Packer D Coaches: Back to School

Leave no stones unturned.

I admire MM not being afraid to admit his staff has some work to do to defend the read option. If the staff is going back to school I hope they bring Walden with them.

If I'm trying to find a way to defend the read option though, I'm talking with Chris Ault. He created the pistol, which led to the option, and he coached Scampernick at Nevada. That's the guy that knows how to defend it. And he's going to get rich teaching people how to stop what he created.

I think what MM is doing is fine. But the pistol/read-option ain't rocket surgery. NFL D-coordinators will figure it out. They always do. That's the constant chess match the NFL is.

@TomSilverstein: Next year, Packers play Washington, SF and Philly, all of whom will run read-option. No wonder McCarthy is sending his coaches to college.

quote:

Originally posted by PackLandVA:
But the pistol/read-option ain't rocket surgery.

Baltimore's D Coordinator (who watched the Packers tape vs 9'ers) said:

1.)to the defend the read, players have to practice defending it extensively. GB in a 6 day turn around didn't have that time nor did they practice it enough prior to the playoff game.

2.) Guy's can't freelance and do their own thing. Discipline is huge. And here again, Raven's said several Packer players appeared to be doing just that. And we all know too well how dearly that cost them.

MM would do well to hire Chris Ault as a consultant. No one better to help you learn how to defend the pistol than the bloke who invented it.

But I will contend, it wasn't so much not knowing how to defend it as it was having Walden, Jones and Hawk in a position to defend it. 2/3 of that is a confederacy of dum.

What helps the read option work is a QB who can throw well. Makes you defend both aspects of the game on every play. Vick isn't as accurate of a passer and that helps defending him. A one dimensional player is what any good defense looks forward to.

There are a few things needed to defend the read option. One of them is a strong and disruptive DL up the middle. Another is the LBs need to very disciplined in their play - especially in a 3-4. Their first step can't be to the inside like GBs outside linebackers did against SF. If you do your beat. It would also help if each LB can defend the pass. The reason is that there will be trade-offs in terms of responsibilities and you won't always be able to hide your weak LB pass defender. The corners will be on their own, especially on shorter out routes and will have to recognize when the play is turning into a run and be willing to play if should the play get to the outside. But the key will be the safeties. They will have to recognize when they should help in coverage, when they should come up and play the run, and at times which of them is what I call the unaccounted for player - that player will have some freedom to roam. To make it work the players will have to check there egos at the door and communicate on the field.

One could argue GB has very little of that. OTOH, it could be how the players are coached and how the 3-4 as currently concieved uses them. If assignments were changed, players were taught to do certain things, and goals of the defense refocused, the same players that looked so bad in SF could play effective defense against the read option. We will see what the coaches and TT does. I think that this education has the potential to make the defense much better.

Seems like I suggested that Capers consult college coaches in preparation to play the 49ers...many on here weren't impressed with that suggestion.

So you're fine with GB starting 2013 with Hawk, Jones, and Walden at LB as long as Dom and the staff coaches up?

Don't forget Perry.

You can scheme all you want but the bottom line is that right now the Niners have a better team with better talent than GB. That's why they got beaten down by the Niners.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tschmack:
You can scheme all you want but the bottom line is that right now the Niners have a better team with better talent than GB. That's why they got beaten down by the Niners.[/QUOTE

...totally agree but going into the game we wouldn't have expected Raji & Pickett to get manhandled as they were....even Aikman commented on the fact that the 49ers OC told them that they didn't think they could run between the tackles on us....which tells us that they planned to run the edges....by not having our OLBer assigned to tackle Kaepernick (and thus make him hand off to Gore), we let them run the edges & gave up big play after big play to Kaepernick. In retrospect, the way Raji & Pickett played, we would still have gotten run on, but perhaps not given up all the big plays & perhaps held them to FG's a couple of times.

I hear you but they also got worked over by the immortal Alex Smith earlier in the year. The SF defense in general is better than GB and the difference in LB play is incredible.

Getting Bishop and Perry back will help but Hawk and DJ Smith and Walden and Brad Jones are all pretty mediocre.

Getting a real running back/game will change how SF defends. I think having a legit downhill runner who can take it to the 49ers will neutralize their D.

If Harris is for real, we're fine @ RB between him and Starks.

We (shareholder) need an upgrade @ C, a healthy Bulaga, and Sherrod to eventually show he was worthy of a 1st round pick with Newhouse treading water @ LT in the meantime.

One thing we need to do on offense is to not neglect the run to start the game, and then not totally abandon the run with 22 minutes left in a one score game. We only ran the ball 16 times the entire game. Converting on 3rd and 4 to 6 yards would also help a great deal (which we failed to do in the 3rd qtr). Keep the chains moving. SF ran nearly twenty more offensive plays than we did.

We also lost the turnover battle, and one of them was about as costly as they could possibly be (the punt fumble on the GL). We were up 14-7 at that point, and if we ever could've put them down two scores, the game at least would've been much closer and not turn into the debacle it did.

We were bested in all three phases, and out-coached to boot that day. It sucked, but it's over. I applaud the Texas A&M visit, because we clearly have to adjust to the read option. I am confident that we will be much better prepared for it in the playoffs next season with the extra research and having to play against it at least three times next season on the way.

IMO, we're not nearly as far away from another Super Bowl run as some seem to think.

quote:

Originally posted by ChilliJon:
So you're fine with GB starting 2013 with Hawk, Jones, and Walden at LB as long as Dom and the staff coaches up?

It is a personnel and coaching assessment that would have to be made. But from where I sit Hawk would be one that needs to be replaced. I have been a Hawk supporter in the past, but he needs to get better in coverage to defend this. And after all this time, he is what he is. I think he is better suited to a 4-3 defense. You could begin to say the same about Walden. That first step to the inside might have coached so I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Football is a game of position. If you improve that you improve the result. To what degree is the question. But in SF GB gave position away in spads and over 500 yards later we saw the result.

This can't end well. Usually it's the players we have to worry about having offseason antics.

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/20...mpaign=articlebottom

That's like a bleacher report article.

I'll go out on a limb & say McCarthy knows more than the writer about the read option.

What a worthless article? Do they think the Packers defensive staff is there to learn A&M's offense? No, they're there to learn from college coaches who have faced it. Did they bother to learn that A&M's DC Mark Snyder has had stops as DC at Youngstown St., Ohio St., Minnesota, UCF, USF, and Marshall? With that kind of resume I guarantee he's learned a thing or two about defending the read option.

Also I think, more than anything they wanted to learn how A&M shut down Alabama, a team that used the Pistol extensively in 2012. They faced a team with 3 good RBs and a good passing QB and they whooped them. I think that kind of insight would be helpful.

@boris & GD

Exactly!

I've read more than a few comments similar to this.

@gregcosell
Had some fascinating discussions at Combine w/coaches who believe read option will be fad.

@gregcosell
The elephant in room with RO is always the QB taking hits. Is that not a concern? Sample size too small in NFL to make true evaluation.

@gregcosell
How rules will be enforced could play a part in future of RO. Will officials allow QB to be hit? If so that's a problem for the offense.

Year two will be an interesting year for the RO and the Pistol. Teams have the film and the tendencies to form a solid gameplan. If it still has success the. You will know if it's for real. If teams stop it then you will know it was just because these QBs were rookie starters. RG3 will hold his own IMO because he could easily fit as a WCO QB. Kaeperdick and Senecca Wilson will have a harder time IMO.