Capers went away from the blitzing game he used so effectively against the Titans. They too have a great running back in Chris Johnson, nowhere near Peterson, but dangerous. Johnson gained squat. Blitzing helps stop the run because it crowds the line and confuses blockers. Afraid Peterson will get outside?... he was getting outside anyway. Ponder is not an accurate passer under pressure but can make a throw when given time. So you rush 3 on arguably the biggest play of the season? Maybe it isn't technically a prevent defense but it's not a smart call. How often have we seen qb's do that to us, waiting, waiting, while 3 useless linemen try to get to him against five or six blockers? Painful to watch and the outcome has too often been predictable. But we'll probably do it again this week. When Ketchman says it isn't schemes it's players he is fooling himself. Great players can't make plays if they are forced to stand in a particular spot and wait. Bad schemes can neutralize good players. If Ketchman says it's only on the players making plays than what does it matter who the coordinator is, any scheme should do.
After reflecting on the game a few days after it happened, I'm thinking more blame rests with the players than the coaches. Yes, it's the coaches job to prepare the players to play the scheme, but we've seen that scheme played well this season. And if you look at the play, it was the right call. The Vikings kept an extra guy in to protect against a blitz, so there was only 4 guys running routes with 8 to cover them. When you have 8 guys to cover 4, pressure shouldn't matter that much. Essentially, each receiver is double covered and unless there is an all-pro receiver involved, 2 to cover 1 should work across the board. It just happened that DB's focused more on covering an spot of grass than covering the receiver who was just outside the spot of grass.
Now if you want to blame Capers for not appropriately teaching the scheme, that wouldn't be out of line. But I've seen Capers run this scheme earlier this season on third and long and it's worked.
Beyond that play, the team really blew it by it's inability to tackle AP. But that's on the players, not Capers. Pretty inexcusable when the DL plays one of their best games of the season yet AP still goes for 199 yards. This game just highlighted once again, that this team needs a significant improvement at the linebacker position. Walden/Moses getting sucked inside on a regular basis is inexcusable. The OLB's have to stay home b/c AP will break it outside. Everyone knows that, so inexcusable for Walden/Moses to get caught out of position on such a consistent basis. Of course, part of it could be the inability of the ILB's to make tackles on a consistent basis, so maybe the OLB's are crashing inside for a reason. Still, I'd rather AP get 4-5 YPC inside than break it outside for 8-10 YPC (with the occasional 20+ yard run). Really hope this get's fixed on Saturday.
Now if you want to blame Capers for not appropriately teaching the scheme, that wouldn't be out of line. But I've seen Capers run this scheme earlier this season on third and long and it's worked.
Beyond that play, the team really blew it by it's inability to tackle AP. But that's on the players, not Capers. Pretty inexcusable when the DL plays one of their best games of the season yet AP still goes for 199 yards. This game just highlighted once again, that this team needs a significant improvement at the linebacker position. Walden/Moses getting sucked inside on a regular basis is inexcusable. The OLB's have to stay home b/c AP will break it outside. Everyone knows that, so inexcusable for Walden/Moses to get caught out of position on such a consistent basis. Of course, part of it could be the inability of the ILB's to make tackles on a consistent basis, so maybe the OLB's are crashing inside for a reason. Still, I'd rather AP get 4-5 YPC inside than break it outside for 8-10 YPC (with the occasional 20+ yard run). Really hope this get's fixed on Saturday.