I think the evaluation of our current personnel was critical in this hire because the last thing McCarthy can afford is for the "D" to flounder through another year. I think he IS very much OK with who we have and that they can do this or he wouldn't have gone there. Not under the circumstances. His "wiggle room" has shrunk. 6-12 will do that.

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Agreed. Absent some wink/nod/pinky swear under the table agreement that Capers would be given the HC job if the team flopped this year, if he didn't like the talent I doubt he'd take the job. A crap season w/ bad results doesn't help his cause, nor does hitting the bricks again, and I agree with you that if the defense sucks and drags the team down with it again, Thompson, McCarthy, and co. will be shown the door.

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Or one Vikings fan could have voted three times...who knows. 🤔

pack93...we gotta work on that avatar. I think its tromadz everytime i see your post.

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Call it a tribute of sorts.. I will tire of it soon and change it to something else.. hmmm..

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Personally, I think that statement underestimates the competitive nature of players. Most (majority of them, I'd say) want to win. Yes there is a big pay days, party scenes, clubbing, etc. that players enjoy, but I think it's important to stress most of the NFL players are competitors. Having a reward (winning) can sure make a tedious task seem more tolerable.

More importantly, I think it can't be stressed enough that Capers style of the 3-4 is different than the traditional two-gap 3-4. MM has said it, Capers has said it, Lombardi has said it, Ted Thompson has said it. This fact can't be lost, but it is.

Look back at the Ravens / Steelers game from the past week. Check out the formation of the Ravens D with 8:58 left to go in the first Quarter (this formation can be found on the highlight of Ravens / Steelers match at NFL.com).

You've got the NT Ngata as a DE, Trevor Price (6-5, 290) as NT, and Tight End Edgar Jones (6-3, 263) as the other DE. Yes, the TE for the Ravens was playing as a DE in that 3-4 formation. The Ravens also brought 3 additional blitzers, a total of 6 players, in an attempt to max out protection, leaving no help should (when) one of the linemen/blitzers break free.

What was the result of that formation? Sack by the LE (Ngata). That formation called for the NT and LE to criss cross, in the hopes of creating some confusion and increasing the chances of those two d-linemen to get free and get a pass rush. Price the NT went to his left, took the opposing o-linemen with him, creating space in the middle for Ngata to roll into and apply pressure.


That's not a traditional 3-4. You can't tell me Jenkins and Pickett (or Jolly, or whoever) wouldn't be intrigued, at the very least, with formations that call for D-linemen to engage in some trickery, in the hopes of generating a pass rush.

Yes the 3-4 calls for the OLB to get a pass rush. However there are variations of the 3-4 where you have the D-linemen be more than just traditional blocker eaters.

Also, note the 3rd DE in the above formation, the TE Edgar Jones. Specifically, notice his measureables. Look familiar? They should, because he's got almost the exact same body type as Aaron Kampman. Jones is listed at 6-3, 263 while Kamp is 6-4, 265.

This should dispel the notion that Kampman has no place in our team's new 3-4 scheme. A good player like Kamp can only add to the versatility that the 3-4 creates, and that is NOT a bad thing. (I wanted to write an article on this, but quite frankly don't think I'll have the time so I'm writing this long winded post here).

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I think McCarthy and Capers feel that we have the core horses in place to be successful.
IMHO depth may be a bigger issue and I think Thompson will address that via freeagency and the draft.
I think Capers is a good hire.

There was one responsibility a d-lineman will have that was left off of Pack93z's "list", and perhaps this gave a voter or two pause when contemplating the hire. Dom Capers is the progenitor of the zone blitz scheme, and was the man in charge of the d when the Pittsburgh Steelers were first nicknamed "Blitzburgh".

Personally, I'm all for this, and am thrilled with the hire, but back to what was left off the list...

This man might be called upon to drop back into pass coverage:



Capers plans to mix it up on defense 

Nice post there - all about da packers

quite interesting what you wrote