corners. This guy has had a couple good years of training.

He also had a good year Cincinnati last year.


I look forward to seeing how he develops. We're going to need another legit prospect to go along with Tramon. Right now we just don't have one.

[RashanGary]

Blackmon and Bush are useless. I think Lee is useless. I'm all about scrapping those jokers.

You keep saying it, so I'll keep responding. You are way, way overboard in your criticisms of Blackmon as a corner. He is not nearly as bad as you imply.

Patler, do you watch him play? He played a good number of snaps last year, I don't know the exact percentage but it really dropped off toward the end because he was so bad. He NEVER challenged the ball. Woodson, Harris and Tramon all attack routes and really cover their guy. Blackmon trails behind his guy, lets him catch it and then tackles him every time. I tape most games and I've watched him several times. This sounds like an exaggerated statement but I don't think he's ever made a good play unless you count letting a guy catch the ball and tackling him making a good play.

[RashanGary]

Having Blackmon at corner is like playing with 10 and half guys. The half of him that is supposed to cover isn't there but the half of him that is supposed to tackle is. He cannot see the field and with Capers having a lot of experience with secondaries, I don't think he will. I think Capers will spot it immediately.

[Patler]

The ravens play a lot of man. The pats used to before the bump rule became more strict.

It's not new. The only corner on our roster that is more man than anything is Harris and he's too old to make a full change for.

You are missing the point. It's not that the corners are strictly man guys, but that they are very capable of it and very experienced in it from their years with the Packers. Very few teams in recent years have relied as much on man coverages as the Packers, so other CBs simply do not have the same experience level with it. Good man coverage corners are not that prevalent. The Packers do not have the only ones, but they have gotten to the point that all of the corners are capable of it.

I'm not suggesting that the concept of using some man coverage is new, but rarely has a team had as many CBs as experienced in man coverages as the Packers have and be in the midst of converting to a 3-4. This might give Capers a chance to do some things in a different way, simply because he is introducing a new defense to the players. I don't know what those differences might be, but coordinators are constantly looking for new wrinkles, and Capers might have a chance to do that with a little different set of talents and experiences among his DBs than most 3-4 coordinators have had.

[RashanGary]

I never looked this up, I just remembered never seeign him make a play on defense. I mean NEVER make a play. It sounds like an exaggeration but I can honestly say that my impression was that he never made one single play on defense.

I went and looked it up. Last year he had zero passes defensed and zero intereptions. The guy played dime corner a lot of the year and I think may have even played nickle while Harris was down. Holy shit. That's all I can say. That guy cannot play a down for Capers if he's serious about winning.

[Patler]

Having Blackmon at corner is like playing with 10 and half guys. The half of him that is supposed to cover isn't there but the half of him that is supposed to tackle is. He cannot see the field and with Capers having a lot of experience with secondaries, I don't think he will. I think Capers will spot it immediately.

I think you are way over-critical of Blackmon. He is not nearly as bad as you imply. He is not nearly as bad as some of the nickel and dime DBs the Packers had in the recent past.

[Patler]

I went and looked it up. Last year he had zero passes defensed and zero intereptions. The guy played dime corner a lot of the year and I think may have even played nickle while Harris was down. Holy shit. That's all I can say. That guy cannot play a down for Capers if he's serious about winning.

That's not what the Packer stats show. He had one!

[RashanGary]

A big part of Capers appeal to me is that he's going to be unpredictable. Sometimes you'll see man. Sometimes you'll see zone. We're not going to make it easy on the play caller and QB by running almost all man. That goes against everything Capers talked about "being unpredictable" when he got here.

We don't have to abandon zone or even avoid it. Our two best corners (Woodson and Williams) can play both. Our best man corner (Harris) is 34 years old. Our other corners are awful at man (don't know about zone).

We obviously disagree about how bad the back end is so you think playing a lot of man to take advantage of the talent we have is a good idea.

I think the real talent we have can play either. Harris can't, but he's old. I think the other talent is not there so go with what Capers wants to run. There is only one player good enough to make that adjustment for and that is Harris but he's too damn old.

I'll bet Capers runs less than EDIT half man.

[RashanGary]

If Harris starts, I'll bet he gets shredded in zone all year long.

[Gunakor]

If Harris starts, I'll bet he gets shredded in zone all year long.

If Harris starts, I'll bet he's playing man coverage almost all year long. They can put him man up on an opponents' #1 WR while the other DB's and the cover LB's can drop into a zone. They can do that for 60 minutes. Mix up the zones, vary the blitzes, but leave Harris in man coverage. If anyone could make that work effectively, Dom could. I wouldn't leave Harris out of the picture just because he struggles in zone.

[Joemailman]

When Darren Perry was hired here, I believed he mentioned that they did play a fair amount of man when he coached in Pittsburgh 2004-2006. I don't think he Steelers corners play press coverage though. They back off. Capers spent last year in New England, and they are known for employing a little bit of everything. I don't think the Packers corners can play primarily zone as long as Harris is one of the starters. Once Harris has moved on though, and likely been replaced by Tramon Williams, look for the Packers to play more zone.

[Packnut]

Wrinkle

How's this for a new wrinkle:



STOP THE RUN!


PRESSURE THE QB!