Mike Tanier has an excellent article over at Football Outsiders about all the various looks shown last Sunday by the Packer's new 2-4-5 alignment. You thought they were playing a 3-4...think again.

http://footballoutsiders.com/walkthrough/2009/walkthrough-revelations 

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those are some nice pictures of the plays. That defense really worked.

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Very good article. Very deep, but very cleae as well.

He appears to think that we'll be running the 2-4 a huge amount of times, though. I think that this'll be something we won't see too often. Of course this is our standard nickel formation, but against a better running team or a team that we can just have a LB on a TE, we'll be seeing a lot more 3-4.

We haven't even seen a whole lot of 1-5-5 last week. Something I expect to see a bit more of as well, when we need to surprise a defense. And I'm not talking about Jolly just standing up as a variation of the 2-4, but us coming out with 5 linebackers.

The announcers need to read that. We saw the 2-4-5 look quite a bit during the preseason, then the announcers kept calling it the 3-4, but surprised that only 2 men had their hands on the ground. Was pretty funny to listen to. I don't know if the 1-5-5 is meant for surprise, as much as it's a situational package, and just wasn't needed last week much. I don't like the 1-5-5 because I don't think we can get as much pressure with it, much more of a prevent style defense in my eyes.

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But what you haven't seen, you can't prepare for. I think that it's great for pressure, just not for run stopping. You can overload one side so easily. You can get 5 LBs on the field, of which 3 are nothing more than DEs who have the ability to drop back.

Just think of the different LB personel you can bring in. 3rd and 12 and you bring in Raji with his hand on the ground, then 'behind' him you have Thompson - Matthews - Barnett/Bishop - Chillar - Kampman. With 5 guys in the secondary as well, the blitzing options are endless.

Then, on 3rd and 5, you come out in a little more conservative package. Pickett with his hand on the ground and 'behind' him Matthews - Hawk - Barnett - Chillar - Kampman for instance.

In addition, I really like the amount of sacrificing done in this defense. You really can't have selfish players in this defense and that exactly fits our personel. I was especially impressed by the amount of times that Kampman just sacrifices himself to get someone else to the QB. Can't wait untill the game tomorrow to see how we'll get to Palmer behind that leaky O-line.

I like this alignment, it puts more athletes on the field. When they want to get pressure, Pickett is not the guy to have in the game. He is a great fireplug, and holds his point great against the run, but he really doesn't get the push needed for pass rushing.

Once we get Raji fully deployed into this offense, we are going to see even more options. Can still use the 2-4 look, or a real 3-4 with Jolly,Raji,Jenkins. This will give more options that should help keep player fresh with more substitutions.

Part of using this formation, very well might be spelling Pickett since Raji was inactive for the game.

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+1
The selfless attitude is very refreshing. Each player seems to realize they have a chance every week to get playing time, so they have to bring their A games during meetings and practice, not just gameday. Seems to me everyone took to heart some lessons from last year. That it isn't just a single player that made the team 6-10. I'll give MM credit, he really has that locker room under control.

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That trio gives me wet dreams.

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This is probably my favorite aspect of Capers' D. You don't know what's hitting you. It's like boxing a guy with four arms.

This guy (the writer) really knows his stuff. A refreshing read.

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the jolly green giant. what a name for a play.

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