I don't know how much Nick Collins provided the back end in terms of communication, but that area needs a lot of help. If we don't have a pass rush, that means, we have to lay off zone for a while and play a little more man.

Either way, while things look grim, I think the defense will start to turn up the heat as the season progresses. Note that most of the games we've played so far were away from home in more than ideal conditions. I think as the weather worsens and teams start to shift toward the run (and we've been good against the run this year), the defense will start to move up in rank rather quickly.

---

While it sucks to see them giving up so many huge plays, it is encouraging that a team being this successful has room to further improve. I am concerned that this could later be a problem in the playoffs. This team will have a hard time with Detroit on Thanksgiving if they continue to allow huge plays down the field. More pass rush would help, but it seems that CM3 is the only guy that can do this consistantly (when he isn't double teamed of course.) Somebody needs to step up and take advantage of the extra attention to Clay.

Maybe this team needs a loss to draw attention to this glaring problem?

Patriots cut Albert Haynesworth today. Is he worth the league minimum? Probly not a packer person.

---

Albert hates the 3 - 4.

---

How about the 2-5?

---

Haynesworth got cut because he quit playing in the middle of the game and just stood there letting the Giants push him around play after play. He literally quit on the field just like he was doing in Washington. He got his money and doesn't seem to care anymore. He barely qualifies as a "football player" let alone "packer person".

---

I thought the defense did okay last week until the Packers went up 45-24. When that happened, that's when the communication issues in the secondary went down. I don’t know what to make of that issue right now. Morgan Burnett was a very intelligent player at Georgia Tech, but I’m finding him out of position. Perhaps his intent to be aggressive is costing him. That was the big question on him heading into the year. He lacked aggression and was more conservative in the secondary. I would prefer him to return to his roots and not take as many chances because he’s been biting lately.

Charlie Peprah isn‘t a great cover player. He made two good plays last week, though his picks were more about right place at the right time. Last year, I thought they did a good job of covering up for him. This year, that’s not the case, but he’s not back there with Nick Collins.

For all the secondary issues, I’m more concerned about the pass rush. At the end of the day, this scheme cannot work at a high level without pressure on the QB. I know you can say that about all schemes in today's NFL because you give any QB enough time and somebody will come open. Historically, however, pass rush is one of the three necessities that all great teams should have. The other two being pass protection and most important being the QB play.

The Packers have two of those because Rodgers makes the pass protection seem better than it is. I don’t know if they can garner the pass rush, though. If Mike Neal can come in, and replace Cullen Jenkins, it’ll free up players like B.J. Raji and Erik Walden/Frank Zombo. They need that pressure on their DL to compliment Matthews.

---

Sacks are not as important as pressure. They are getting a lot of pressure. That is forcing a lot of interceptions. We are not bad in sacks. Kind of middle of the NFL. But we are around the top in pressure.

I think a lot of the problem is perception. Not actually a problem.

When the Opponents come out with a scripted drive that is designed to exploit Capers scheme and jumps out to an early lead, even when we followed that up with a gaff that cost us even more points given up. The D shuts down the opponents long enough to not only get us back, but pull ahead by 2-3 scores. Sometime more than a 21 point turn around. We go into the second half pulling away and end up in prevent with a big lead.

I think a lot of the yards and points given up are after they have that huge lead.

The D seems to be able to step up and shut down opponents when they have to. Like the end of the Charger game when the O couldn't run out the clock on back to back possessions. The D stepped up and got a critical stop and a pick on back to back possessions.

If the D is under pressure more, they probably put up a lot better numbers. But I would prefer a D that is ranked in the middle of the NFL in scoring if it means we are always playing with a big lead.

---

Chargers had 7 20+ yard passes (and another 2 that went 19 yds). 3 in the 1Q, 1 in 3Q, 3 in the 4Q. 19 yd completions were 3Q & 4Q.

Total yards/Q:
170 yds 1Q (2 TDs); 29 yds 2Q (1 FG); 84 yds 3Q (1 TD); 172 yds 4Q (2 TDs).

Outside of the turnovers, we stopped them twice and made them punt. 3 times, if you include the FG. The ther 5 drives, they scored TDs.

Too many guys getting wide open in the secondary, and too many guys getting wide open behind everyone in the secondary.

On the plus side, we're 1/2 through the season and have 8 more games to straighten things out before the playoffs.

There were a couple awful coverage plays this game. Obviously Vincent Jackson was way too open on a few plays. However, I just don't see the defense being that big of an issue. What I saw in the second half was a defense playing without much urgency and a large lead. Once the game got close we started clamping down and getting more consistent pressure again. I think our defense has more to do with the lack of urgency than being flat out bad.

We were up 40+-24 in the 4th quarter. Cue good drive with a few blown coverages by the Chargers. Touchdown. Thanks to Jordy, the Chargers got the ball back. Our defense had barely any rest between the two drives. Cue two big plays by the Chargers and touchdown again. Now once our defense rests and the Chargers get the ball back we end up forcing an interception.

There's not a lot to complain about when you're team is 8-0, and our pass defense after this last game seems to be weakness. However I think that weakness is more associated with our defenses lack of urgency than actual weaknesses. That is not to say we cannot improve and our coverage/pass rush hasn't gotten worse compared to last season. I just think that problem is not that big.