MM Press conference: "Appalled" by question of whether he will fire Capers

he said he only regretted two offensive plays in the ball game. The 4th and four and I think a first down play where he called a play and Aaron threw a bomb.

reiterated the team is draft and develop. (So the Free Agent Fantasies will have to go away my translation.)

Also said Finley was a changed player after the bye week and is excited about him.

MM called Finley a "changed man" after the bye. Piled on a lot of praise on him. Here again, be very surprised if he's not a Packer in 2013.

MM also blasted the knee jerk mentality and was clearly annoyed he had to even answer questions regarding guys like Capers.

There is nothing knee jerk going on at 1265.

The question about Capers really angered MM his face reddened. He protects his coaches to a fault.

Mike Vandermause ‏@MikeVandermause
MM: I felt Finley was different man, different player from bye week on. I feel very good about way he finished year. Change in him.

Mike Vandermause ‏@MikeVandermause
MM: Biggest challenge in this business is handling success. Success changes people. you want to make sure it's for best.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: Football is big cycle. Not often you come up with something new. Pistol is new item here to stay.Still football.Option plays good scheme

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: Change is constant, everybody understands that. It has been around 20% for us the way your roster changes.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: Aaron played every game, practiced every day. He did not pass physical, will not play in Pro Bowl.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: I did not like our team coming out of new offseason format. Took lot longer to get your team to practice the right way.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: Our strength and conditioning staff does great job of bringing out players along in offseason.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: Responsibility of coaching staff is to overcome injuries.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: I wish I had went for it on fourth and 4 in second half instead of punting (when they were behind by 2 touchdowns).

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: 2 turnovers were huge. We had a number of plays on call sheet we didn't get to.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: Offensively, way game was called, feel good about that. Our offense didn't have enough attempts at plate. Thought Aaron played well.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: We did not handle read option. That's the fact of the matter.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: 49ers offense is high volume schematic offense. We were defiitely challenged schematically. Obviously didn't spend enough time on option

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: Will sort out what's real and what's emotion. Will sort that out. Have confidence with way we go about our business. We will improve.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: We had 579 yards against us. If it was as easy as making another call, it would have been done. It was more than one guy.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: No decisions on anybody have been made. I have great faith and respect for all of our coaches, including Dom Capers.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: 49ers were better team Saturday night. We did not play our best football in that game. I felt we were ready mentally.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: We'll make right decisions as we move forward.

‏@MikeVandermause
MM: Process will take couple weeks in terms of decisions moving forward. Goal is not to win just 12 games. Goal is to win Super Bowl.

Mike Vandermause ‏@MikeVandermause
MM: Looking back on season, lot of adversity. What I appreciated about this team is ability to respond.

Mike Vandermause ‏@MikeVandermause
McCarthy: Disappointing loss to end our season. Spoke to every player Sun and Mon. Will start with coaches tomorrow.

Mike Vandermause ‏@MikeVandermause
MM: I'm appalled by question about Capers' status. I will evaluate all our coaches. No decisions made today.

Mike Vandermause ‏@MikeVandermause
MM: I feel very confident that Dom Capers is going to be our defensive coordinator, but you don't make knee-jerk decisions.

quote:

Originally posted by packerboi:

There is nothing knee jerk going on at 1265.

I DEMAND SATISFACTION.

Hopefully TT finally fires McCarthy for this.

Applaud and Appauled are two totally different things, thanks for the correction!

MM, understated Jerry Burns. Always gives me a laugh.

Call me crazy, but I don't think Clements is going anywhere sans a HCing offer from the Bears.

Nope, just read that the Bears are bringing three back for another interview. Bruce Arians, some dude from the Montreal Allouettes, and Darrell Bevell.

Go Bevell!!

Well that's that. His team, his operation. Have to respect his loyalty to Capers. Also have to respect that he admitted not spending enough time on the read option. He could have easily tried to pass off a lame excuse.

quote:

Originally posted by Henry:
MM, understated Jerry Burns. Always gives me a laugh.

OMG, thanks for digging that up...I forgot about that (they used to play it on morning shows up here all the time). You don't even realize they won the game until the very end!

effers...

I'm not convinced he really believes the pistol offense is a stay in the NFL but when you have 3 playoff calibur teams in your conference all running the pistol or close to it you're not going to give them any bulletin board material stating they are all running a fad offense either.

I would suspect one of the key homework assignments in the offseason will be for MM and Capers to figure out how to counter it.

After MM's presser, assistant coaches were made available to the press.

@TyDunne: Kevin Greene on if Dom Capers should stay as DC: "Does a fat baby fart?"

Well there's a response I hadn't heard.

quote:

MM also blasted the knee jerk mentality and was clearly annoyed he had to even answer questions regarding guys like Capers

GOOD!

MM knows like most of us non-knee-jerkers that we need more talent on the defensive side of the ball. AJ Hawk, Brad Jones, Walden, etc are NOT highly talented football players. They can fill in as depth but that's it.

I'm telling you, Desmond Bishop was a gigantic loss in the middle of our defense.

Didn't help we don't have Nick Collins anymore either. You can't gut the middle of the defense & expect to play at an All-Pro level.

Let's remove Navarro Bowman & DaShon Goldson from the Niners & replay that game. The Niners deserved to win & had the better players to execute their plan.

We'll have another shot at them during the regular season in 2013. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

‏@TyDunne: Dom Capers says he plans be here in Green Bay, says this is a young defense that is ascending.

Silverstein:

quote:

Why go away from Harris? MM: We didn't go away from him. WE had package to run him four wides. We had the Randall Cobb package, too.

What about offense? MM: Felt good about it. Our offense didn't have enough plays. Ability to spread them out, DuJuan Harris played well, Aaron played well. Two turnovers hurt bad. There were a number of things we couldn't get to. Had package for Randall Cobb. Two plays I wish I had back, took a shot down on first and and wish would have gone for it on fourth and 4. Have been aggressive, but our thought process was that we could pin them down and hold them. Didn't hold them.

I don't what run him 4 wides means. So the intention was to only run him with 4 WR's on the field?

well after saturday night I would hope they would be ascending. I don;t think they could go down any further

Full comment from MM on Capers:

quote:

"I think it's totally premature to make those types [of decisions]," McCarthy said. "That's what knee-jerk reactive people do. You don't make crazy decisions like this, especially a man of Dom Capers' ability, his experience. I trust him, the level of responsibility he has with our coaching staff. I think it's ridiculous that I have to answer the question, frankly. I'm appalled by it.

On evaluating coaches:

quote:

"There is a process that goes on. I would not do my job, I would not fulfill my responsibility, if I didn't look at the job that Dom Capers has done, what Mike McCarthy has done, what [offensive coordinator] Tom Clements has done, all the way down. I can promise you that's what is going to happen. I don't dig the drama stuff. I get the concern. We have great fans. But there are no decisions going to be made today. We've never operated that way and never will."

Only thing missing from MM was a

quote:

Originally posted by packerboi:
MM also blasted the knee jerk mentality and was clearly annoyed he had to even answer questions regarding guys like Capers.

I respect the hell out of MM. I think he's a good man and a good coach.

But I don't understand why criticism of Capers automatically represents a "knee jerk" mentality rather than a "last straw" mentality.

When public opinion turned against Brett Favre, was that a "knee jerk" mentality, or was that the result of people finally having enough of his BS over the years?

Obviously people respect Capers a hell of a lot more than Favre; but after the last three playoff defeats and that 2011 season, I think they've just had enough with his defenses and want to move on. That's not knee jerk, that's just fed up.

There's nothing knee jerk about considering a change at DC in light of the defenses playoff performances.

Canning Capers after the AZ playoff debacle would have been knee jerk. Now, not so much. And if he is going to get annoyed by questions like that he should just skip these pressers.

The defensive showing on Saturday has been pretty much beaten to death.

I know alot of people are lukewarm on Nick Perry but I think it's important to make a point about how important he could have been Saturday night.

Walden looked like he had no idea what his assignment was, several times. He had zero edge discipline. And SF knew it. No idea if it's the first time he's ever seen a read option attack but it looked like it.

I'm not going to say Perry would have swung the game. But in the two years prior to coming to GB he started and LE against Oregon. Probably the craziest up tempo zone read option spread offense in football. He played a great game in Oregon in 2011 when USC upset Oregon. Only 1 sack but helped "limit" oregon to 200 yards rushing. He helped hold Darron Thomas to 5 yards on 9 carries.

The outcome might have been the same if he played but it wouldn't have looked anything like what it did because he didn't.

quote:

Originally posted by packerboi:
I don't what run him 4 wides means. So the intention was to only run him with 4 WR's on the field?

I think it got lost in the sauce with all the other stuff they were trying to get to. Sounds to me like they had a bunch of concepts in their gameplan they thought would hit big and skipped the runs to get to that stuff because they were getting mauled in the time of possession and running out of plays they would be able to run.

The 2 turnovers really hurt badly because of their timing. Back-to-back & caused 21 point swing.

Yes it is knee-jerk & comparing Capers to Favre is one of the more ridiculous posts I've ever seen on X4 & that is truly saying something.

Just shutup while you're WAY behind

Only thing you really have to worry about with Perry is getting his pass defense solid. If he can do that the defense can get scary in a hurry. If he can't SF is really good at manipulating the d to isolate the matchup they want.

Did anyone ask MM about the defense not talking to the media yesterday? Seems an obvious question to ask and there may be a simple answer for why they weren't there.

Video:
MM Presser Tuesday, January 15th, 2012

I'm ok with keeping Capers. He was forced to give 6 rookies on defense significant playing time and they fared pretty well (Hayward, McMillian, Moses, Worthy, Daniels, and Perry). He also dealt with the league's worst outside linebacker in Walden, and the teams #4 ILB in Jones. He has to get some credit for that, right? People forget that he fielded a championship defense 2 years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by titmfatied:
Did anyone ask MM about the defense not talking to the media yesterday? Seems an obvious question to ask and there may be a simple answer for why they weren't there.

Silverstein said today that the PC was suddenly cut off and someone from the Packers told the media the PC was now over then you see MM bolt out of there. Silverstein blogged that was odd.

quote:

Walden looked like he had no idea what his assignment was, several times. He had zero edge discipline. And SF knew it. No idea if it's the first time he's ever seen a read option attack but it looked like it.

What makes you wanna is the very week before he was just a different player against the Queens.

Assignemt sure. Aggressive. Was much more disciplined.

Then follows that up with a total brain fart against the 9ers. Hard as hell for Capers to predict that.

Panic in the disco.

quote:

Then follows that up with a total brain fart against the 9ers. Hard as hell for Capers to predict that.

That is the best description of Walden. Up and down, inconsistent, flash and crash. He's certainly not the "worst OLB" in the league or horrible in any respect. When CM is on the field and he is part of a rotation, he's had some really good games, called out for such by one of the D assistants earlier this year. I'm sure Capers wouldn't have predicted his dizzying regression and all out failure saturday either.

"@MikeVandermause
MM: Aaron played every game, practiced every day. He did not pass physical, will not play in Pro Bowl." . . . i.e., there's no way in hell I'm risking my franchise QB in a ridiculous exhibition game.

quote:

Originally posted by Boris:
Yes it is knee-jerk & comparing Capers to Favre is one of the more ridiculous posts I've ever seen on X4 & that is truly saying something.

Just shutup while you're WAY behind

I respect you and your site Boris, and you put up with a lot of stuff on this site especially after losses, but there's really no call for this.

I wasn't directly comparing the Capers and Favre situations. I was simply questioning what constitutes a knee jerk reaction.