Capers' defense successful despite Packers' many injuries
Green Bay The rise of the Green Bay Packers to the top rung in scoring defense despite a maelstrom of injuries is a tribute to the players, the coaches and the scheme.
Above all, it is a tribute to Dom Capers, who has held firm to his fire-zone scheme and reaped the benefits in Year 2 as defensive coordinator in Green Bay.
"He's done an outstanding job," said Mike Trgovac, the Carolina Panthers' defensive coordinator from 2003-'08 who joined Capers as defensive line coach last year.
"As an ex-coordinator, the one thing I'm most impressed with Dom is he stays the course. He's never too high. He's never too low. He never panics. He believes in his system."
A month ago, the Packers ranked 12th in points allowed. After allowing merely 30 points in the last four games, they lead the National Football League in points allowed with 166, just ahead of Chicago (172), Pittsburgh (181), the New York Jets (187) and Baltimore (188).
The ranking is a source of pride within the organization, which hasn't finished a season allowing the fewest points since its last championship in 1996 (210).
"All the other stats . . . third down, turnovers, all of them really become insignificant when it comes to really measuring a good defense," safeties coach Darren Perry said. "It comes down to the points allowed."
Starters Morgan Burnett, Nick Barnett and Brad Jones all were on injured reserve by Oct. 27. Situational substitutes Justin Harrell, Brady Poppinga, Mike Neal and Brandon Chillar also are on that season-ending list, as is Derrick Martin.
By the numbers, six defensive starters have missed a total of 23 games, and 11 defensive subs have missed a total of 41 games.
Neither category accounts for the eight weeks safety Atari Bigby spent on the physically unable to perform list or the nine weeks for cornerback Al Harris, both of whom started in 2009.
No NFL team has had the weight of injury press down upon it this season quite like Green Bay.
Through the lineup juggling, the street signings and the time involved with tutoring players for new jobs, Capers never once came across as nonplused.
"He trusts his assistants to teach guys what they need to know," Trgovac said. "He's going to call his game. He's not a big believer in changing a bunch of things because a guy is out."
On early downs, Capers uses a 3-4 front with a safety down to curtail the run. His base coverage in that look is "man free" in which the other safety is deep and just everyone else is playing man-to-man.
Earlier in the season, the Packers played mostly Cover-2 and Cover-2 Man on third down. Now it's a mix of coverages.
"If you were scouting us on third down and tried to say, 'Listen, you're going to get this coverage 70, 80% of the time,' I don't think you could say that," said Perry.
By design, the Packers also are unpredictable in the red zone. In the words of cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt, "We were horrible last year in the red zone. Now I think we're much improved."
Ranked 28th in red-zone efficiency a year ago, Green Bay is tied for 15th now. It's a reflection of having allowed just six touchdown passes of 20 yards or less compared to a whopping 27 in 17 games last year.
Capers doesn't employ a wide variety of personnel packages. If the opponent is running effectively, he will jump into a "Bear" front. For three-quarters of the game, the Packers generally play a 4-2 or 3-3 and, on occasion, the "Psycho" 1-5 grouping.
"When you look at our package, it doesn't seem like a whole hell of a lot," Trgovac said. "But a team playing you, you see a look and you can bring this and this and this. I love the flexibility of it."
Perry, who played free safety under Capers in Pittsburgh from 1992-'94, acknowledged that the coordinator is pressuring less these days. Through 11 games, Capers has rushed five or more on 31.8% of passes (up from 27% in '09) and six or more merely 3.3% (down from 4.5%).
Out of 453 dropbacks, the Packers have rushed six 13 times and seven twice. Interestingly, Capers has rushed three or fewer (17.2%) almost twice as often as last year (8.8%).
"A lot of the scheme is four-man, but you don't know which four," Trgovac said. "Some is five-man, but you don't know which five. When you get into all that six-man and seven-man stuff, that's where a lot of the big plays come from."
The Packers have yielded six passes of 35 yards or more, but merely one touchdown pass longer than 23. A pass rush ranked fifth is one factor. Tramon Williams' sensational season is a second. Fewer blown assignments are a third.
"Communication," Whitt said. "That was our issue last year. We cleaned things up as a staff and we don't have those issues now."
Clay Matthews leads the NFL in sacks with 11, but only four were the classic variety in which he beat a tackle. Some were pure hustle plays by Matthews, while still others were the result of Capers freeing Matthews with various zone blitzes, stunts and rush locations.
"He helps all of them," said Whitt. "If you show you can make plays, he will create chances for you."
The combination of rush and coverage has enabled the defense to rank second behind only Chicago in opponents' passer rating (70.0). Moreover, Green Bay is tied for seventh in take-aways with 21.
Based on rankings, the fall of a run defense from No. 1 in 2009 to No. 18 this year might appear to be a serious blemish. But the yields of 112.6 and 4.50 per carry would be 90.2 and 4.05 if the composite quarterbacks' rushing totals (30-246-8.2) were eliminated.
If Capers has said it once in interviews he has said it 100 times, stopping the run is at the core of what he seeks to do each week.
"It's a hard team to run against because they play physical up front, they fly to the football and they got a bunch of big bodies," an NFL personnel director said at midweek. "They're smart, they're tough and they're big.
"Dom does a great job of mixing up his blitzes and getting to the quarterback. I think they're well-coached. They get more out of less.
"If you can protect the passer, I think you can get to them a little bit with the pass. But they've got a guy (Matthews) who arguably is playing as good as any defensive player in the league right now. You have to account for him within the scheme."
After the Packers return home from each road game, the 60-year-old Capers immediately breaks down the tape, famously crunches statistics, sleeps in his office and is set with the plan for the day when the assistants arrive by 5 a.m.
"We come off the plane, he does not go home," said Whitt. "Seriously. He's a tireless worker, he's honest, he's down the line and he listens. That's why the players respect him so much."
So far, the 25th NFL season for Capers has been one of his finest.