CMIII at middle linebacker

No.

Nope.  CMIII is best on the LOS, playing the run or rushing the passer.  At ILB he'd be in coverage too much.  It'd be an absolute waste of his talents.  

 

However, it probably makes sense to get CMIII, Neal and Perry on the field at the same time on passing downs.  But you can't move CMIII full time.   Too good on the edge.

Certainly CM would thrive at ILB, but as CU said it's a waste of his skills. 

 

I tell you what change I would like to see, Nick Perry putting his hand down sometimes. Terrell Suggs does it occasionally, DeMarcus Ware does it occasionally, etc. I'd be interested to see how he performs when he does it because it does seem like he's a more natural DE than OLB. I'm happy with how he's performing at OLB, but I'm curious to see if he puts his hand in the dirt will bring back that elite rusher we saw at USC. 

absolutely agree GD. I think Perry would be very effective with his hand down. Tamba Hali from KC does it quite a bit as well. Not sure why we haven't seen that very much from him. I doubt Greene or Capers would be opposed to it, as it obviously doesn't prevent edge defenders from being effective in 3-4

That you'd better hope Boris doesn't start mandatory drug testing.

Jeenyous! 

 

Why do I feel like the season is beginning?

 

MM said in interview that it has been in the playbook since TC!

Capers. 2 shells in the chamber. 

Here as well:  https://packers.timesfour.com/t...6#407749859708131186

 

And here's a comment that is spot on:

 

 

 

There's a few doozy comments in that thread!

I would like to thank Packland for finding this post of mine, I had no idea where it was and wanted to find it. Having been ripped pretty good for suggesting we put Clay at MLB, I'll post another suggestion now that will also get me torn a new one... how about finally benching Hawk and replacing him with Barrington? Barrington can hit and blitz and is better at stopping the run than Hawk, Clay can hit, blitz, stop the run and cover. Clay and Barrington should be starting before the year is out. 

 

Hawk was pitiful as usual today but no one noticed because we played the game of the century, both offense and defense. When your stars are lighting it up no use watching someone in the second row chorus. But I did watch Hawk, as I always do because of my extreme distaste for his play and I saw how awful he was once again. Seeing Clay play the position only reinforces all those who have been slamming Hawk for years. Granted there aren't a lot of athletes like Clay, but there are certainly a whole lot better ones than Hawk, including all of our other ILB's; Barrington, Lattimore, Bradford, and even Jones. Hawk needs to sit so we don't have to play 10 against eleven which is what we've been doing for years.

yes, proof in the Pudding...

 

The pudding consists of one game of an unscouted look against a very bad Bear team. Clay played well but it's premature to draw any real conclusions based on last night. 

Yep, including if he stays there or if he plays a more traditional ILB spot rather than what they did last night most often which is line up three "elephants" and Hawk moves around, adjusting to the formation.

I loved it.  GB has other OLB's (Neal, Perry, etc) to play outside and it allows Clay to scan the whole field instead of just lining him on one side of it.  Then on 3rd down, Clay lined up at OLB and was fresh to rush the passer.  

 

I've been harping that we needed more production from Clay.  I saw that last night.  ****ty Bare team or not.  

Clay's big plays came when he lined up outside.  Clay played well at ILB because he's an excellent player but against a good team his talents will be negated more if he play solely at ILB.  

 

The real win here is rotation overall and finally getting the stiffs off the field.

 

 

With the philosophy of having your best unit on the field, I am all for Clay at ILB a lot of the time on 1rst and 2nd down.  ILB play has a net increase more the OLB a net decrease due to the drop off level at each position.

 

My concern against real good offenses is if Clay's play at ILB is tempered by the DL not eating up the offensive line.  If the o-line is neutralized, Matthews has what you want.  With his speed and quickness, he is a space occupier.

 

Everyone knows that too often too much space has been unoccupied in the short middle of the field.

As Hank said. Anything to get the stiffs off the field. Meanwhile,  hawk played the whole game like the scrub he is while the starters were protected from injury.

I didn't like the idea, but he played really well,l can't deny that.  Peppers probably makes that decision a little easier.  

 

Clay was certainly 5 hour energied up yesterday.  

 

 

 

 

I think they have gained some confidence in Perry and lost confidence in the other ILBs. You have to put your best 11 on the field at all times and while it probably isn't the best use of Clay's abilities, I wouldn't call how they used him last night as wasting his ability (as I originally feared his move to ILB would be). It is also true that this was a very poor test for his abilities at ILB, the Bears didn't have time to try and establish the run. This move was kept very secretive so the Bears had no film to prepare for it, the Eagles now have some film on him at ILB so I expect them to try and test him in different ways. The difference between Clay and our other ILBs is that he doesn't hesitate at all, he either blows up the play or misses big...Hawk will hesitate and lose a step while Clay just goes for it. You can't hesitate in the NFL.

 

This move could be more significant for this team than maybe we think. If they have confidence in Perry/Neal playing significant time, that allows Clay to really freelance like Charles Woodson used to. Clay won't be stuck rushing the QB or containing the edge, he can use his athleticism to be wherever he needs to be whenever he needs to be there. That would be huge for this D because honestly having the "rover" that teams struggle to account for made a big difference IMO.

Freaking GENIUS!!!! Loved it. Wanna replace Capers?

 

Unlike the other dum dums on this thread, I didn't berate you for this call, but I remember thinking what a moeronic idea it was. Apparently, I was the moron.

Best middle LB has been on the team for years and we're just finding out now. I blame Capers.

 

On a positive note, does this mean TT is actually pretty good at drafting middle linebackers?

Have to admit one would think a real good coordinator (from the standpoint of evaluating quality to expect by a player at a specific position and how that quality would translate to the unit as a whole) would have had this one figured out a bit earlier.

It was a resounding success, though we'll see what happens as they go forward. Bears aren't any good and obviously were not prepared to see that as the Packers busted it out for the first time all year

 

Cautiously optimistic though that this could help mitigate some of the disaster that has been the ILB position. Still, they need to address this in the draft because you don't want your best pass rusher moving to ILB to compensate for how horrible the ILB's are. Props to the staff for trying something different this season though to try and fix the issues over the middle. Doesn't hurt to try

He fell in his lap. 

Until the emergence of Neal after his transition, the improved play of Perry, and the addition of Peppers, could the Packers really have afforded to move CM3 from the outside?

 

 

No

I don't think Clay agrees to it pre-contract extension either. He's taking one for the team by agreeing to do this. 

 

I'd like to ask Live Radio what it felt like to watch a guy slide into the middle and make it look easy. 

I hate to see Clay get eaten up by those big LTs that outweigh him, so getting him freed up was always key to him doing well in my mind. I like him covering in the middle far more than I like seeing Hawk chasing guys around three steps or more behind. Judging by Clay's reaction last night, I think he likes a lot of the things he got to do. At least Clay attacked rather than just Hawk's "let's see if the play comes to me and then I'll lunge at the guy."

The Packers defense as a whole satisfactorily defends more space with Clay in the middle due to the ILB's we have lacking the ability to defend much space at all.

Clay was outside on 3rd downs when we went to dime, so we are only losing his pass rush on 1st and 2nd down except for the times he blitzed from ILB, and that was a lot. 

 

It just gets the best 11 on the field.  Well, best 11 besides Hawk.    Switch him out with Barrington and you have your best 11

 

Looking ahead, we will get to see Clay try to track down McCoy instead of Jones / Lattimore / Barrington.    Obviously this gives us a better chance. 

For this to continue, gonna need Perry to take advantage now that he's starting. He was playing well this year with limited reps but he didn't really do much of anything last night

He was stout in the run game but didn't get a lot of pressure.   That said, I will take Perry on the field over Lattimore / Barrington all day.  

 

Someone else mentioned this before but Clay is our new "Charles Woodson of 2010". 

 

The wizard is going to have a field day moving Clay around like he did last night. I do want to see it against a really good football team though & that starts with the Eagles next Sunday. 

 

I pray, do a chicken dance & whatever else is required of me for health to our entire team for the next 4 months minimum. PLEASE!

 

P.S. The bears aren't as bad as they played last night. They have a lot of talent on that offense, especially at the skill positions. Their coaching staff & their QB is their problem vs. the Packers

 

I have a hunch the game vs. Tom Brady will be the only true QB test we will face. We are going to face Dirty Sanchez at QB for the Eagles so obviously it's all going to be about containing Lesean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin, and Darren Sproles. 

 

Honestly I think the best D we could field on early downs would be a 43 look with Clay at the SLB/Rover position, Barrington being the thumper in the middle, and Hawk being a true WLB as he was early in his career where he performed well. We have all the makings of a good 43 defense...2 good true DEs (Peppers, Perry), a fireplug 3-tech (Daniels), a beefier 0-tech (Boyd), a true WLB (Hawk), a thumper MLB (Barrington), and a very athletic SLB (Matthews). 

       
       

It's the Sproles matchup that has me worried... That's not going to be good watching 52 chase that little water bug around. But then again, if Sproles is in on 3rd, Matthews is rushing the passer anyway.

Sanchez has always sucked at reading blitzes. They can rattle him, I think.