It really is amazing how many components go into fielding a successful team. Top QB, check. Top WR, check. Top pass rusher, check. Top RB, check. Top LG, check. Top coaching staff, ? Top personnel staff, ?
I think there are many other positions that have been calling out for top talent, and we've had the picks at many of those positions with proven talents in the college ranks, yet, where is the development? For whatever reason, it seems the coaching has been suspect in many of these other areas not listed. S, ILB, DL, OT, C, TE, STs…
Arguments could be made that our DB coaching outside of S has been pretty solid, but a player like House going the opposite direction isn't helping matters. TE coaching seems alright with what Quarless is giving us, a player I really like. Taylor seems to be coming around, but not much going on with Bostick, a guy I thought would be excelling by now, especially with Finley out. Nick Perry seems to be doing very well at OLB, and I do believe Palmer and Mulumba are just a year out in terms of physical development to play at a high level in the Pro game. I struggle a bit at ILB as Jones is clearly not the answer, but I have hopes for Lattimore if he can stay healthy. Our difficulty getting Barclay and Newhouse up to speed has been hard to watch.
No matter what, I believe these are tough calls, personnel or coaching, but I lean more towards coaching as being the big problem area, and I believe better staff would get more out of the players we have. That is a difficult call to make, but it seems with a good 4 years sample, coaching seems to be the problem area. After winning the SB in 2010, there would be a natural expectation for high level play. Losing Cullen Jenkins hurt us. We fell in DL production from that point on, and have struggled to right that. Does that point to personnel? Maybe. Figure 3 years out of that, a team would be able to retool from a personnel standpoint and be back in serious contention. We've added good players, at least in my opinion they seem to be good, talented, proven. I just don't see that they are being properly developed to take us back to that high level of play. Or, maybe the expectations are too high to have these players develop in a 1-2 year window as opposed to a 3-4 year window. It could be that part of the system is unrealistic. But, other teams do it, realizing major contributions form 1st and 2nd year players. In fairness, we've had some of that with Lacy, Bakhtiari and Daniels. Other teams add FAs to plug holes in their rosters.
Far too many players injured. This, for the 4th year in a row. How do you retain the Strength & Conditioning staff given that sample? Being one of the youngest teams in the NFL for 4 years in a row raises questions as well.
Overall, this has been a pretty damn good team for the past 4 years, with the exception of some gaping holes on our OL, at S, at ILB and DL. We've struggled to either add talent there, develop talent there, or to keep the talent we have at those positions healthy. It has been a very mixed bag of all of that. This seems to point more to the coaching staff than the personnel staff. As a result, we are now struggling to get into the playoffs, and questions loom as to what we might do should we get there. I would not say that we've really played at a high level all season, as a team, with the exception of beating up on some weaker sisters, like CLE, and DET without Calvin Johnson, a struggling WAS, etc. Going into BAL and coming out with a W was our best all year, and may be the lone exception.
We've failed in some of our biggest games though, ones that really mattered most. Games with playoff significance, and made to look pretty bad in doing so. And, what about Home Field Advantage? That no longer exists in GB, for whatever reason. Is that a personnel issue?
Maybe, with what remains of this season they, players and coaches alike, can turn the corner, and be that team we've been hoping for since the 2010 run. Sean Richardson may prove to be a big part of that. So will the much anticipated return of Rodgers and hopefully Cobb.
Since this thread is indeed about Dom Capers, I'll add he has been missing key players at some of the positions that may be required to make his D successful. Again, the Richardson addition may help. Perry's return has to help. Neal cranking it up, and Daniels cranking it up will help. Maybe Raji does something with what is left in the year to help make this D go again. Maybe Burnett comes around to be the player we've all been waiting for. Maybe somebody does something positive at ILB, like, covering a TE...