Great point by commenter ‘DanTX’ in the last post.
As long as we’re praising, I think a guy that’s been instrumental to the recent defensive success isn’t even on the field. Mike Trgovac is a quality head coach. He doesn’t get Capers’ headlines, but he’s a guy that was brought in last year with the “ctrl+alt+delete” that no one seems to talk about. Jolly is playing better, Jenkins is Jenkins, and Pickett is holding the line. Kudos to Trgo.
He’s absolutely correct. (Though it should be noted Trgovac has never been a head coach – though I think Dan may mean defensive coordinator, which Trgovac was in Carolina) And I would add that you’re starting to see improvement from B.J. Raji as well, who has only begun to scratch the surface of his capability. Of course, some of that is due to his getting healthy, but every week you can pick out a play or two where you can really see him doing the little things right – and that’s coaching. A good example is from the Tampa game – where he unfortunatley ended up getting a facemask penalty called on himself – but from the snap up until that point he is textbook in his shedding of blocks and locating the football. That’s good coaching.
There’s also a play against Dallas that I hope to have a clip of to play sometime tonight of a play Raji made last Sunday where he bursts through the line and runs down Tashard Choice from the backside of the play. It was an incredibly athletic play for such a big guy and I think it helps show how the burst that was missing at the beginning of the year is definitely on the way back.
The emergence of the defensive line is a big, big story. Yes, it helps that they’re relatively healthy. But Jolly in particular is just another player this year and I think a large part of that is coaching. Yes, he’s in a contract year – that definitely explains the hustle and intensity - but he’s never been the world’s greatest technician and he has been nothing short of a revelation even while having to play a ridiculous amount of snaps.
One other very impressive aspect of the job Trgovac is doing is knowing how much grunt work is involved on the defensive line in the 3-4. Yes, it’s a one gap system that allows them to shoot through on some occasions and make some plays, but for a lot of the time these guys are tying up blockers to let the linebackers and even defensive backs make plays in the backfield. Yes, you’ve heard Jenkins gripe a little bit – I’m surprised there hasn’t been more of that to be honest with you, and that speaks well to what they’re being sold by their position coach.
Because the defensive line is obviously buying.
RockinRodgers said in November 19th, 2009 at 11:30 am
PackersRS said in November 19th, 2009 at 11:32 am
alfredomartinez said in November 19th, 2009 at 11:34 am
bomdad said in November 19th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Ron La Canne said in November 19th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Dilligaff said in November 19th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Sparkyo, aka Yogamon on Twitter said in November 19th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
ZeroTolerance said in November 19th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
nerdmann said in November 19th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
DanTX said in November 20th, 2009 at 12:26 am
