2010 Packers' Defense

[Pugger]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81fde474/article/teams-carefully-examining-strengths-weaknesses-of-packers-d

[Smeefers]

This is the best article I've read in months this offseason. The only article. Dear god, what happened to football?

Our defense was good in spurts but by no means was it anywhere near perfect. I think we still have a lot to grow in that area. Our run defense is crappy, especially 3rd downs. I guess it comes down to what you want to pay attention to. The last 7 weeks of the season including the playoffs, we were monsters of the grid iron. You look earlier than that though and you see a lot of problems. There's excuses by the dozen about why they lost to Miami and the Redskins, but those were two teams we should of beat the crap out of and we didn't and one of the reasons was our defense stinking up the joint. I think our biggest strength and our biggest weakness is Clay Mathews believe it our not. He's so huge, so key, that he's become our lynch pin. He has a great game, our whole defense just dominates. He doesn't have to make tackles or get sacks, he just has to have a good game. If he's out though, or he's playing like garbage, we seem to fall all to pieces. We went to crazy packages part because we had to. Remember when all we had for DL was Raji, Wilson and god... I can't even remember the other guy. Of course we have to go to a 2-4-5.

I'm not saying Dom doesn't have some credit due. I just don't think the Packers have a league wide changing defense.

[Brandon494]

I was at that Skins game and our defense is not the reason we lost that game or the game against the Fins. No defense can be perfect in this offensive driven league. Capers and the defensive coaching staff deserve a ton of credit for how well the unit played despite losing several starters.

[hoosier]

This is the best article I've read in months this offseason. The only article. Dear god, what happened to football?

Our defense was good in spurts but by no means was it anywhere near perfect. I think we still have a lot to grow in that area. Our run defense is crappy, especially 3rd downs. I guess it comes down to what you want to pay attention to. The last 7 weeks of the season including the playoffs, we were monsters of the grid iron. You look earlier than that though and you see a lot of problems. There's excuses by the dozen about why they lost to Miami and the Redskins, but those were two teams we should of beat the crap out of and we didn't and one of the reasons was our defense stinking up the joint. I think our biggest strength and our biggest weakness is Clay Mathews believe it our not. He's so huge, so key, that he's become our lynch pin. He has a great game, our whole defense just dominates. He doesn't have to make tackles or get sacks, he just has to have a good game. If he's out though, or he's playing like garbage, we seem to fall all to pieces. We went to crazy packages part because we had to. Remember when all we had for DL was Raji, Wilson and god... I can't even remember the other guy. Of course we have to go to a 2-4-5.

I'm not saying Dom doesn't have some credit due. I just don't think the Packers have a league wide changing defense.

Not sure why you say the run d was bad on third down. Short yardage was actually the one situation in which the rush defense was statistically among the leaders. When Capers all but made the 2-4-5 his base defense that pretty much guaranteed they weren't going to be putting up Pittsburgh or Minnesota numbers against the run. But the overall bad numbers against the run don't concern me in the least as long as the defense is able to get off the field and avoid giving up lots of points.

I blame the losses against Washington and Miami on the offense's being out of sync early in the season. Then when Finley went down it took a few games for Rodgers to rediscover his other receivers.

[channtheman]

I'm just going off memory here but didn't we give up 13 points and 20 points in regulation in the Redskins and Miami games? Our offense should be able to score more than that.

[Pugger]

I'm just going off memory here but didn't we give up 13 points and 20 points in regulation in the Redskins and Miami games? Our offense should be able to score more than that.

Weren't these the 2 games we played right after losing Finley? I wonder if we were still trying to figure out things without him in there...

[Tarlam!]

Nice read, thanks for posting Pugger.

I have the SB45 dvd and the strongest player comment for me is Jennings saying something like "we shoulda had 7 - I love our "D", but I hate putten' 'em in this situation every week". So much passion.

As we all know, the D came up huge on their last battle, so that Rodgers could take a victory knee allowing the Packers to win the war.

Capers is amazing. But so must M3 be; leading senior managers that have earned their stirpes takes a certain DNA. I believe I had it, so my hat is off to M3 for getting the ultimate out of of Dom. It aint easy and you need to have "Fingerspitzengefühl". That translates to feelings in your fingertips but the deeper meaning is greater.

Except for Campen and Slocum, I like all of M3's coaches.

[bobblehead]

Weren't these the 2 games we played right after losing Finley? I wonder if we were still trying to figure out things without him in there...

also the game rodgers got a concussion and the game after it.

[RashanGary]

We lost Matthews in there too.

[MJZiggy]

We lost Matthews in there too.

Yeah, those were big losses.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Trail blitzing = Hawk blitzing up the middle to occupy blockers while another LB darts in freely afterwards to get the glory.

[channtheman]

Nice read, thanks for posting Pugger.

I have the SB45 dvd and the strongest player comment for me is Jennings saying something like "we shoulda had 7 - I love our "D", but I hate putten' 'em in this situation every week". So much passion.

As we all know, the D came up huge on their last battle, so that Rodgers could take a victory knee allowing the Packers to win the war.

Capers is amazing. But so must M3 be; leading senior managers that have earned their stirpes takes a certain DNA. I believe I had it, so my hat is off to M3 for getting the ultimate out of of Dom. It aint easy and you need to have "Fingerspitzengefühl". That translates to feelings in your fingertips but the deeper meaning is greater.

Except for Campen and Slocum, I like all of M3's coaches.

The 2008 season and the 2010 were very similar seasons, except in 2010 the defense came up for us in SO many games, including 3 of the 4 playoff games.

[Tarlam!]

The 2008 season and the 2010 were very similar seasons, except in 2010 the defense came up for us in SO many games, including 3 of the 4 playoff games.

The real question is will Capers' defense go down in history similar to Lombardi's runnin attack .i.e. Opponents knew Lombardi was gonna run, but were all but powewrless to stop it. Now that opponents have had all this time studying Capers' 2-4-5 etc, can they out smart it?

The only issue I have with the story is when Shields and Chuck left the game, the D barely held on. The did hold on, but it was close. The Steelers had momentum and had closed it to a 3 point game. The system worked, but only just.

[Brandon494]

Yea that's going to happen when you lose two starters at corner and Jarrett Bush has to come in. It's not like the Steelers and Big Ben are two time super bowls champs or anything.

[Tarlam!]

Yea that's going to happen when you lose two starters at corner and Jarrett Bush has to come in. It's not like the Steelers and Big Ben are two time super bowls champs or anything.

Well, the jist of the article - one of them - was that Capers had devised a plug and play scheme, i would compare that to Shanahan's RB model in Denver. I was merely pointing out that it barely held up, but duely noted that, in the end, it did. So, my point is that the plug and play assention is worth questioning. If you don't think my point is valid, fine.