Tweet
After much discussion about the Capers 2-4, and how outrageously ineffective it is, how frequently it is used, it seemed there was much that was either misunderstood and/or assumed about the 2-4. So I’ve begun a play-by-play investigation into the 2-4, starting with the 2013 opener.
One nice thing about opening day is that for the most part the team is intact and you can get a sense for the personnel groups the coaches have been planning to use all off-season. Of course, the Packers started at San Francisco missing defensive backs Burnett and Hayward. By the end of the season they would lose Haywardd, Jolly and Matthews, and see Brad Jones, Perry, Neal and Pickett lose time to injury and age. Datone Jones would miss some time as well as Sam Shields. Wilson started out getting some snaps against run heavy SF, but later would be found only as a picture on milk cartons. Packers would add Richardson and Worthy, but only Richardson would see significant snaps. Hayward only briefly returned, Shields and Neal would be lost early in the final playoff game.
The point of rehashing all this is to illustrate how fluid the situation was on the defense, and how quickly off season plans must have crumbled. As I go through each game play by defensive play, I will focus on the D line, and give other details as seems appropriate (like when the D gives up a huge gain, I will indicate whether the coverage was blown, whether a great play was made, etc.) I can go back and revisit plays if anyone cares to ask specific questions.
For the sake of the analysis, I will try to indicate whether tweeners like Neal and Perry are lined up at DL or linebackers; mostly it looks like only Neal really is positioned as a DL; even though Perry plays like a DL pretty often, he almost always standing up 5 technique or wider.
I will refer to alignments by player number 79-90-97 means Pickett, Raji, Jolly, left to right along the D line.
Sometimes the number of alignments will be more than actual ‘snaps’ because there are sometimes penalties that change the alignment
Ask questions; correct, embellish, insult, enjoy.
One nice thing about opening day is that for the most part the team is intact and you can get a sense for the personnel groups the coaches have been planning to use all off-season. Of course, the Packers started at San Francisco missing defensive backs Burnett and Hayward. By the end of the season they would lose Haywardd, Jolly and Matthews, and see Brad Jones, Perry, Neal and Pickett lose time to injury and age. Datone Jones would miss some time as well as Sam Shields. Wilson started out getting some snaps against run heavy SF, but later would be found only as a picture on milk cartons. Packers would add Richardson and Worthy, but only Richardson would see significant snaps. Hayward only briefly returned, Shields and Neal would be lost early in the final playoff game.
The point of rehashing all this is to illustrate how fluid the situation was on the defense, and how quickly off season plans must have crumbled. As I go through each game play by defensive play, I will focus on the D line, and give other details as seems appropriate (like when the D gives up a huge gain, I will indicate whether the coverage was blown, whether a great play was made, etc.) I can go back and revisit plays if anyone cares to ask specific questions.
For the sake of the analysis, I will try to indicate whether tweeners like Neal and Perry are lined up at DL or linebackers; mostly it looks like only Neal really is positioned as a DL; even though Perry plays like a DL pretty often, he almost always standing up 5 technique or wider.
I will refer to alignments by player number 79-90-97 means Pickett, Raji, Jolly, left to right along the D line.
Sometimes the number of alignments will be more than actual ‘snaps’ because there are sometimes penalties that change the alignment
Ask questions; correct, embellish, insult, enjoy.
Comment