Packer Defensive Rank thru 5 weeks

[woodbuck27]

I am surprised with how badly we are playing on defense. What is the deal? We brought in FAs and drafted defense.

I think many, many people are in agreement that it's coaching. Let's see, the personnel is approved on defense, at least on paper. What has changed to precipitate such a freefall? Coaching.

Your a smart young fella, Superfan.

Do an analysis and get the TRUTH or as close to that as possible.

I believe I am confident in what my analysis determines but I need other's like you to examinre it objectively with finite analysis and not ever go to any assumption or speculation of the sort . . . .

"it must be... anything", but rather that it is this or that.

What's "the TRUTH"?

The TRUTH...is what you see.

The TRUTH is supported in " the RESULTS ".

RESULTS determine direction, based on the quality of those RESULTS.

It's ALL very simple.

[The Leaper]

Sadly, I don't see them making many changes, if any, during the '07 offseason. Everybody is under contract (I don't think anybody is up), Sanders has been involved with this scheme forever, and there are plenty of young guys under development, so there is a justification to ignore the defensive side of the ball in the draft.

I think Thompson has made it clear that people who don't cut it are going to be out. He fired Sherman with plenty of contract remaining. If the defense continues to put up putrid statistics, I am certain that heads will roll.

I'm just worried that Schottenheimer will be the only scapegoat...not that he shouldn't be a top target...and that Sanders will still be maintained in his current role. I wish Bates would stop thinking he is going to get a gig as a head coach at some point and come back to coach our defense again.

[superfan]

Woody, your post was typically long, and excellent. I made it through most of it, but haven't yet been able to watch the videos.

My earlier post was a short and simplistic reply to a short and simple question. (no offense meant, BooHoo) There is obviously much more wrong on the defense than just coaching. And I also agree with Chester Marcol and Fritz's takes on the DL. Nice pinto analogy, by the way.

I'll need to review the video on Harris to give a good answer, but I remember the TD Harris gave up, and as I recall he was covering the out/corner fade route. Several possibilities here -- 1) mental mistake by Harris giving up the inside, 2) mental mistake by the safety help inside, 3) great play call by the Rams, who's previous play calling set up success on this route, or 4) some combination of the other three.

I'll still stand by coaching as a serious issue. The greatest coach of all time can't prevent the occasional mental mistake, but it's been an ongoing trend this season. The occasional mistake is an aberration, and a trend is a problem. I think the biggest issue on the defense is that the unit seems to be playing as a bunch of individuals and lacks any semblance of cohesiveness. To me, that's coaching more than anything else. Coaching is not 100% of the issue, but the biggest slice.

Something that hasn't been discussed much is that the pass defense in particular and the defense as a whole likely overachieved last season, thus producing higher expectations going into this season, especially considering the additions. Do we give Bates credit for that? Maybe. Maybe Harris just had a career year last year. Maybe it's something else. I don't know.

[woodbuck27]

To this point in this series the attack is to 'the right'. Suddenly...!!!

" 1-6-GB6 (9:54) M.Bulger pass short middle to T.Holt for 6 yards, TOUCHDOWN. [/b} **

** GB closest defender on that TD was LCB Al Harris.

1a) See 00:11 of the Video for what happened:

LCB #31 Al Harris gets lost in space... trying? To defend against the pass on Rams #81 WR Tory Holt?

Maybe Al Harris was expecting another play right or a running play?

Look at Harris's position. Isn't he too far off the line of scrimmage? Isn't he playing Tory Holt from the outside. Rather than bumping him in the 5 yard zone, riding Holt's right hip... to force Holt outside, so Al Harris would be bet. Holt and the Rams QB, Marc Bulger Enabling a possible play, unless on the delay Holt beat him to OUR right side of the endzone.?

Instead - Al Harris gives Tory Holt the entire inside route / inside of the field, even assists Holt with a weak push... inside, so Holt can take an easy pass into his body naturally? Harris gave Bulger and Holt " the BEST Case Scenario". He gave us ZERO on that play!

Position is alot if not everything on "D". Al Harris looked no better than a pylon in this instance.

I feel that Al Harris' position, his slowness and willingness to quit, made that TD pass automatic.

Do we blame that on coaching? ( maybe ) but Al Harris is playing opposite/defending against none other than Tory Holt and he didn't. Al Harris may as well, sat down on the field prior to the snap.

OK ...

I've analyzed the first RAMs gain of a TD.

Should I blame it on Al Harris?

His actions on that play are certainly less than satisfactory, and how much of that is contributing to OUR secondary's overall poor pass coverage? "
woodbuck27

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>

Now this fr:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/061010

and an excerpt from the above link:

Sweet Play of the Week No. 2:

Game scoreless,

St. Louis lined up heavy right on the Green Bat 6 .

Quarterback Marc Bulger and tailback Steven Jackson went right; the Rams' offensive line "slide" blocked right;

suddenly Bulger stopped and zipped the ball to Torry Holt running a post from the left side,

open because ** both safeties bit on the misdirection.

so is that or ...

the rest of the story.. enough to absolve Al Harris

I don't know? What do YOU think?

[SD GB fan]

from what i saw in the replays, harris didnt seem to put in a lot of effort to defend that pass. he kinda saw holt catch that and say "o thats too bad"

i expect the D to play markedly better after bye week.

[woodbuck27]

THE FELLA WITH THE ANSWERS

[woodbuck27]

from what i saw in the replays, harris didnt seem to put in a lot of effort to defend that pass. he kinda saw holt catch that and say "o thats too bad"

i expect the D to play markedly better after bye week.

They better go to school on that play because it looked pathetic on Al Harris's behalf.

Absolutely horrid "D".

Well ...NONE !!!

[Chester Marcol]

All good points here. Great thread. I will agree with you guys on the coaching of the back 7. Until we can go a whole game without playing with 10 or 12 men on defense, it's hard to really judge the talent level of the back 7. That part is totally on the coaches which also makes you wonder how clear the coaches are in putting the people in the right places during gameplay. It's all on the coaches to make sure when offenses start shifting that everyone knows their assignment and we don't end up with the mismatches we've seen. Don't the coaches go over the total receiver-db combos that can happen or that should happen? They know the receivers we'll be facing, maybe it would be a good idea to plan for every scenerio.

However I still believe talent will go a lot further on the D-line than any coaching will. I think a constant push by the front four, even if it's just giving the QB the feeling of the pocket collapsing, will help our backfield make more plays. Bulger made some pretty nice passes, but they weren't all on plays where he had to run around. He squeezed some in to Holt because that is what a good QB can do when he is comfortably in the pocket and has time to set his feet and step into it.

[woodbuck27]

[quote="woodbuck27"]

I am surprised with how badly we are playing on defense. What is the deal? We brought in FAs and drafted defense.

BooHoo and ALL:

Reference:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU_R7zTADkY

1. The series and spotlight on LCB Al Harris:

St. Louis Rams at 12:50

1-10-GB37 (12:50) S.Jackson right end to GB 35 for 2 yards (N.Barnett; B.Poppinga).

2-8-GB35 (12:12) M.Bulger right guard to GB 23 for 12 yards (K.Gbaja-Biamila).

1-10-GB23 (11:33) S.Jackson right guard to GB 23 for no gain (B.Poppinga, K.Gbaja-Biamila).

2-10-GB23 (10:56) S.Jackson right guard to GB 16 for 7 yards (N.Barnett, R.Davis).

3-3-GB16 (10:16) (Shotgun) M.Bulger pass short right to K.Curtis ran ob at GB 6 for 10 yards (P.Dendy).

To this point in this series the attack is to 'the right'. Suddenly...!!!

1-6-GB6 (9:54) [b]M.Bulger pass short middle to T.Holt for 6 yards, TOUCHDOWN. [/b} **

** GB closest defender on that TD was LCB Al Harris.

1a) See 00:11 of the Video for what happened:

LCB #31 Al Harris gets lost in space... trying? To defend against the pass on Rams #81 WR Tory Holt?

Maybe Al Harris was expecting another play right or a running play?

Look at Harris's position. Isn't he too far off the line of scrimmage? Isn't he playing Tory Holt from the outside. Rather than bumping him in the 5 yard zone, riding Holt's right hip... to force Holt outside, so Al Harris would be bet. Holt and the Rams QB, Marc Bulger Enabling a possible play, unless on the delay Holt beat him to OUR right side of the endzone.??

Instead - Al Harris gives Tory Holt the entire inside route / inside of the field, even assists Holt with a weak push... inside, so Holt can take an easy pass into his body naturally? Harris gave Bulger and Holt " the BEST Case Scenario". He gave us ZERO on that play!

Position is alot if not everything on "D". Al Harris looked no better than a pylon in this instance.

I feel that Al Harris' position, his slowness and willingness to quit, made that TD pass automatic.

Do we blame that on coaching? ( maybe ) but Al Harris is playing opposite/defending against none other than Tory Holt and he didn't. Al Harris may as well, sat down on the field prior to the snap.

OK ...

I've analyzed the first RAMs gain of a TD. Should I blame it on Al Harris?

His actions on that play are certainly less than satisfactory, and how much of that is contributing to OUR secondary's overall poor pass coverage?" woodbuck27

This fr. Eric Baranczyk: Inside Football Week 5 analysis

" On the first Rams' touchdown, the one Torry Holt caught on an inside slant, ....

I was surprised to see Al Harris line up almost like an outside shade. When you're that close to the goal line, most teams line their cornerbacks up to the inside to take away that slant.

Holt played possum. He came off the ball like it was going to be a running play. He didn't fire off the ball and Harris just kind of tagged him. But then at the last second, Holt turned on the jets and caught the ball for a touchdown.

I just couldn't believe that Al Harris allowed an inside release. That's not the Al Harris we've seen. I don't know if age is creeping up on him or what. But he just isn't pressing guys like he used to. He used to stun guys on the line. Boom! Knock them and it was over with.

So I've been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. After this game, I think there's something wrong there. I don't know if he's frustrated, not happy or if he's physically just not getting it done. At this point, I'd have to say maybe he's lost a step because last year I don't think that play goes to Torry Holt. " Eric Baranczyk

There is the same thing I thought I saw.

I see a thread where it's indicated that the 49ers want a Vet CB and the proposal as to whether or not to deal Al Harris for a 3rd Round Draft pick.

He's done in Green Bay as I'm seeing it Packer fans.

He has played poorly since game 12 last season. It might be prudent to get something for him and a 3rd is solid.

GO PACKERS !!