How Will Capers Do It?

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.