What is the Issue(s) With the D?

Datone is showing signs of life. 3 sacks last 2 weeks. Keep it up.

Eli isn't running anywhere. No read option threat. No zone this week. No zone this week. No zone this week. No zone this week. No zone this week. No zone this week. 

No no zone this week. No zone this week. No zone this week.

Above all no zone this week. Man to man and disrupt routes at the line. Don't go blitz crazy. Eli is smart enough to recognize it. No zone this week. 

Yes, we need playmakers but they are few and far between of the impact-player caliber. A Collins, a Woodson, etc., aren't sitting at home on the couch, and everyone is looking for them. 

So, what does it come down to? Putting the best playmakers we have on the field, and putting them in positions/schemes to succeed. I think this is something Capers has not done a very good job of.  

I'd love to have all sorts of playmakers, but the issue is if Dom is utilizing the existing talent properly and squeezing everything possible out of them. I'm not convinced that's the case and other than '10 the defense has been largely mediocre at best.

How much talent is there on the defensive side of the ball really? Matthews is the only real horse, Raji is sometimes and others he's bad. 

Put every packers defender on Carolina and how many would start over who they have? Matthews over Thomas Davis is the gimme with Shields likely over Captain Munerlyn, Raji might hold off Lotulelei and Burnett over Mikell possibly.         

Seattle? Matthews over Wright, maybe Raji over Red Bryant at LDE.

San Francisco? Matthes over Skuta, Raji over Dorsey and Shields over Tarell Brown.          

There's enough talent to not give up a million yards and points in the postseason and to not turn Colin Kaepernick into Joe Montana.

SF and Carolina both benefited from picking early in the draft for years. They did well. But still....

Seattle has done well as well but they have 18 months to win a SB then the window is getting slammed shut the minute they have to pay Wilson, Sherman, Thomas, Browner, etc...

Lets compare SF, Carolina, and Seattles roster after 4-5 successive years of qualifying for the playoffs and who those players are compared to the 2013 Packers. Apples/ apples. 

With the 19th pick in the 2014 NFL draft, the Green Bay Packers select FS Ha-Ha from Alabama.

What's the difference between the '10 defense and every other defense? Playmakers. Des Bishop was new in the lineup and playing hot, Woodson was all over the field, Collins was arguably the best center fielder in the NFL, Jenkins was destroying interior OL, etc. Now we're in 2013 and we don't have any of those things happening. Arguably the top performers on the D (other than Matthews) this year have been Mike Daniels, AJ Hawk, Jamari Lattimore, Nick Perry (when healthy), Mike Neal, and Davon House. Everyone else has been up and down. That's a group that DOES NOT need to be counted on to be THE play makers. Those guys are all role players who create opportunities for your Woodsons and Collins and Matthews. I think they're doing their job, but there's no Woodson there to finish it off. Capers needs that guy, he always has.

That's a personnel issue. I'm as big a Ted Thompson fan as anyone here, but ultimately it falls to him to find these guys. He prefers home grown talent, which I think is the best long term mindset, but he's proven to himself that you can occasionally take risks on an under valued free agent. I don't know that there is or has been a Charles Woodson type of FA available recently, but I think if that kind of guy is available in the offseason then we need to gamble. 

Williams and Raji also aren't playing as well as they did in '10. I saw a lot of mental mistakes and missed opportunities on Sunday and the players certainly have to execute much better, but the coaching staff and front office are ultimately responsible for the product on the field. 

The personnel issues are there (safety is a mess) but I believe the talent is much better than they've shown the last two games (and multiple seasons).

Capers

“We’ve certainly tried to address it. I can just tell you this: In the last two weeks, we’ve had third-down situations -- third-and-9 a week ago and third-and-8 (Sunday) -- and we missed tackles on both those situations. You come down, you’ve got to make those plays. If you’ve got legitimate shots to get a guy on the ground, you’ve got to get him on the ground. And we haven’t done it. You let them lined up again, get three or four more shots, that’s a lot of time off the clock.”

That play and the Burnett/Tramon dish to Jackson were straight-to-DVD bad.  Cappers has a point though.

At least we know Ol' Dom was watching the same game as we were.  Or was he watching reruns of some prior games with very similar plays?

MM grand  strategy  to win games is for  the Packers is score a lot of points.  Scoring a lot (instead of a ball control strategy) stresses their opponents offence, the defense scheme is built to take advantage of a stressed offence. The Packers went 15-1 with a worse defense then the one they have this year.

With a badly wounded offence the strategy is not going to work.

Other then having MM's grand  game strategy blown apart,  the defense has one glaring problem they need for a  top quality safety. Perhaps in the off season they also need to replace Capers.

I would imagine the Packers top two draft target will be safety and Tight End this year. I think the team is basically sound, just to many injuries have scrambled too many thinks they do. The  Next man up or any other strategy a teams uses to field a team will break down with the number of key injuries the Packer have had this season.

Next man up fails when you eventually run out of next men.

Ed Reed is the answer

To what question?

Just saw this on X4. Ed Reed was pick up by the Packers today, he will play CC.

 If you are wondering what the CC position is, apparently it  stands for coach critique.

I wonder if he has had any experience playing cc.

Turnovers and odd plays--like both the Jackson and Kooper TDs have a way of evening out over a year...The Packers could go on an INT rampage in the next 5 games and all will be right with the world.

Watch Kansas City implode the moment their takeaways regress toward the mean.

You can't lose Collins, Woodson, Mathews and have Tramon Williams playing @ 75% since the shoulder injury and expect to maintain a great defense.

Without Rodgers and without some ball control---the Defense has been sucking wind at the end these last two weeks--it's no surprise that they gave up long crushing drives.

Their blitzes have not been well synchronized--especially on 3rd down...ultimately that is Capers issue.....and...they need one more star...preferably a Reggie White kind of star...it's hard to draft those guys at 25 thru 31.

this defense is far from great, but they are young and can only get better.

I noticed last Sunday Raji and Pickett getting completely washed out of the middle of the line. Gassed?  Maybe. Just an observation. Eagles were also blocking down on our olb with wr's and tes In which McCoy would push inside then bounce it outside. McCoy is a heck of a talent. 

I know he's mostly a DE, but maybe some fresh legs in CJ Wilson on the Dline might help.

I think @Herschel's first post was spot on. Not enough talent in the line-backing corp and safety positions.

If you want to relive parts of the nightmare from Sunday, I thought this was a very good article:

http://www.phillymag.com/birds...-run-game-get-track/

There seems to be several instances of players being in the right spot, but just unable to make plays.

and Desmond Bishop....he was nails..and could tackle....again, I think that some of the new fellows will improve...when Mulumba understands the game, same with Datone Jones....they have that dreaded potential thing

Found on the internet:

 Telling statistic I: After averaging 6.5 passes defensed through the first eight games of the season, the Packers did not have one against Philadelphia on Sunday.

■  Telling statistic II: After averaging nearly eight quarterback hits through the first eight games of the season, the Packers had a season-low four against Philadelphia.

Philly only passed 12-13 times, so those stats don't paint a proper picture.

12 completions, 18 attempts

If you read GBPG's Tuesday analysis by Christl/Baranczyk, there's scathing review of the OLB play, particularly in the run game. Outside of Palmer, the OLB's are all injured, which provides some excuse. But the leverage and discipline by Matthews, Neal and Perry were not good.

In general, just seems like guys have stepped back instead of stepping up - Burnett is not ballhawking, Tramon is dropping INTs (last 2 games at least), Hayward not looking as good as last year, Dr. Jennings too hot and cold to be reliable, etc.

the Packers did not have one against Philadelphia on Sunday.

not to nitpick but the pass Tramon almost picked off, wouldn't that be a pass defensed?

Plenty of valuable draft resources have been put into building a better defense:

AJ Hawk - D1

BJ Raji - D1

Clay Matthews - D1

Mike Neal - D2

Morgan Burnett - Ted traded up 15 spots in D3

Nick Perry - D1

Casey Hayward - D2

Datone Jones - D1

Ted has hit on a few lower round guys (Jolly, Daniels, Hyde(?)), signed a FA contributor in Pickett, and even pegged a few street FA in Tramon and Shields.

Some decent talent, but its not enough, especially when you throw inevitable injuries in to the mix. Need to have big-time playmakers in each level of the defense (Woodson, Clay, Jenkins) ....we don't have that right now.

Is there an NFL team in 2013 with playmakers on both sides of the ball? SF was probably the best argument before Kaep started stinking things up. Their D looks nothing like it did last year either. Seattle??? But are they really loaded at playmakers on O? And they'll look nothing like the team they have today in 2015.

Tough to compile playmakers on both sides after years of sustained success anymore.

Seattle has Wilson, Rice (when healthy, which isn't often), Harvin (see Rice) and Lynch, and that defense has quite a few.

Carolina, depending on your view of Newton, but Olson is really good (TBSS), the backs are very good (when healthy) and Steve Smith can still burn teams some.

Houston, though Johnson and Foster are nearing their ends on offense. They also lack the playmaking QB.