It's the end of the season and you're..

[NelsonsLongCatch]

Let's say that the Packers pick up Lovie and he moves to install a 4-3 base defense. Is there ANY chance that TT trades away Clay Matthews in his prime for a boatload of picks and maybe a player or two?

Don't blast me... just askin'...

I have no idea. The guy just signed a lifetime Packer extension less than 10 months ago.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

So at least we are all in agreement here... Dom Capers is out?? He has to have incriminating pictures of TT or Murphy to still be there? Just saying......

 

[Carl]

So at least we are all in agreement here... Dom Capers is out?? He has to have incriminating pictures of TT or Murphy to still be there? Just saying......

I'm not in agreement as I don't think the scheme is the problem.

 

[Ogsponge]

I'm not in agreement as I don't think the scheme is the problem.

So you believe that absolutely horrendous showings in 3 of the last 4 years of the playoffs is entirely on the players and the players only? You think that has absolutely nothing to do with the coach's preparation of a gameplan and his players?

I am sorry but that is not the case, Dom has been a step behind for quite awhile now. The defense has been inexcusably bad in the playoffs every year except for the miracle super bowl year. That does not happen because all of your players suck, that happens because the coach has been completely over matched vs. the opposing offensive coordinator.

How anyone could possibly continue to defend Dom is beyond me.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Ha Ha has a real first name I believe.

Yeah, like I said 2 posts up, it's Ha'Sean.

 

[Carl]

So you believe that absolutely horrendous showings in 3 of the last 4 years of the playoffs is entirely on the players and the players only? You think that has absolutely nothing to do with the coach's preparation of a gameplan and his players?

I am sorry but that is not the case, Dom has been a step behind for quite awhile now. The defense has been inexcusably bad in the playoffs every year except for the miracle super bowl year. That does not happen because all of your players suck, that happens because the coach has been completely over matched vs. the opposing offensive coordinator.

How anyone could possibly continue to defend Dom is beyond me.

I see a lot of fans thinking Capers should be fired, but I have never seen any specific examples of his shortcomings. All I've ever seen is "The defense is bad. It must be Capers' fault." But never even one play pointed out where he called a bad play. Not one.

All I said is I do not think the scheme is the problem. It's a very similar scheme to **** LeBeau's, who has been a successful defensive coordinator for years.

Also, regular season games matter too. His scheme has produced two top five defenses while with the Packers. A very good defense in 2009 helped get them to the playoffs. Last season, the 11th ranked defense helped get them in. People just remember the last game and think the defense was awful all year. I'll give you that 2011 was bad.

Looking at those specific playoff games, I remember Woodson being absolutely dominated by Fitzgerald during the Arizona game and Kurt Warner playing out of his mind. That's not scheme. I remember the secondary blowing it on a hail mary against the Giants, the offense giving the Giants the ball around the 10 yard line, and having 3 other turnovers, giving the Giants lots of chances. Those are not defensive scheme mistakes. Against San Francisco, players consistently bit on Kaepernick's read option fakes like Walden on the long TD run. That's not on the scheme. There is no scheme in the world that plans on letting the QB run for so many untouched yards. That means players were messing up consistently.

Also, right now the defense is average. It's not awful. It has played well for part of this year, but has had some tough games too. The last game was solid with 20 points against. Against the Eagles, all three touchdowns were on player mistakes - two beat double teams and the third was a play with five defensive backs covering three receivers. All three of those plays were schemed perfectly, but still resulted in touchdowns.

There are also a lot more coaches to the defense than just Capers. There's at least one for every position. There's no way with all those coaches that anybody can blame one specific coach by just watching a game and not having inside information on the team. Maybe Capers called a perfect game in week one, (he did call double teams all second half against Boldin and Boldin just beat them) but the secondary coach or the defensive line coach didn't do his job. We can't tell from home.

I'm not going to pretend to know much about game planning, but I'm confident that a NFL coaching staff know how to game plan.

Finally, could the defense be better? Of course it could. I wouldn't expect it to be back to top five level without playmakers like Woodson and Collins, but it could be better. There are plenty of ways to improve it, but I just don't think changing from Capers' scheme is one of them.