Dom Capers Blows It
By Aaron Nagler on Dec 21, 2009 with 27 Comments
Blame Mason Crosby. Blame Jarrett Bush. Blame Josh Bell.
Just be sure you leave some blame for Dom Capers.
After the Packers went 6-10 last season, Bob Sanders and a whole slew of defensive coaches were let go for two main reasons. Their defense couldn’t stop the run and it couldn’t close out the game after the offense had given them the lead in the 4th quarter. Capers has fixed the run defense – but yesterday was shockingly Bob Sanders-like during the Steelers final drive.
This quote from Capers makes it all the more painful:
So much of their game now is (Roethlisberger) coming off and the coverage breaks down and he throws the ball to the uncovered guy.
Which is what makes dropping eight into coverage for nearly the entire final drive so perplexing.
It’s a tough loss but in a very odd way, I’m almost over it already. But Capers’ decision to go completely passive on the final drive is the one thing that is not allowing me to move on. It’s the kind of thinking that got him fired in Carolina and Houston – “We’ve got the lead…let’s just hope they run out of time!”
I’m sorry – but that shit is for losers.
Filed Under: Dom Capers
I think the fact that he was building expansion teams had more to do with why he was let go. Believe me, ask any Panther fan right now and they would love to have Capers back in some capacity.
We got beat, played dumb on the last drive, and had a couple of our worst players exposed all with one gigantic helping hand from the Pittsburgh Referees. It was a horrible way to lose, but I’m over it.
Pittsburgh lost 2 or 3 games like that in their losing streak… in my opinion the only thing we gotta do is do what they did, learn from it and use it in the playoffs.
I agree. However, 5 sacks and 500 passing yards? It’s on the secondary.
Any way you look at it, the defense did not have a good game last night. Capers had a major brain burp, but no one’s perfect. Don’t forget that Capers is the reason we have a #2 ranked defense anyway. Sorry, that should have been “had.”
An article in the Press-Gazette said that 14 years ago to the day, Yancy Thigpen dropped a sure touchdown pass and allowed the Packers to win a division crown for the first time in a long while. So, maybe there was some karma at play yesterday.
Still sucks to lose like that. I thought Green Bay had gotten past that stage, but apparently not.
I heard a Capers quote from Larry Mc Carren this am. I paraphrase: “The first play of the game might have changed my thinking. I started to think more about coverage than risk taking.”
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He convinced himself that coverage would be a bigger problem for Rothlesberg than pressure. He guessed wrong.
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I am sure that he will look at the films this week and realize the strength of his defense is pressure which, in turn, forces reckless throws by the QB. Zero turnovers doesn’t play into the Packers planning.
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Go out next week and finish the job. Too bad they didn’t win with the Queenies lossing. It would have been a two game separation with the tie breaker. Watching Childress squirm is a good thing. Oh well, another game in the Humpty Dump might just be magic.
I wouldn’t really blame capers. It’s the talent on this team that’s driving me nuts. I’ve been complaining about it time and time again, why can’t we pressure with 3 lineman only?! Other teams can do it but why are we the only ones that require that extra blitzer? Capers playcalling isn’t always terrible but you have to remember that it’s the players who have to execute.
PACKERS – funny thing is, even after yesterday, they are still the #2 defense. They dropped to #11 against the pass however…
Really!? How are they still #2? What’s redeeming them?
Their ability to completley lock down on the run.
Not that going into Pittsburgh in late December and losing is all that shocking, but the way we lost is annoying me. We had them beat. I think if we bring 5 guys and put a little pressure on Big Ben he tries to force something. Every team we will face in the playoffs will try to attack us the same way. If you don’t put pressure on these playoff QBs they will kill you. I don’t care if you have 20 guys in coverage. They will find someone eventually.
The run defense was pretty good, but it had little effect on the game. Pittsburgh couldn’t run, so they passed for 500 yards.
I think some of us are too quick to criticize the play calling and overexaggerate wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much. Capers started off the drive extremely aggressive. He brought blitzes on a lot of the plays before they got past the 50. When it didnt work he changed it up. I think it’s funny you would compare him to Sanders. Capers doesn’t stick to being aggressive or to being conservative. There is no comparison between them at all. So because he decided to play soft on the last few plays that automatically makes him Sanders, even though for the rest of the game (not to mention earlier that drive) he mixed it up and was aggressive at times? Ridiculous.
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The idea is to not stick with something that doesn’t work. Capers was trying to do that. The comparison to Sanders is Bush league (yes, Jarret Bush league). And how about all of those 4th quarter hold-outs that the D has had this season? This one game means we’re back to 2008? C’mon man!
I have to agree with you about being over it. I knew it was going to be a tough game, and when looking at what the Packers need to do and how this affected the playoff race, it didn’t matter a whole lot. It was an absolutely amazing, albeit equally as frustrating, but it was something special to watch. Just gotta take care of business and get those idiots in the East to lose
I’ve never been a fan of rushing three, at least ever since Steve Young hit Terrell Owens on the last play of the game in the 98 playoffs. If you watch that play, you see Young stumbles coming out from under center. We rushed three on that play, and thus Young paid no price for that stumble; he had enough time to right himself and step into the throw. I don’t know if a fourth rusher would have reached him, but I do think it would have made it tougher for him to make the play.
And therein lies the problem with rushing three. Contrary to what some clown above says, it’s pretty rare that you put any pressure at all on a QB when you rush three. You have the advantage of having an extra guy back in coverage, but when the quarterback does not have to worry about pressure, he has time to wait for someone to find a crease, and can step into the throw cleanly. It’s like limited contact practice. Most decent QBs- and Roethlisberger is at least that- can make that throw as often as not.
Moreover, you’re taking one of your pass rushers off the field- and these are some of the best players on the roster- in favor of a street free agent who has hardly played at all this season.
Sorry, but that’s just not a smart decision. I don’t think the Packers need to blitz there, but they do need to get some pressure on Roethlisberger to make him less comfortable in the pocket. They did nopt do so on the last play, or really the entire last drive, and you see the result.
I was screaming to Capers NOT to use that lousy “prevent”. I knew that our front three wouldn’t get there but he refused to listen. In all fairness, the Steelers WRs made some incredible catches on that last drive.
It wasn’t Caper’s fault, it was Bush and Bell. If they hadn’t let a quality db go and keep Bush they wouldn’t be in this position. That’s Thompson’s fault. He made some great moves, and some horrible moves, that was one of the horrible moves, and they paid for it.
Guys, the problem is injuries. Yes, I know every team has them – but it’s true. You can point the blame at TT for not getting enough good quality backups, but the truth is that any GM in this league would squirm if 3 of his top 5 CB’s goes down to season ending injury. Blame bad luck. The bottom line here is that we have to hope that Capers can scheme around Jarrett Bush and Josh Bell. If he can’t we’re toast against the first good QB we see in the playoffs.
What might be getting lost is the fact that the front 7 was gassed by the end. I saw Matthews bending over before the last 2 plays gasping for air. I think jenkins wraps up Ben R. on the 2nd to last play if he wasn’t so gassed. Maybe that played a role in not rushing more than 3, I don’t know.
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What I do know is I was not happy with Capers 6 weeks ago, but he changed some things and earned my respect back. I have to believe he will do so again. Good QBs will beat us if there is no pressure. The 2 MN games and yesterday prove that. If we see it one has to believe Capers does to.
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What scares me is playing an AZ team that might dog the last game, see what we do, then use it against us in 1st playoff round. Let’s hope MM and Capers have a plan for that.
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I don’t want to play Philly at all. DDD is right – they are playing the best in the NFC right now
Major, major snafu from Capers……. Rushing 3 d-lineman on the final drive not only gave Big Ben the time to find his receivers but gave the receivers time to get downfield & run away from coverage…….. I don’t appreciate Big Ben much but have to give him credit…… He threw some amazing passes under dire conditions …… The GB D needs to regroup & get that 5th seed locked down this Sunday at home…..
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At least no Packer refused to come out of the game when told…….
did ryan pickett play yesterday? I didnt see him in the game at any point and didnt know if I just happen to miss him
The Packers are fine. They should do exactly what they did yesterday again, if it comes to that.
Bell had good coverage, not many teams are going to execute that well, not even the Steelers, if they had to do it over again.
That last throw was on the money back by one hell of a catch, not sure if Woodson could have done any better. bottom line the prevent is no good, its like playing flag football in the back yard, somebody will get open unless you put presure on the QB, and 3 men against 5 or 6 will not do it when you have a beast of a QB to bring down
Bob Sanders’ defenses blew tight games at the end of regulation due to serious, totally blatant defensive breakdowns. Like a WR running completely uncovered down the seam without a DB within 7 yards of him and no one between him and the end zone.. Or a Safety inexplicably lining up 15 yards deeper than he’s supposed to be at the snap of the ball.
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The final play of the game last night that resulted in the Steelers win required the perfect thrown and the perfect catch with the perfect toe drag. That was definitely not a Sanders-like late game defensive breakdown, IMO, although it was just as painful.
Just Pete, you said:
“If they hadn’t let a quality db go and keep Bush they wouldn’t be in this position.”
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Just who exactly is the Quality DB Ted Thompson let go? I sincerely hope you’re not talking about Anthony Smith or Aaron Rouse..
Living in Baltimore – time and time again I have seen Big Ben squirt out of busted pockets and connect with daggers to beat the Ravens.
Watching the last 9 minutes of yesterday’s game killed me. When we brought four guys – we pressured and disrupted Ben. WHY IN THE HELL WOULD WE OPT TO SIT EVERYONE BACK AND GIVE HIM THAT TIME!?!?!?!?!?!? IT IS HIS SIGNATURE!!!!!!!!!!!!
We so NOT have the DBs to give play-off caliber QBs 8 seconds + to find our weeknesses.
Can someone throw me a line to say we on’t see it again?
I can’t stand the doom and gloom crowd who came out of the woodwork to proclaim that there’s no way we can stop a good passing attack now, so we’re doomed to miss the playoffs or go 1 & done. Yes, our secondary was compromised with the loss of Al Harris. But isn’t it all about how the team as a whole handles these things? We didn’t get blown out 45-6. Our defense still shuts down the run. Our offense, with our outstanding QB, did what it had to to, on the road, against a very good (not great, but very good) Pittsburgh defense in December. That means something. And frankly, I’ll take my chances against teams that have to go one-dimensional. Another big anomaly from Sunday is that we didn’t get any picks. If we can continue to shut down the run, and come away with a pick or two, we can beat pretty much anybody in this league.
Nice job Dom. Why bother sending the d onto the field.