Well, I suppose it worked, because the Packers won and the Eagles only scored 16 points, but it was weird at times. There were stretches where they went several plays in a row with a three or four-man rush and allowed Vick to get comfortable. It was also a little weird to see Clay Matthews dropping back into coverage so much. They got burned at least a couple of times on those plays. I give Vick a lot of credit, though, for playing smart and avoiding a turnover until that last play. But the Packers got it done.

I expect to see a more aggressive game plan next week or Matt Ryan and Roddy White will pick them apart.

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I think they were doing everything they could to keep the Eagles off balance and guessing at what was coming.

Personally I think they were challenging Vick mentally more so.. and I think Capers wanted to try to everything he could to prevent the big plays with Maclin and Jackson.

He dialed up the pressure a bit after Jackson was out.. but kind of pulled back when he was in the game.

You could tell that part of the plan was to keep the width of the field at the LOS boxed in so that Vick would have to go east and west before turning up field.. and they basically took that element of the game away.

I think they were playing it as safe as they could.

Another note.. the Eagles had figured out a blitz pickup that was more effective in slot blitzes... so that held Woodson and Collins back a bit more.

A different note.. Bush and Bishop played pretty complete games and Clay made a couple huge plays and forced a number of holds.. even though only 1 I believe was called.

Overall the defense gets a A.. not an A+ but a solid A.

Without them and balance on the offense.. I think this game swings a bit differently.

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I don't think we'll need as many blitz packages to get to Ryan. Hopefully Matthews, Raji, Jenkins and the rest will be able to create pressure themselves to let the d-backs concentrate on coverage and turnovers.

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First play of the game was awesome, I thought. They brought Bishop and he had a sack; show them your intent.

I agree with you Greg, that really the aggressiveness was not there. Maybe some of that was the function of needing one of Woodson / Walden to serve as a spy in case Vick escaped from the pocket.

What perhaps made the the most angriest today was hearing on ESPN morning show that the Broncos want to interview Capers for their HC opening.

Damn. If I am not mistaken: a coach on another team that advanced to the playoffs cannot be interviewed for a HC position until his team has been eliminated. So assuming I am not mistaken, it looks like no HC interview this week.

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Yeah, they aren't going to get to talk to him until after the Super Bowl (fingers crossed). I am hoping that he just loves it in Green Bay so much that he wants to stay forever.

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Nice breakdown, Pack. Yes, the Eagles did a great job picking up the blitzes today. And Vick did not allow himself to get flustered into making mistakes--at least not until that last pass, and even that one wasn't so bad. He's come such a long way this year.

It's interesting to me how these cat and mouse games go on between offenses and defenses. The Vikings appeared to set the template for beating Vick, with all those CB blitzes, and one might think that the Packers would do the same thing with Woodson, but they really didn't, for the most part.

I'll give the defense an A minus, considering that Desean Jackson missed some time and was not quite 100% when he came back. That's still a very good grade.

Do you realize that if the Packers beat the Falcons and the Seahawks beat the Bears, the Packers will play three teams with bird names on the way to the Super Bowl? And they lost to the Cardinals last year. Interesting. Well, maybe not....

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Yeah,,, I had problems with the gameplan, too. We backed off and let Vick get too comfortable. The Vikes and Giants chased him all game and he responded awfully.

Matt Ryan is cooler under pressure - I think we'll see more coverage schemes next week.

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BTW.. the Packers played ball control all game.. part of the overall scheme to keep the defense fresh as can be.. one way to control Vick is to limit the amount of touches he gets.. and force that team to sustain drives without the big play.

It worked for the most part. Effectively.

Rodgers doesn't give the Eagles the ball deep.. this game isn't a 5 point affair.

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The approach was interesting to say the least.

It looked to me like the defense had no respect for Vick's passing game. Normally, against a good QB, you'll be torn to shreds if you play off coverage all game. I guess Capers saw something on the film that suggested to him that Vick isn't all that accurate. That's the only reason I see why he rushed 3 on 3rd and 14.

The Falcons are tough at home and with Michael Turner, the Packers might be a bit passive upfront. If A.J. Hawk continues to play the way he played tonight, it'll give me fits.

Next week we cannot allow Matt Ryan to sustain drives. I don't care what it takes. If we play into Atlanta's hands again, we're done for.

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They played to contain. If they blitz, they risk giving up the big play, which Philadelphia strives to do. If they play to contain, then they're forcing the Eagles to drive down the field. I thought it was a little passive for my liking. The Eagles adjusted in the second half, with the underneath routes over the middle, but they won. They knew Vick would have trouble beating them with his arm. He did. It never looked exactly like the Eagles were comfortable and play calling never looked like it was in rhythm. I trust Dom Capers more than I trust even my own instincts and he proved himself right again.

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