Re: Capers...

From an article by Zach Kruse PACKERSWIRE:

After seven weeks, the Packers are 20th in the NFL in points allowed per game, 22nd in yards allowed per play, 20th in opponent passer rating, 27th in sack percentage, 21st in passing yards allowed per attempt, 18th in rushing yards allowed per carry and 25th in opponent percentage of drives ending in score.
Shawn Wagner of Acme Packing Company showed, in great detail, how poor the Packers have been playing situational defense.
According to Wagner, Green Bay is 29th in the NFL in forcing three-and-outs, 26th in third down conversion percentage, 32nd in fourth down conversion percentage, 29th in punt per drive rate, 31st in red zone scoring percentage and 32nd in opponent points per red zone visit.
These are all broad but revealing numbers that provide just one rational conclusion: The Packers haven’t been any good on defense.

But why? Why is a defense with so many capable players struggling to produce?
It’s getting increasingly difficult to blame the issues on talent. Teams have done far more with far less. Many of the individual parts are solid, but the collective results are still lacking.
Maybe the evaluation here is overrating the talent level of the Packers defense. Maybe a few injuries here and there have collapsed the entire operation.
Or, maybe, Capers just isn’t capable of putting all the individual pieces together to form a competent NFL defense.

Talent has been an easy excuse for Capers in recent years. It doesn’t hold up in 2017. And while assigning blame is too often sought and too easily assigned, it’s becoming harder and harder to argue Capers doesn’t deserve the majority of the blame for another disappointing season from an otherwise talented Packers defense.

I knew the D was poor of late but these stats are alarming to say the least. MM's O isn't great either.

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“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” -Marcus Aurelius

Here's a list of the Packer's last ten first round draft picks:
2006 5 A. J. Hawk # LB Ohio State
2007 16 Justin Harrell DT Tennessee
2008 — No pick — — [gg]
2009 9 B. J. Raji # DT Boston College
2009 26 Clay Matthews III # LB Southern California [hh]
2010 23 Bryan Bulaga OT Iowa
2011 32 Derek Sherrod OT Mississippi State
2012 28 Nick Perry DE Southern California
2013 26 Datone Jones DE UCLA
2014 21 Ha Ha Clinton-Dix # S Alabama
2015 30 Damarious Randall S Arizona State
2016 27 Kenny Clark NT UCLA
2017 — No pick — — [tj]

Notice anything? Two offensive players. I bet we would see similar results in the second and third rounds, although maybe not as drastic.

Bottom line is the Packers have stocked the defense with talent for years. Some panned out, some got cut, but there's been more than enough guys there to make a good defense. I don't expect the '85 Bears, but c'mon. Only difference now is there isn't an Aaron Rodgers to bail them (RE: Capers) out each game and his failure is becoming much more evident.

In my opinion, every positive defensive showing and/or play over the last few years has been a direct result of the players.

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Kyle

Kaerous,Thanks for the post. I'd say 3 of the D picks were flops, the D pick for MLB was poor after the D went to a 3 man front & 1 D pick "the jury is still out on".

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“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” -Marcus Aurelius

I don't think our defensive talent is that great, especially with all the injuries. But I do expect to be able to defend screen passes, something we are horrible at. 3rd and 17 and a screen pass to a wide receiver picks up the first down plus another 10 yards. On the flip side, our offense is not so good at running screen passes. Seems every time we try it gets sniffed out and the QB has to throw the ball away. And the short throws to receivers get closed down real fast by the opposing defense. Take the yards we gave the Saints on screen passes and give those same yards to our offense and we win the game.

Dom and the 3-4 should have been scrapped years ago. We are in the nickel 70 plus percent of the time. That puts us in a 4 man D-line. So why continue to try and draft another OLB who can rush the passer. Elite ones (even good ones) are far and few between. They are often vastly undersized compared to the 320 pound offensive tackles and tend to get dinged up or wear down as the season goes on. So why not just draft pass rushers? How many years did it take before they brought in a guy like Peppers. Wasted years.

The heart and sole of a 3-4 is the ILB. We never tried to find an elite one. Never brought in a good experienced vet. Just kept trying to get by with 4th or later rounder's. Never brawl with a TE on the line or been able to cover a RB out of the backfield. Just give free releases. We haven't been able to cover a TE or RB since Dom got here. The Nitro package is about 5 years late getting here.

I don't know if Dom was getting the type of players he was looking for and just can't do the job anymore. Or if TT wasn't getting him what he wanted because he needs to trade back a million times. Either way this team needed a change at DC years ago. This D has under performed in the playoffs every year. It's predictable and without a bunch of turnovers, flat out not good enough to win a SB. And since that's what they play for Dom needs to go. If MM doesn't want to let him go, he can go as well.