Okay, I need someone to enlighten me. Why would Chillar playing OLB necessitate a move of Matthews to the left side? Why couldn't he stay put and have Chillar play left?
"Greg C." wrote:
I was just about to ask the same question. You beat me to it. My best guess is that they are looking for Matthews, our best pass rusher, to get favorable matchups against right tackles, who are not as good at pass blocking as left tackles are. I think this has been the trend in the NFL in recent years: Put your best pass rusher on the left, so he's not neutralized by the opposing team's best pass blocker.
"azrunning" wrote:
I'd like to take a crack at this using stats.
Last year, the LOLB (Kampman and Jones combined) were pretty even in terms of snaps they had to defend the run versus snaps where they had to rush the passer. Put differently, the LOLB's job is to defend the run just as much as it is to rush the passer.
Interestingly, last year the ROLB (which was Clay) had more snaps where he rushed the passer than he defended the run [stats courtesy Pro Football Focus]. In other words, the ROLB's main responsibility can be said to be rushing the passer over defending the run.
It's obvious that Chillar is not suited (built) for being the strongest in run D support. Maybe switching Clay to the left and Chillar to the right is a way to make the package with its particular players a bit better suited to playing run D? Maybe Chillar at ROLB makes him primarily a pass rusher, and that somewhat masks the problems he'd have in providing run support.
A huge problem right away with my conjecturing above is that it relies on only one year of Packer 3-4 D under Capers. Maybe the ROLB getting more pass rushing snaps was an aberration since Clay was on the right side and our best OLB pass-rusher. Or maybe Capers / other coaches want to try and minimize the weakness of the particular personnel players in this package. Capers has said his first priority is to take away the run, and in theory making the opponent one-dimensional should allow you to go to town on their behinds defense wise, because you have a much better idea of what plays are forthcoming.
The NFL: Where Greg Jennings Happens.