Capers

[Pugger]

Capers can come up with all the schemes he wants but there still has to be players to execute them. Outside of Matthews there's nobody who can rush the passer. Last year there was some help for him and we had some players who stepped up in that regard. You get pressure, the defense suddenly looks a lot better.

This next draft or FA, the Packers have to get either a DL (preferrably) or OLB who can rush the passer and bring some heat. That alone would make the defense much better.

This. If you cannot rush the passer these days offenses are gonna put up a pile of yards on you.

[Pugger]

I do not think this is a too bold opinion; but Nick Collins is our best defender and his career is in jeopardy. The absense of Collins is hurting more when the pass rush is lacking as it is. Yup, Collins is even better and more important than super stud Clay Matthews.
I cannot pin the lack of a pass rush solely on losing Jenkins; sans Claymaker the front seven have been average at best. This is due to the lack of talent, players in decline (eg Hawk) and players being worn down (eg BJ Raji & Pickett) in the front seven plus backups.

Besides Pickett and Raji our D line isn't full of a lot of playmakers. We gotta hope Jones and Zombo can give some pressure opposite CM3 on Sunday.

[Smidgeon]

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.

Well, Capers previous two stops were the two franchise expansions, right? If so, that would explain the sudden drop the second year. And I saw the stats too. They were legit. I just don't remember where.

[Pugger]

+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.

We were having these issues defensively before Collins got hurt.

[Pugger]

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.

Probably not. Plus had Harrell not been so injury prone our D line would have been just fine = Raji, Pickett, Harrell and Jolly. Now we have Raji, Pickett, Green, Wynn, Wilson and maybe Neal.

[HarveyWallbangers]

We were having these issues defensively before Collins got hurt.

I think Collins was missed. He got hurt in the second game of the year, and we played New Orleans (Brees) and Carolina (Newton). New Orleans was 1st in yards/game and 2nd in points/game. Carolina was 7th in yards/game and 6th in points/game. Small sample size against two of the best offenses in the league.

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

To me a lot of it seems to be scheme honestly. As Zool said, where is the psycho package this year? Where is the confusion that we created last year? We have pretty much as same group of guys that we had last season. Many teams would be more than happy to have the players we have in the secondary even currently without Collins.

And Pbmax made a good point about playing the eagle defense that capers installed. I personally hated that idea in the offseason because well we tried it before and it didn’t work well. We tired Raji at DE as a rookie and he didn’t make nearly as many plays as he did rushing from NT. I loved how last year they let him settle in his spot at NT and we all saw the results.

We don’t seem to be mixing it up as much as we did last season. Why not come up with packages that get Bishop, Hawk, Smith, Matthews, and Zombo in all together and send them from all different directions? I’m no D coordinator, but it seemed that Capers was good at finding a way to get his best payers on the field before and I just don’t see it right now. I’m not trying to put it all on Capers because I will be the first to admit the losing Collins was big, but it seemed like last year Capers came up with something new every week and this year we are back to vanilla defense again. If anything this would be the year to be creative and mix it up as much as possible and take chances. I feel that are plan is let the offense win the game and defense job is to sit back and try to force turnovers.

[ND72]

I'm certainly not going to throw Capers under the bus here. We lost our only significant other pass rush guy in Jenkins and replaced him with nothing. We lost our leader on the defense and All-Pro caliber Safety in Collins. Our other OLB position has been pitiful this year, and our MLB have had injuries. Tramon has not been what he was last year, and Shields took a step back as well. That all isn't always on coaching, players still have to play.

I still have a feeling Capers has something up his sleeve come playoff time. He's seen these teams before. Our defense will be ready. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 28-17 type game sunday. Also wouldn't be surprised to see a 49-42 game. 2009-2010 season we had flaws and they got corrected. Last year we had flaws and they got corrected during the season. This year has been weird, because our offense has been crazy good. It's hard to rank a defense when you're up 35-17, human nature and football nature to sit back a little bit. I guess we'll see, but I think against New York we'll have a solid plan ready and our defense will (hopefully) show up.

[denverYooper]

I'm certainly not going to throw Capers under the bus here. We lost our only significant other pass rush guy in Jenkins and replaced him with nothing. We lost our leader on the defense and All-Pro caliber Safety in Collins. Our other OLB position has been pitiful this year, and our MLB have had injuries. Tramon has not been what he was last year, and Shields took a step back as well. That all isn't always on coaching, players still have to play.

I still have a feeling Capers has something up his sleeve come playoff time. He's seen these teams before. Our defense will be ready. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 28-17 type game sunday. Also wouldn't be surprised to see a 49-42 game. 2009-2010 season we had flaws and they got corrected. Last year we had flaws and they got corrected during the season. This year has been weird, because our offense has been crazy good. It's hard to rank a defense when you're up 35-17, human nature and football nature to sit back a little bit. I guess we'll see, but I think against New York we'll have a solid plan ready and our defense will (hopefully) show up.

I feel this to be the case too and I'm willing to bet they have worked awfully hard during the bye week to find some more pass rush. The question is, will it work?

[HarveyWallbangers]

I don't think you can blame scheme. We didn't get a pass rush rushing four, so Capers has been blitzing more. It's quite natural and predictable. That has led to bigger plays by opposing offenses because we have fewer people in coverage, but it has also led to even more interceptions. He doesn't quite have the horses he did last year, and the secondary hasn't held up nearly as well.

[ND72]

I don't think you can blame scheme. We didn't get a pass rush rushing four, so Capers has been blitzing more. It's quite natural and predictable. That has led to bigger plays by opposing offenses because we have fewer people in coverage, but it has also led to even more interceptions. He doesn't quite have the horses he did last year, and the secondary hasn't held up nearly as well.

and BINGO was his name-o...

PLUS, capers has even said in his blitzing he has done more zone blitzing this year, which has a tendacy to leave gaps in passing if you don't reach the QB.

[wist43]

We only have 2 legit NFL calibur DL... hard to run any scheme when you can't field even average players.

If we make it to the SB and have to play NE?? It will be the first NFL game ever where over 150 pts are scored, lol.

[Upnorth]

We only have 2 legit NFL calibur DL... hard to run any scheme when you can't field even average players.

If we make it to the SB and have to play NE?? It will be the first NFL game ever where over 150 pts are scored, lol.

Also the lowest scoring nba final in history!

[Fritz]

I don't feel like Cullen Jenkins made that that much difference in the pass rush. Hell, the guy didn't even play that much during the playoff run, did he? So why else might the defense have been so much better last year? Were teams not doubling Clay as much? Collins's injury?

What the hell happened?

[pbmax]

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.

They have played it since Neal came back but it went nowhere, no pressure. And after it was clear he couldn't get to the QB, it got shelved. I think Wynn and Wilson got a couple of snaps in it, but that was it. It it was used 20 snaps, I would be surprised. The defense doesn't go unless the DT can beat someone one on one or demand a double team.