How the hell does Capers still have a job?

TundraJoe said:
I'm pretty indifferent on Capers personally. I don't think he is the reason/biggest problem with our defense and I think we could end up worse with someone else but I also think we could end up better with someone else.
The problem is talent and injuries. The FA class is uninspiring unless someone surprising hits the market and if so we won't be the ones to dish out the cash. So our defense improving next year is on the backs of Randall/Rollins improving, Clark improving, no one regressing and maybe some draft picks.

I'm a big fan of McCarthy because he always has his guys ready to play and draws up good game plans most of the time. Sure he **** the bed late in close games at times but lots of coaches do, I think we could do a lot worse than McCarthy. I don't feel the same about Capers but again, I don't think he is the main reason our defense struggles.

For all of Ted's faults on defense he still puts together a well above average roster year in and year out, something only a couple of other teams can match in his tenure as GM, mainly New England.
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Tundra Joe, outstanding assessment. Please post more because we all gain more knowledge when opinions of this type are shared.
 
Pugger said:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/sport...ougherty-get-rid-capers-not-so-fast/97088550/

I don't know if I agree completely with this article but it might be a reason why Capers is still around.
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Wow, I don't really know what to say to that article. He comes right out and says he's not sure who's a better coordinator Fritz Shurmer or Dom Capers??? Really? Shurmer coached a defense that was first in the entire NFL in 1996. Those mid 90s Packers teams had great defenses. The Packers defenses under capers have set NFL records in ineptitude. I remember in the 90s it was often an argument among Packers fans, what was better, our offense or our defense(both were ranked number 1 in 96)? When's the last time we thought Capers defense was excellent or even HALF as good as our offense? The defense under him has ALWAYS been the Achilles hill, minus 2010, which even then turned in some pretty awful stinkers. Doughtery, please pass me a hit.

I feel like I'm in an episode of the twilight zone sometimes, when it comes to Capers. Some people just can't seem to see how bad our defenses have been under him. Maybe, it's just because they've gotten so used to it.

He says, "How many coaches could have done a better job than Capers"? How about this question, how many would have done worse? We've seen historically bad defenses(especially in the playoffs). Maybe, we don't have that much talent, but seriously, can it get any worse?

I'm surprised nobody has brought up Casey Hayward yet. He looked like a great pick early on with us, then for whatever reason seemed to decline. The Packers defensive coaching staff, and Thompson thought he wasn't good enough or worth the money to retain. Then he goes to SD and becomes a pro bowler? How is that not an indictment against management here?
 
endaround said:
I think it may be time to let Capers go. Not for lack of performance, but simply to put the man out of his misery. Every year he becomes the scapegoat for an underachieving team, due to an under-talented defense. He runs a defense that is suited for cerebral veterans who need to able to read offenses, and have an ability to adjust on the fly, yet he is consistently forced to use young, inexperienced players who either are not ready, or have not had time to adjust to the speed of the NFL. In short, we need to have a few reliable, experienced backups for when the injuries inevitably occur.

Obviously, for as long as TT is around, you know that he's not gonna give Capers the type of players he needs. So why not look into our DB coaches, or LB coaches for that matter. I mean, if you've watched even one game, it's easy to see how much our DB's coverage and ball playing/defending skills are lacking. It seems that on at least 80% of passes, the DB has no idea where the ball even is, so he's certainly not in position to turn around and make a play on the ball. We've seen how far "throw your hands in the air and hope the WR drops it" has taken us (admittedly, quite farther that I ever expected). And that's just when we're in man coverage. Our zone D is even more baffling. Either the fundamentals are severely under coached or under emphasized, or our player are just plain garbage. Who knows, maybe it's all of the above. Maybe there is a D coordinator out there who can play to our DB's strengths, I'm just not so sure they have any strengths.

It also doesn't help that despite having Matthews, Peppers, and Perry, we cannot pressure the QB more than one time a game. And we never seem to be able to get home on a blitz. Sure, you could say that it's because of Caper's blitz schemes, but I've seen one too many free blitzers that just completely whiffed on open lanes to the QB to believe that.
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Endaround, unbelievable post. This hit on a very hot topic. Please continue to post here. Your insight and knowledge only adds to the overall greatness of this community.
 
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kingkoopa said:
No matter who's playing on defense over the years I've seen guys wide open on an almost game to game basis. This was the case even when we had Woodson and Collins in the secondary. There is so much miscommunication it's sickening. The only constant throughout all these years is Capers. Remember for years we couldn't cover TEs? Always wide open in the middle of the field? Hell, look at last Sunday. We rush 2 D-lineman, and yet there is a guy wide open. Seriously, how does that happen?
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King, and I used the capital K for a reason, I really enjoy your thoughts and I hear you. It gets to be like a skipped record. The younger guys may know it as a skipped CD, or the even younger crowd may now it as a shit mp3, but we keep getting the same questions, same answers, and same results. At what point does the hierarchy start taking action? I'm tired of it.
 
kingkoopa said:
I'm surprised nobody has brought up Casey Hayward yet. He looked like a great pick early on with us, then for whatever reason seemed to decline. The Packers defensive coaching staff, and Thompson thought he wasn't good enough or worth the money to retain. Then he goes to SD and becomes a pro bowler? How is that not an indictment against management here?
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He had two injury plagued seasons sandwiched in between a stellar rookie year and a good final year in GB. I liked Casey here and thought he fit what the D needed (good zone corner, read and reacted well) but he was injured a lot and still had flaws. He's not physical at all and was a poor tackler. Mgt thought they had depth to replace him but that depth got crushed with injury and we all know what happened.

But that goes back to the larger issue - GB spent time and picks developing Davon House and Hayward and TT let them go in FA. Do you think Capers and Whitt were happy about that? How different would this team be with those two still starting? Like I said earlier, every year TT and MM hand Capers a revolver with 2-4 bullets and tell him to win a firefight. What chance does the guy have when some of those bullets - not even accounting for the empty chambers - turn out to be blanks?
 
Most likely Mac is scared to hire a defensive coordinator who could eventually take over his job.
Another year they can blame the crappy defense on injuries and young players.

At this point I'm willing to give up assets on offense for talent on defense. Even trade Jordy. McCarthy and Rodgers are good enough to get by with less.
 
If the argument for canning McCarthy earlier in the season was "Better coaches do more with less", then I wonder how in the hell anyone can even partially justify Capers still having a job. Mac at least has 9 top-10 scoring offenses in his 11 seasons as HC to his credit (top-5 in seven of those seasons). It bears repeating again, but we haven't had a single top-10 scoring defense in 6 years.
 
ski said:
If the argument for canning McCarthy earlier in the season was "Better coaches do more with less", then I wonder how in the hell anyone can even partially justify Capers still having a job. Mac at least has 9 top-10 scoring offenses in his 11 seasons as HC to his credit (top-5 in seven of those seasons). It bears repeating again, but we haven't had a single top-10 scoring defense in 6 years.
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Exactly, Ski
So MM is just an Offensive Coordinator
His game management sucks, he does not make adjustments, and wont hold people or himself accountable. In the business world, a manager like that would be fired ASAP.
Unfortunately, we also have a President and a BOD who don't hold anyone accountable either.
Welcome to being a Packer fan. FP(
 
I know we are all frustrated because of the state of the defense but how often do NFL coaches get canned after their team plays in the conference championship game? The only time a coach on a winning team is fired is when they have issues with their GM and/or owner like Jim Harbaugh did. I truly believe the main culprit for our mess on D should be laid at the feet of Mr. Thompson. Draft and develop isn't a bad strategy but shunning every avenue to improve your roster is concerning.
 
It's not about this season with Capers...it's about his entire track record. Sunday was just the final straw(or should have been).

In regards to MM, we don't need to worry about him. Quite frankly, he's a highly successful NFL head coach. ;)

All joking aside, that's an outstanding post Ski. Look at all the turnover we've had on the offensive side of the ball. I'd argue our WR core is a shell of what it once was. We no longer even have a RB. Yet, the offense keeps chugging along. Rodgers is obviously the main reason, but you have to give MM credit where credit is due. It is his unit. Capers needs to be held accountable for his lack of defensive production. Especially when you take into account all the high draft picks that have been spent on that side of the ball.
 
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