Dom Capers' defense makes the Packers a Super Bowl contender
10:27 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 7, 2010
There’s a reason the 3-4 defense reached its lowest ebb in 2001 when only one NFL team lined up in that scheme.
Dom Capers was out of coaching that year.
Actually, Capers was hired to build the expansion Houston Texans as head coach a year before their scheduled start-up in 2002, so he wasn’t able to field a defense in 2001.
Had Capers been coaching, the Pittsburgh Steelers would have had company that season playing the 3-4. Few have coached that scheme better than Capers in the 3-4 era.
Which is why the Green Bay Packers hired Capers in 2009. Coach Mike McCarthy had built the offense to his liking but felt he needed a defense to legitimize his Packers as a Super Bowl contender.
Only 12 teams allowed more yards and only 10 allowed more points than Green Bay in 2008 when the Packers finished 6-10 in their 4-3 scheme. So McCarthy hired Capers and scrapped the 4-3 alignment for the 3-4.
Despite starting two rookies at the key outside linebacker spots, Capers engineered an overnight transformation that stamped the Packers as legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
Green Bay vaulted from 20th in the NFL in defense in 2008 to second in 2009 and the best in the NFC. The Packers vaulted from 26th in the NFL in run defense to first. The Pack vaulted from 12th in the NFL in takeaways to first.
There also was a quantum leap in the statistic that matters most – scoring defense. The Packers allowed 380 points in 2008. Capers shaved 83 points off that, and Green Bay moved up to seventh in scoring defense. Not surprisingly, the Packers also jumped from those six victories in 2008 to 11 and a Wild-Card playoff spot in 2009.
The Packers were correct to expect an instant impact from Capers. When he became the defensive coordinator of the Steelers in 1992, Capers reduced the points allowed from 344 in 1991 to 225. When he became the defensive coordinator at Jacksonville in 1999, Capers reduced the points allowed from 338 in 1998 to 217.
In his 23 years as an NFL defensive coach in a 3-4 scheme, Capers has finished in the top 10 in scoring defenses 14 times and the top 10 in overall defense 10 times.
Capers has led the led the NFL in sacks with three different franchises (Pittsburgh, Carolina and Jacksonville). He’s led the NFL in takeaways with three franchises (New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Green Bay).
Three times his scheme has produced the NFL Defensive Player of the Year: Pat Swilling with New Orleans in 1991, Rod Woodson with the Steelers in 1994 and Jason Taylor with the Dolphins in 2006.
Capers also has produced the NFL sack leader three times – Swilling at New Orleans in 1991, Kevin Greene at Pittsburgh in 1994 and Greene again at Carolina in 1996. In fact, Greene and fellow outside backer Lamar Lathon gave the Panthers a 1-2 finish in 1996. Greene is now Green Bay’s outside linebacker coach under Capers.
Rookie Clay Matthews hit double figures in sacks with 10 as a rookie for the Packers in 2009 to earn a trip to the Pro Bowl. He became the ninth outside linebacker in a Capers scheme to gain Pro Bowl acclaim.
“You’re crazy if you don’t want to play outside linebacker in this defense,” Capers said. “Everybody we’ve had makes the Pro Bowl.”
Which is why the Packers aren’t overly concerned about strongside linebacker Brad Jones, a seven-round pick in 2009 who wound up starting the final seven games for an injured Aaron Kampman. He managed just four sacks.
Now the position is his. The scheme itself will benefit Jones. More opportunities have always translated into more sacks in the Capers scheme. Nine more starts in 2010 should afford Jones those opportunities.
Greg Lloyd was a sixth-round pick of the Steelers in 1987. He didn’t sniff a double-digit sack season or Pro Bowl berth until Capers arrived. Lloyd went to the Pro Bowl all three seasons he played for Capers and finally hit double-digits in sacks with 10 in 1994. Jones could be Green Bay’s version of Greg Lloyd in this scheme.
The Packers finished first in the NFL in defense as they were learning how to play a 3-4 scheme in 2009. They could be scary good on defense in 2010 now that they actually know how to play the scheme.
I wrapped up my training camp travels with stops at Indianapolis, Chicago and Green Bay last week. The Bears' facility has to rank among the league’s best with its state-of-the-art Walter Payton Center for indoor use. The building is 400-feet long with a half-moon shaped wooden roof.
The Bears moved out of Halas Hall and its 32,000-square feet in 1997 into the new Halas Hall with its 100,000-square feet. And that doesn’t include the Payton center footage.
The facility is nestled in a wooded area in Chicago’s northern suburb of Lake Forest. A cute “Bear Crossing” sign greets visitors to the facility. I also rank Baltimore, Detroit, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay along with Chicago in my top 5 NFL facilities. But I still haven’t seen the new facilities of the two New York teams. I hope to rectify that this fall.
Persistence paid off for Miles Austin at wide receiver. It could now pay off for Aromashodu.
Undrafted out of Auburn in 2007, Aromasodu was cut by the Dolphins and spent time on the practice rosters of Houston and Washington before turning up in Chicago in December 2008.
Aromashodu didn’t suit up for the Bears until October 2009 and didn’t catch a pass until November. But what a December he enjoyed. Aromashodu caught 22 passes over the final four weeks of the season, including an eight-catch game against Green Bay, a 150-yard game against Minnesota and a two-touchdown game against Detroit.
Aromashodu pencils in as the third receiver on the Bears in 2010 behind speedsters Devin Hester and Johnny Knox. But what he brings to the table is size at 6-2, 210 pounds. He provides a big target in the red zone for Jay Cutler. Aromashodu’s two touchdowns against the Lions in the 2009 season finale covered 12 and 9 yards. With Mike Martz now calling the plays, bank on an abundance of three-receiver sets in Chicago this fall.
Tim Brown, Cris Carter, Richard Dent, Charles Haley, Andre Reed and Shannon Sharpe all missed the cut as finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010. The road to Canton becomes longer and more difficult for them in 2011 with the arrival of four sterling first-time candidates: Deion Sanders, Jerome Bettis, Marshall Faulk and Curtis Martin.
Bettis and Martin both rank among the top 5 rushers of all-time, and Faulk sits at No. 10. Bettis and Faulk have Super Bowl rings. Faulk was the only one of the three backs named NFL MVP, and Martin the only one to win an NFL rushing crown. Sanders intercepted 53 career passes, went to eight Pro Bowls, owns two Super Bowl rings and was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1994.
We on the Hall of Fame committee can select only five enshrines each year. Who would your five be for the Class of 2011? This is the annual dilemma of the committee – too many qualified candidates, too few spots.
There’s a flap brewing in Indianapolis over an officiating tweak for 2010. In years past, the umpire would spot the ball between plays and then backpedal to his position on the field behind the middle linebacker.
But because so many of those umpires were being trampled by receivers and defenders on crossing routes and also being hit with passes by quarterbacks on those routes, the NFL decided to move the umpire from the defensive side of scrimmage to the offensive side in 2010.
Now after he spots the ball, the umpire must retreat past the deepest offensive player, usually the halfback, before the play can begin.
The Colts are famous for their hurry-up offense with Peyton Manning – but now they aren’t allowed to hike the ball until the umpire can position himself for the snap.
Every year, Manning draws a handful of defensive too-man-players-on-the-field penalties with his quick snaps. But that extra 1 to 3 seconds created by the repositioning of the umpire can allow defenses to complete substitutions.
In the third preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, Manning was twice penalized for a false start because the Colts snapped the ball before the umpire could get into position.
Manning has voiced his concern, but the problem the Colts have is that their general manager Bill Polian is on the NFL competition committee and voted in favor of the umpiring shift.
Polian explained that the change was made to take the umpire out of harm’s way. It was a safety issue.
“It’s a work in progress,” said Polian of the umpire repositioning. “My concerns right now are simply mechanical and they are easily solvable.”
That means some umpires may have to pick up the pace in getting into position.
“When we make a change, whether it be a rule or a change in mechanics, which this is, it normally takes two seasons to see the full extent of it,” Polian said. “We’re very well aware of that.”
This is a formula book in publication, it appears, for all 32 NFL franchises. I reviewed the Game Changers editions of the Cowboys and Eagles last fall. John Maxymuk wrote the Giants edition with commentary throughout by Tiki Barber. Maxymuk selected the 35 greatest games in Giants history and analyzed them and their impact.
Good news for Cowboys fans – only two of the games involved America’s Team, both New York victories (obviously). The Cowboys barely cracked the top 10, with the first game coming in at No. 10 and the second at No. 27.
No. 10 was a 23-20 victory on Nov. 8, 1970 when Fran Tarkenton rallied the Giants from a 20-9 third-quarter deficit for the win. The Cowboys would go on to win the NFC East and NFC that season and play in their first Super Bowl.
No. 27 was a 13-10 overtime victory in the 1981 season finale on a 35-yard Joe Danelo field goal. The Cowboys entered the game with a 12-3 record, and the division title already clinched. The Giants entered 8-7 and used the victory to claim their first playoff berth in 18 years.
The No. 1 game was New York’s 2008 Super Bowl victory over the Patriots. The last eight games were New York losses, including three to the Eagles. Philadelphia was the opponent in five of the 35 games. Minnesota, San Francisco and Washington were all involved in three games with the Giants. Heck, the Detroit Lions were involved in as many of the book’s 35 games as the Cowboys.
The month of September for NFL teams only includes three weekends in 2010. The two teams that will suffer most from the short month are the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants. The Colts have the NFL’s best September record over the last decade at 26-6. The New York Giants have the NFC’s best September at 22-11. Ironically, the Giants and Colts meet in the second week of the season. The team with the worst records in September is the Houston Texans at 7-19.
• I’ve got to wonder if all the traveling by the Cowboys this summer is having a negative impact on the team’s legs and overall performance. They played a preseason game in the Eastern time zone (Canton, Ohio) and then spent a week in training camp in the Pacific time zone. They also practiced this month in Dallas and San Antonio. On the flip side, the New York Giants reported to training camp in Albany on Aug. 1 and remained there until breaking camp Aug. 20. The Giants played all four of their preseason games in the Eastern time zone, and three of the games were staged in their home stadium. Down time for players in training camp should be spent resting, not on airplanes traveling from coast to coast.
• The Green Bay Packers are as complete a team as I’ve seen all summer, but they are paper-thin at cornerback. Reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Charles Woodson and Al Harris give the Packers an elite starting tandem, but if one goes down with an injury, a problem looms. Green Bay held both corners out of the third preseason game against Indianapolis, and Peyton Manning lit up their substitutes for 214 yards and two touchdowns in his two-plus quarters of work.
• I was shocked the Cincinnati Bengals swallowed the $8 million in guaranteed money they gave Antonio Bryant in cutting the former Cowboys wide receiver over the weekend. This is one of the NFL’s low-revenue franchises, and $8 million would be a chunk out of the budget of a big-market team, much less a small one. If he’s been bothered by a lingering knee problem, I might have placed Bryant on injured reserve and tried to salvage something from him in 2011 after the Bengals move on from Terrell Owens, like Buffalo and Dallas did before them.
In June, I thought the Cowboys were probably two games better than anyone in the NFC East. After having visited the other three NFC East teams this summer, I now think this race is going to be much closer than I envisioned. The Eagles and Giants are better than I initially thought. You could conceivably have three teams in the East all bunched between 11-5 and 9-7 this season.