I am not big on blame. Doesn't really matter what we think anyway.
Smith, Bowman, Willis, Brooks.
Neal, Jones, Hawk, Perry.
There's a good chance that none of our starting LB's from the playoff game would even make the 49er's roster. Perry would be the likely possibility, based solely on his talent being good enough to warrant a 1st rd pick.
McDonald, Dorsey, Smith
Pickett, Raji, Daniels
Same story. See the disruption/ penetration from the DL against Seattle?
Reid, Whitner.
Burnett, Anybody.
Same story. Their safeties made some plays. At the line and in the backfield. Gave some up also, but so do ours.
Rogers, Brown, Brock, Wright
Williams, Shields, Hyde and House.
Ok. Packers win this area. Our CB's are a pretty special group.
But to compare lineups, the 49er's are a more talented group in 3 of 4 areas. Dramatically so in 2, LB and Safety.
Many wish to fire Capers. But let's pretend and try swapping Capers and 49ers DC Fangio. Who do you think would have the better D? I think Capers would have the best D handsdown. Better players= Better D.
Originally Posted by: QCHuskerFan
It is a real selling point in the argument QCHuskerFan. I agree with you 100%.
For instance, I like to think how dramatically our defense would change with the additions of Jairus Byrd and Brian Orakpo… a healthy Nick Perry and Clay Matthews. Maybe adding a top MLB in the draft. I bet Dom Capers could do quite a lot of good with that kind of talent on his defense. Talent that has been missing for years, either through injury, or personnel mismanagement.
I'm going to throw one other thing out there, because I'd like to know what others here think: Nate McMillian. What the hell happened to him? He showed some promise as a rookie, nabbed a couple of picks and hit hard. His second season was a turbo flush down the toilet. I always thought he was at the very least better than MD Jennings. I wonder what the real story is behind his cutting in mid season.
On this point, I wonder if Capers is too stuck in his ways. He considered Jennings to be a veteran player. Jennings sucked. At least McMillian showed some promise last season. With Safety being such an important position, how did Capers let this position go so horribly wrong? We all saw the same kind of philosophy in play with Datone Jones, who got just 16 snaps in our final 3 games combined! He only averaged a little over 14 snaps per game. Never once saw more than 23 in a game, and rarely played in our 3-4! If these guys don't play, they don't learn with real game experience, they don't develop. How is he supposed to develop as a 3-4 DE when you don't play him there?
This, to me, is the crux of the biscuit when it comes to Green Bay's problems on defense. Dom Capers will play lesser talents, with less upside, simply because they are more veteran to his system. That goes against the "draft and develop" philosophy this team is built on under Ted Thompson. In this regard, I think Dom Capers can and should be called out. I think he needs to make some very big changes in the manner in which he handles our players, or he should be out.
Under your scenario, QCHuskerFan, of swapping out DCs, would Fangio do a better job of developing our talent? Would he put our current players in better positions, allow them better opportunities for success? I think he might. It would be interesting to see what another DC might do with what Dom has had to work with, and how he would adjust his surrounding staff.
Two more resounding pieces of the puzzle in player development failures are B J Raji and Morgan Burnett. We could add Davon House as a third. WTF Dom? In this, I do believe he does deserve blame. Epic failures in developing his players.