Much has been written about Dom Capers and how he will put his defensive players in a position to be successful. It’s a wonderful thought and you hear it all the time around the league on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. “We want to put our players in a position to win”.

That’s all well and good, but I’m sure a lot of fans ask upon reading that, “How?”

It’s a legit question and it’s one that is far more complicated than I am able to answer with any kind of authority, but I can give you an idea of what Capers means when he says those words.

One of the most oft-discussed topics early in the off-season was Al Harris and his supposed deficiency in zone coverage. Packer fans, and many media members as well, have openly questioned Harris’ ability to play the zone concepts asked of the defensive backs in Capers’ scheme. (You might remember Harris’ colorful response to one such inquiry from one Mr. Rob Demovsky) Harris playing zone is not the problem. The problem is when the Packers ask him to do it. Harris is right when he says that zone is much easier to play than man - physically, it is. One of the things you’ll hear repeated is how much easier it supposedly is for cornerbacks to be able to face the quarterback because they are not running with receivers all over the field with their back to the offensive backfield. However, playing a zone concept or even man coverage with your eyes in the backfield on 2nd down in the 1st quarter of a game is much different than playing zone on 3rd and long in the 3rd quarter of a tight ball game. Too many times in the last few years, we have seen Harris mentally implode in such a scenario. (For reference, check out this play from the Jacksonville game from last season or this one from the Thursday night game against the Cowboys two years ago when Harris completely blew an EASY 3rd and 19 coverage by getting caught lost with his eyes in the backfield and completely disregarding his assignment, which called for him to switch men on motion)

So how does Capers address this?

One way, but by no means the only way, will be for Capers to utilize what is known as a ‘combo coverage’. In most cases this is designated to have either the strong or weak side of the defensive formation play zone while the opposite side plays man. Sometimes, this might even entail only the weak-side corner, in the best-case scenario for the Packers it would be Harris, playing man coverage while the strong side of the formation plays some type of zone. A generic call for this would possibly be ‘Zone strong, man weak’. (This is a major oversimplification, as there’s not even a line call there, but you get the point) Capers would have this in his back pocket for calling at the most pressure filled points of the game, just enabling Harris to worry about sticking on his man and not worrying about anything else. Of course, after awhile, offensive coordinators would notice this tendency and try to take advantage of it, causing Capers to adjust - but I think you get the idea.

Yes, this is a gross oversimplification, and it’s only one player in one type of scenario. But it illustrates the possibilities of how Capers will attack his defensive game-planning this upcoming season.

…it won’t be because of his salary.

I know many fans (and Bloggers) were critical of Poppinga’s extension last offseason. I understood it from a rewarding a good-locker-room-guy standpoint, not to mention I (mistakenly) thought Poppinga was improving at the end of 2007 and would continue to do so in 2008. Unfortunately, Brady seemed to not only plateau last season, but his level of play declined as the season went on, to the point where the coaches tried him at right defensive end in passing situations the last few games of the season, a move that bore no fruit whatsoever.

I would not be surprised in the least to see him cut during training camp. But I think his salary will play minimal to no part in any move of that nature, despite what Rob Demovsky writes here. Yes, it’s a lot to pay for a backup linebacker, but it’s not like the Packers don’t have the room under the cap. Thompson kept KGB on the roster at the beginning of last year despite an incredible disparity between his salary and his playing time. (Granted, the argument could be made that he should have been cut during camp due to his inability to generate a pass rush, the one thing he was on the roster to do, but I digress…) I also think the argument for cutting Poppinga does not take into account the type of people Thompson likes to have on his football team. Brady will do anything the coaches ask. He’s a team-first guy all the way who gives everything he’s got on every play. Yes, he has some severe limitations, but he’s a prototype in many ways of the type of try-hard, football-first player Thompson wants. That plays a much bigger part in Thompson’s decision making than most NFL GMs. Poppinga, for all his faults, is valuable as a backup to Kampman if for no other reason than he has actually played with his hands up since getting drafted and is much more comfortable dropping into coverage. Combined with his intensity and combativeness, he’s worth keeping around as quality depth in a linebacking corps that will run 9-10 deep.

That said, again, it would not shock me to see him cut toward the end of training camp if Thompson and the Packers feel they have all they need at the linebacker spot without Brady in the mix. I just don’t think his salary will have much to do with the decison.

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Episode 47	Packer’s June Mini-Camp
In this show we interview Andrew Brandt and Greg Bedard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the Packer’s latest Mini-Camp. Check out a video broadcast and LIVE Blog of the show from Wednesday June 25th here.
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• Andrew Brandt Interview starts @ 9:09.
• Greg Bedard Interview starts @ 32:41.

This video is great. Greg Jennings is the man.

When it comes to this dreck on offer from Ross Tucker over at CNNSI, where Tucker basically surmises that the Packers, as the only team to open it’s books due to it’s standing as the only publicly owned team, should have whittled away their profit margin by going on a spending bonanza. Why would they do this? To help the perception of the clubs as being strapped-for-cash institutions rather than the multi-million dollar money-prininting-machines we know they are.

I’ll let Bedard’s response say it all:

So the Packers should have chucked their carefully crafted strategic plan and spent foolishly in just this offseason thereby ruining the chances of signing any of those and their many other free-agents-to-be, just so the other 31 teams — many of which are greedy and/or poorly run — can keep more of their money down the road under a new CBA?

And just because the Packers are the lone publicly-owned team, while other teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are OK doing the same thing because they’re privately owned?

That’s what you’re telling me?

Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, maybe in theory there is something to what Tucker is saying. But not in reality. No way.

We interview Andrew Brandt in the 1st segment and talk Greg Jennings new contract as well as other rumblings around the NFL. In the 2nd segment we talk to Greg Bedard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the Packer’s latest practices, Bob McGinn and what’s in store for Packer’s Training Camp. Podcast version coming soon. Be sure to subscribe in Itunes to get it as soon as possible. Big thanks to Andrew & Greg for joining us. You can also see a full version of Thursday’s Blogcast including another great LIVE blog directed by Brian Carriveau here.

Join Us tonight at 9pm EST.

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Go to our LIVE Page for a better/bigger experience.

Thanks to all of you who have joined us at some point over the course of the last month for our weekly live broadcasts during OTAs and Mini-Camp. We’ll be wrapping up our own offseason program live tonight at 9pm edt/8pm cst. We’ll be joined by former Green Bay Packers Vice President and current President of the National Football Post Andrew Brandt, along with Packers beat writer Greg Bedard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. We’ll be talking about all-things-Packers as well as NFL topics as they relate to the leagues smallest market, not to mention a complete review of what went on during OTAs and Mini-Camp. We hope you’ve enjoyed all the shows up to this point and we hope you’ll join us tonight before the long, horrible break until training camp begins. See you there!