Perhaps the most interesting thing from the win, aside from DJ Smith emerging as Desmond Bishop-light and Robert Francois showing something with his play, was our defensive play-calling.
(Almost) Exclusively nickel and dime. Rarely did we see Capers go to base 3-4. Capers' philosophy isn't hard to predict: shut down run, make team 1 dimensional, and attack like no tomorrow. In part due to this philosophy, we have seen teams come out and own the D early this year by establishing the pass game from the word "go".
Yesterday seemed to be a complete departure from this philosophy. While in nickel, Capers seemed content to let the Lions get their running yards, and to have check downs. Minimal rush, zone in the middle, corners in man, 2 deep safety with Burnett usually rotating towards Megatron.
Usually with this style of D, you have to have players be sure tacklers. In other words, you play to minimize the damage, making the offense work to get down the field; limit big plays. Go for the fumble, but not at the expense of making the sure tackle in other words.
No doubt it worked, but our players are aggressive, often wanting to make big plays at the expense of making the sure plays; try to cause a fumble instead of making the tackle first. Yet the players (for the most part) seemed to play within what yesterday's game plan required. They got big plays, no doubt. But they did not seem to force the issue.
I just find it very interesting that for a group of players that can fairly be criticized for wanting to make splash plays at the expense of sure plays, our defenders played as disciplined as they did. I find it even more interesting that Capers had the confidence in his players to game plan this way. I'm not sure what exactly it says overall about our D, but I honestly feel much, much better coming out of this game about our D than I have at any point since the start of the season. We don't need to have a "blitz like no tomorrow or we're gonna get our asses toast" mentality. Props to Capers for realizing that, and to our players for showing that.
Originally Posted by: all_about_da_packers