A-HA! Yeah, we’ve heard all of your bitching and moaning about Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers. Fire him is pretty much what most people are saying, but let’s be honest.
He’d be nothing more than a scapegoat at this point.
Frankly, I don’t give a shit if Bill Belichick were coaching this Packers defense. They still wouldn’t be any good. Not a lot of things you can do scheme-wise when you don’t have personnel that can make tackles, shed blockers or create turnovers.
The Packers defense is now 24th in the league in total defense after reaching a high of 11th early in the season. They’re 26th against the rush, after reaching as high as No. 3 overall. They’re 22nd against the pass, but that was never really a strength, despite all the supposed depth in the defensive backfield.
Anyway, the Packers craptacular defense has fallen far, fast. And while many of you want to blame Capers for that, well, again — Dom Capers isn’t out there missing tackles. A.J. Hawk, Brad Jones and M.D. Jennings are.
At any rate, one of the local beat guys finally heard the chatter about Capers and brought it up with several players. To a man, they defended Capers and the scheme.
Ryan Pickett:
“We absolutely believe in it, so we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. We know it’s worked in the past. We just have to get back to it.”
Oh, god. I certainly hope you don’t keep doing what you’re doing. Why not do the opposite of what you’re doing? Make tackles. Get off blocks. Create turnovers. Make plays!
Tramon Williams:
“Obviously we won the Super Bowl with it. It’s been around for a while. When you’re struggling, you don’t know what to think about it, and that’s anybody. That’s just part of the frustration going on with things.
“We’re still buying into what’s going on. It’s going to be a struggle from both points — coaches and players. It’s not going to be one of those things where we’re going to point fingers at the scheme or it’s this. We’re not going to do that.”
Fortunately, that’s why we’re here. And that’s why you’re here. To point fingers. And there are plenty of fingers to point. Point away. I know we’ll keep doing so.
Mike Daniels:
“You’ve seen a lot of other teams in the NFL running it. Like I said, people are going to have an opinion whether you’re winning or you’re facing adversity.”
Look, Mike Daniels has actually been playing well. However, No one is going to have an opinion on your scheme if you’re winning. Does anyone have an opinion on Seattle’s scheme? Oh, they have a great defense! That’s a fact, not an opinion.
They also have some pretty top-shelf personnel.
Ultimately, Capers may end up being the scapegoat for a terrible season and we know that would make a lot of you happy. We cannot lay this debacle at the feet of the defensive coordinator though.
Dom Capers has had a very successful track record of leading NFL defenses. So he suddenly forgot how to coach defense this season?
No. He doesn’t have enough damn talent to mold a decent defense with.
And you know where that falls? Upstairs.
Draft and develop, people! And if we don’t draft well then, uh… shit!