I for one hope Capers gets a job elsewhere

I say Ted Thompson because it was his decision not to draft an outside linebacker or another legit rushing threat and that was a big part of today's defensive woes and that of the entire seasons. I defended Ted Thompson's drafting decision in 2011 early on, but its plain to see in my estimation now that his strategy backfired on the team. We had to rely exclusively on our offense each and every week all season long to outscore the opponent. Most teams have an off day offensively. Against the Giants we did and our D fell on their face in large part to no pash rush which Ted Thompson could have done something about draft time.

Stop drinking the kool aid. The friggin team went 15-1 this season and won the Super Bowl last season, thanks to Thompson. Laying the blame on him is just idiotic.

Last season Frank Zombo and Erik Walden came up HUGE for us. There was no reason to think they wouldn't be able to make plays this season. None whatsoever. And the season before, Brad Jones was quite the playmaker. Given what we knew then, that wasn't a position we needed to waste in the draft. It's easy to look back and say "This is what you should have done," but given the information available at the time

What koolaid? I am as big of a Thompson fan as any but he deserves blame in my opinion.

That is the GM's job is to forecast team needs and to supply appropriate talent. It just turns out that Ted Thompson made the wrong decision in this instance IMO. Doesn't outweight all the great decisions he has made.

Blame for what, constructing a 15-1 team?

When you consider the play-making ability we got out of the three guys we had at OLB last season, I don't fault him in the slighest for not taking one in this years draft. There was no reason not to expect Zombo, Walden and Jones to step up like they did last season.

Maybe at the time it happened but in hindsight yes it was a mistake. Our team is deficient on the side opposite Matthews. That is part of the territory with the GM hits and misses. Ted missed in that aspect this past draft. I acknowledge the mindset and I agree with his thinking and your explanation but in the end it just didn't work out.

Maybe they did but the FO underestimated the importance of have an interior pressure defensive end like Jenkins. Any OLB will have a tougher time doing his job if the defensive line can't do theirs. I'm sure they did step up and play hard. About as hard as anyone could have expected.

The Motto "if it ain't broke don't fix it" applies here. The defense the way it was, worked, and they decided to change it and perhaps overestimated their ability to scout talent a find a guy to do the job just as well. But they were wrong.

On a winning team continuity is important. Especially in the trenches.

Its really easy to look back in hindsight and find some errors with any team or any player. It is impossible for any GM to look ahead and know exactly what our needs are. If TT has taught us anything it should be that building a team is a patient process. I hate it when a poster second guesses him and says , well he should have gotten a cb or a OLB or whatever. Was there a player who represented an upgrade? Probably not. Where was TT supposed to get this OLB
difference maker? Pull him out of his a$$? There, I left you open for a TT is gay comment.

The point is, TT is the best GM in the business, and i think nearly every other team in the NFL would trade roster for roster in a heartbeat. Is he perfect? No. You just can't expect a line of probowlers at every position. You have to do your best with your limited options and finite budget.

Before his injury, Mike Neal looked every bit of beastly as Jenkins did, getting pressure quite often and and creating massive havoc in the back field. Unfortunately he never fully recovered from his injury. Hopefully some rest and an off-season program will restore his strength and skills.

Yeah, but it happens. Just like stocks, past performance is not indicative of future performance. All they had to go on was what they saw on tape, which was Zombo, Walden and Jones making plays. For one reason or another it didn't happen this year. Hopefully that will improve with an off-season program as well.

They let Jenkins walk because of injury and pinned their plans to a rookie that spent the season on IR. His second year he missed half and the rest played injured. Not exactly the most durable player. I have a greater problem with TT not having a plan B when this scenario played out as it did.

I kind of hoped one of these three would seize the job and be better than pedestrian when called upon.

Neal suffered two different injuries though. He went to IR because of a torn pectoral muscle. This season's issues were due to a knee.

I wonder what the response to this thread would have been 2 weeks ago. Back when we were known as a 15-1 team, favored to win the Super Bowl. What a difference a game makes.

I want to keep Capers for another season because I think he was dealt a very poor hand.

I know people say he uses too many 3-man rush "Prevent" defenses. I don't disagree with that. However, Erik Walden / Frank Zombo / Brad Jones aren't that good and A.J. Hawk may be the worst blitzing LB in the NFL. There's almost no point in blitzing any of those guys. Jarius Wynn doesn't demand double teams from anybody. Ryan Pickett is more for the run game. Teams can just focus on B.J. Raji and Clay Matthews at that point because the other guys aren't winning their one-on-one battles.

Capers also has to be careful with blitzing defensive backs because if they do complete the pass, the linebackers and safeties would just miss tackles. That turns a 5-yard gain into a 25-yard gain.

I'm not sure how much the defensive lapse was from Nick Collins' injury. They weren't playing well before he was injured. I think that's a testament to how cruddy the front seven is. I want a front seven like SF's....mean, fast, intelligent and great instincts for the football.

Raji, Matthews and Bishop are good building pieces, maybe D.J. Smith. Hopefully Mike Neal will step his game up because you can't have too many good DL.

Anyone still want to run Capers out of town?

Yes because his players allowed a meaningless touchdown in the last few minutes of a blowout win to a 2-12 team to lose the shutout.
I was calling for his ouster in another thread. I still don't think his schemes win the games as much as the players and their development this year. For that I credit the position coaches.

The titans are not a 2-12 team.....they are now 5-10. Just sayin

You say it's the players and Brandon marshal says its capers lol

IMO its interesting how our biases affect our perceptions. For those who dislike a certain player that player's mistakes are magnified in their minds while the same mistakes by other players go relatively unnoticed. Those who dislike a certain assistant coach credit any success their unit has to others on the staff. And here, Poppa San (who started the post with what I assume is a joke) appears to seriously credit the Packers success on D to the assistant coaches as opposed to the DC. As I've posted before I don’t think there is any way for fans to be in a position to know that. Even beat writers aren't able to witness every practice or have unlimited access to the locker room and team facilities. How can fans judge how coordinators interact with HCs (and who is responsible for specific decisions) or how much responsibility each assistant coach is given and how much interaction coordinators have with position groups? How can outsiders know which players members of the coaching staff lobbied for or how much of a particular player's problems are caused by poor coaching vs. flaws in the player himself? None of us can be perfectly objective so our biases will always creep into our analysis. But in instances like these, when fans attribute blame to a particular coach, I'd appreciate some evidence to back that claim.

Why do you always dig up threads that are 1 or 2 years old and reply to them as if they are still being discussed? Just curious.

Wow so if we go to a SB and were up 28-0 with2 min left and they score a TD should capers get fired cuz we let them get a TD when the outcome would have been a win for us regardless? Some people's children I tell you!

Wasn't this subject being discussed up until 3 weeks ago?

Lets wait and see what the defense can do against a good offense.

It is still a relevant issue. Mods don't want duplicate threads, anyway.

Had 'em mixed up with Jax when I wrote that.

FYI it was dug up for me by the previous poster. I responded to his query.

Knew I should have used a smiley.