The thing I take from VLS's original post is that Sander's last defense (did we really go just 6-10 that season?) had a LOT better personnel than the current team - and being plain vanilla and poorly handled, it screwed up pretty royally. Capers came in - with virtually the same personnel then - and improved things greatly his first couple of years. Then, things were allowed (by our greatly esteemed - around here - GM) to go down hill. Just look at what we have starting now compared to what we had starting then.

I actually prefer a 4-3 philosophically. When Capers came in, I was kinda negative about the prospects of jumping to a 3-4. I quickly came around, however, based on the success those first two Capers 3-4 seasons.

The bottom line is, when your personnel is substandard - as the Packers D is (along with the O-Line, backup QB, and RB until this season), you need to do something to compensate. Capers' genius/schemes turned mediocre personnel into a tough defense then. Now, he turns abjectly bad personnel into a mediocre defense. If you think it's bad now, just imagine what we'd have with plain vanilla or whatever - today's personnel WITHOUT Capers' schemes.

Thanks again, Ted.

Originally Posted by: texaspackerbacker