Capers

[bobblehead]

Its strange how teams that run the ball really well have defenses that give up less yards isn't it?

[Bretsky]

I think Capers is just fine and needs more talent to work with

[Iron Mike]

The Dominator!! The Capemeister!! Dom-atollah.....

[Tarlam!]

I think Capers is just fine and needs more talent to work with

O.K. I'll play diablo advocate. It's a sign of greatness when average players are coached into makeing great plays. It's a sign of greatness when a game plan is devised to mask the weaknesses a team might have. It's a fact of the cap age that draft & develop is the preferred option for long term success; nabbing a bunch of expensive FAs, or overpaying your own leads you into the situation TT found when he first arrived in GB. Therefore, it's a sign of greatness to develop JAGs into stars.

The lack of Packers' JAGs "taking the next step" is on the position coaches. The game planning is clearly on the DC. If his Backers are too slow, too undisciplined, too dumb he needs to address it with a gameplan that will mask that. He also needs to coach his assistant coaches. The buck stops with him.

If the Packers' defense goes belly up and Rodgers' offense can't compensate, there is a case to closely scrutinize Dom Capers.

[Bretsky]

O.K. I'll play diablo advocate. It's a sign of greatness when average players are coached into makeing great plays. It's a sign of greatness when a game plan is devised to mask the weaknesses a team might have. It's a fact of the cap age that draft & develop is the preferred option for long term success; nabbing a bunch of expensive FAs, or overpaying your own leads you into the situation TT found when he first arrived in GB. Therefore, it's a sign of greatness to develop JAGs into stars.

The lack of Packers' JAGs "taking the next step" is on the position coaches. The game planning is clearly on the DC. If his Backers are too slow, too undisciplined, too dumb he needs to address it with a gameplan that will mask that. He also needs to coach his assistant coaches. The buck stops with him.

If the Packers' defense goes belly up and Rodgers' offense can't compensate, there is a case to closely scrutinize Dom Capers.

Gotta have upside talent to coach it up.
Jermichael Finley.....early on you could see TT got us a guy with a ceiling
Bishop...a better example....some in here saw the same
Ditto for Burnett but he's been oft injured

This defense is hard to figure out. Our DB coaches are considered top of the line NFL coaches but Sam Shield has been disappointing from last yr to this yr and T Williams has been as well in terms of our expectations versus his current play.

If the defense is disappointing IMO it comes back to the trenches and pass rush..........now.........to you pts

Our DL is a disaster; several of them are not even average and IMO GB does a nice job just getting them there. Many IMO are late round picks with limited upside. Neal might be the exception but he's been AWOL due to injuries. Guys like Wynn, CJ Wilson, Howard Green....guys who are playing plenty...probably too much.......you get what you get out of them but I'm not sure they are guys you can coach to making great plays.

[smuggler]

Thompson is the one that secures the talent. Capers just builds the plays and gameplans. He doesn't even call plays, from what I understand, or at least Bishop/Hawk have a great deal of power as well.

[pbmax]

Its strange how teams that run the ball really well have defenses that give up less yards isn't it?

If yards were points, I could see this being important.

[pbmax]

Thompson is the one that secures the talent. Capers just builds the plays and gameplans. He doesn't even call plays, from what I understand, or at least Bishop/Hawk have a great deal of power as well.

No, Capers makes the calls and Trgo signals and yells them in.

[smuggler]

My point remains. There's no pass rush from the 3 down linemen. That's more from a lack of talent than from an insufficiency in scheme.

[vince]

We have led by a wide margin in a lot of games. The defense gives up prevent yards. The offense goes in "wear out the clock" mode. For us, that means 3 runs and a punt--putting the defense on the field more often. The defense is pretty average, but it led the league in turnovers and I read that it was two points better than league average in points allowed. It also ranks in the top third, I think, or maybe just top half in opposing passer rating--which is a huge stat. You have to factor in opposing passer rating, points allowed, and turnover when judging a defense--along with some other things.

+1 No team has more passing attempts against them than the Packers. They're 27th in the league in sacks, but last in sacks per pass attempt. To the extent there's a problem, that's it.

Give any QB (see Tebow vs. Steelers) time to throw the ball without pressure and they'll get the ball downfield and be successful, regardless of how good the guys covering are. Of course the Packers would be better with Nick Collins back there, but without more pressure I'm not sure they'd have been much better.

Despite the lack of pressure, the Packers have a top 10 defense (#9) in defensive passer rating, which is what matters most to determining a defense's contribution to winning games. They make plays and almost always win the turnover battle. If they could get to the QB with their front 7 (while covering hot TE/RB routes), they'd be dominant.

Maybe Jones and So'oto can improve that in the playoffs.

[Smeefers]

Can't blame Capers, our defense is just not as good as it has been the past few years for several reasons...

1. Losing Nick Collins who I believe is the 2nd best FS in the game behind Ed Reed.
2. Tramon Williams not being the same shut down corner. I don't know if his shoulder is still bothering him or what but hes clearly not the same player we saw last season.
3. Clay Matthews and BJ Raji aren't playing badly but they are not nearly as dominate as they were last season.
4. Losing Cullen Jenkins who was the pass rush opposite of Clay Matthews.
5. AJ Hawk playing horrible after having a very solid season last year.

Thankfully the offense has improved greatly from last season for several reasons as well...

1. Aaron Rodgers is the man.
2. Jordy Nelson taking a big leap in his play this season and proving he is the man.
3. Having Finley back, even though hes not having a great season he still opens up plays for others.
4. Having a improved running game with Starks and Grant. Last season we mainly had Brandon Jackson and Kuhn at RB.
5. Randall Cobb replacing Brett Swain giving Rodgers another weapon while also improving the return game.

This. Something else I'd like to add, does anyone think we'd have a problem on the D line if Jolly didn't destroy his career? I really thought he was the next big player on our line.

[Upnorth]

Doesn't Capers have a history of having a quick improvement when he first arrives, followed by a decline?

I have read this analysis previously as well. I think Waldo may have mentioned it before on here, but could be wrong.

The d gets lots of turnovers and rarely gives up game winning points, unlike in 2008 when it seemed the opposing offense would always score on their last drive.

Also Smeefers is right about Jolly, we would be much much better with him.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Our DL is a disaster; several of them are not even average and IMO GB does a nice job just getting them there. Many IMO are late round picks with limited upside. Neal might be the exception but he's been AWOL due to injuries. Guys like Wynn, CJ Wilson, Howard Green....guys who are playing plenty...probably too much.......you get what you get out of them but I'm not sure they are guys you can coach to making great plays.

I don't think the DL has been a disaster. You don't often get good pass rushing from DL in this 3-4 scheme. Pittsburgh's DL rarely get more than a handful of sacks. Raji and Pickett are solid. Green is a solid rotational guy. Wilson is a solid backup. I think we were a Cullen Jenkins or healthy Mike Neal from having a good DL. Which is the only difference between this year and last year. More than anything, we need a good ROLB opposite Matthews and we need better DB play. Like you said, Shields and Williams have disappointed, and the safety play has not been good. I put the onus more on ROLB and DBs than DL. Walden has been absolutetly atrocious since his arrest. So much so that he went from looking like a decent starter to being benched, and they don't even appear to want to give him any more chances. That's a pretty big fall in the second half of the year.

[Zool]

Where's the psycho defense been this year? I don't recall seeing it at all. Maybe I'm not paying attention? That really caught a lot of people off guard last year.

[Bossman641]

+1 No team has more passing attempts against them than the Packers. They're 27th in the league in sacks, but last in sacks per pass attempt. To the extent there's a problem, that's it.

This!
Throw in the fact that Hawk can't cover and the DB's have a disturbing habit of miscommunication and you can spread the blame all around.