Does our Defense have a plan no one knows about?

Hey does anyone out there think that the Packers have a special plan on defense that no one knows about and maybe that would be the reason that they have not done anything this offseason to boost our D at all. Hey I think our defense might be alright this year becasuse of the new D coordinater and everyone talks about who we dont have but no one remembers who we do have: KGB, Al Harris, NICK BARNETT, and his two supporting LB's are good too. I dont think our D is going to be all that bad.

ago....I like your optimism and I too think that Bates will make a huge difference. He seems to be content with the personnel he has.

The big thing is that good defense is an ATTITUDE. The talent in the NFL is pretty close...it's the defenses that play with intensity and attitude that make the difference.

And the other factor that keeps going through my head, is could our defense possibly be any WORSE than what we were last year? I don't think so. Nowhere to go but UP, IMHO.....

Yes, it couldn't get much worse than last year. So hopefully Bates will make a difference. It would be nice then I could see us definitly staying atop the division. :mrgreen:

I firmly believe that the defense will be improved. I like splitting our ends out wider and getting the angle to the QB. KGB should have a little more time and won't get locked up so fast by the tackles. I think we'll see some Bryce Paup-like production from Poppinga too. I hear he's got an unreal motor and has shown real flashes of rushing the QB. The LB's will play much better this year because they will be allowed to flow more. Slowik's system called for them to stay in a gap regardless and Bates allows more freedom. He does this by having the big tackles in the middle hold the point and keep lineman off the LB's. The secondary will be better because Carroll and Thomas are a year older and the improved pass rush will make QB's throw the ball a little earlier than they want to at times. Just a hunch!

I do agree with you guys that Bates defense will be better than last season and that he does like the current personnel. But the Pack has little room under the cap so his options are limited.

Now, as you read my post, remember that I did not see that many Packer game last season (not possible in europe). Those games I did, however, the thing that scared me the most were the cb's performances. Carroll failed and Harris looked extremly bad in key situations. He looked like he didnt give it 100% on every play and had a somewhat "arrogant" approach to his job. I had really hoped we had draftet to solve this, but along came Rogers. Now I hope Bates will work his magic.

I disagree that we haven't done anything to boost the defense this offseason. We just haven't broke the bank going after some the of FA studs. Instead TT has acquired some key veterans along with drafting some talented players.

At safety, the only returning player is Roman. We've added Little, Freeman, Underwood and Collins. At LB we've added some quality depth to compete for Navies spot, plus we retained Navies.

Not many roster changes on the DL, but don't forget that we have a bunch of young talented players who are just starting to show their abilities. We have a similar situation at CB.

The changes on defense have been subtle, but that doesn't mean they're not significant. For the most part many players from last season fit into Bates' scheme, so it only makes sense to see how they do. Plus, as has been pointed out, there wasn't much cap space to work with for adding new FAs.

Core...I agree but I think with more of a pass rush and a year under their belts the corner's will improve dramatically. There is no question that they are great athletes. Put in the right system with pressure from up front will afford these guys the opportunity to make big plays.

I think the entire defensive success rests on the development of those young backs and the young linemen. If they can find a stud or two out of that group the defense has enough good players to make some noise.

Couldn't agree more packedhouse01. One could make the arguement that it won't happen just as easy as it could. To me, it seems like the odds of the defense really improving with young players stepping up is about 50-50. I do like Bates coming in and I have posted many times on his impact to the D. Let's hope some young, hungry, and fast players decide to come in and not only play but make an impact.

If all of our young players develop into solid/stud players we will have one of the top defenses in the league. If none of our young players get better we could be worse than last year. I don't see either one happening. I believe that with improved coaching enough of the young players will get better so that we are about in the middle of the league this year. And that will make us a better team than last year. :comp:

As already said the D can hardly get worse. Hope Bates givest the D line some priority next year. An improved D line will help with the Lbs and the secondary no end i reckon. I mean I'm a big fan of KGB but he can be inconsistent and is just abused when it comes to stopping the run. Jackson is old and Hunt's attitude could do with some improvement. If he played with intensity all the time he'd be pretty dang good I'd say. Kampman to me is nothing special but is a solid player nonetheless who contributes. Hopefully my man Barnett can step it up and become an elite player and some young playmakers emerge. The D may surprise everyone-after all on any given Sunday!!

You hit the nail on the head with this post! Increase the pass-rush and watch the same corners that didn't look so good last year have better years.

In the NFL, any QB on any team can pick you apart if he can stand back there all day and wait for one receiver to break free. It's going to happen after 5 seconds or so.

Oh, and by the way, the only QB that I have ever seen not be able to hit a receiver with all the time in the world was Tim Couch when he was trying to make the Packers! Man did he stink!!!