Posted by Ross - a.k.a. The Fat Man in : Commentary, Packershow ,
Packershow Season 4 episode 19
Posted by Ross - a.k.a. The Fat Man in : Commentary ,
Now that I have seen Dom Capers press conference and read the transcript and done some thinking about the change, I thought I’d begin the discussion of my thoughts and feelings about some of what was covered.
Let me begin by saying I am ecstatic with this hire. Capers has said all of the things I have ranted about all season: change scheme to fit personnel and allow them to be successful. If our defense falls apart this year, it will be the players’ fault and not coaching. We will have one of the most dominant defenses in the NFL next year!!!
Now on to the more controversial stuff!
(There’s some thought this isn’t the ideal defense for Aaron Kampman. Do you envision him as another Tony Brackens, or how do you envision him?)
As I mentioned, I think you made a big mistake. I know Aaron Kampman has been a very good football player and has had a lot of production. I think the number one thing you do is you try to adapt what you are doing to your good football players. If a guy is a good football player we’re going to find a way to use him. You take and you say, hey, if these are our 11 best football players, let’s adapt what we are doing to get those 11 best football players out there because they give you the best chance of winning. It’s about players and scheme, but it’s probably more important players than it is any scheme. You put good players out there in any scheme they are probably going to be successful. Now, if you can get a combination of good players and the scheme matches up and guys are into it and they understand their responsibilities and the other guys around them, now you’ve really got something.
I can’t agree more with his assertion that great players give you a good chance at winning and that Aaron Kampman is a a great player. I think it will be hard to justify keeping Kampman on the roster when you could trade him for someone who is a great player but fits better in the 3-4 scheme. Kampman is probably my favorite Packer (next to Justin Harrell 
) so I would hate to see him go, but a trade for someone of equal caliber who fits the new scheme seems to make sense. A trade for someone like….oh, let’s see… Julius Peppers would make sense with the change in scheme.
(When you look at the linebackers, are they good players? Do they match the scheme well? Do you see that in A.J. Hawk and Nick Barnett and those guys?)
Those guys, again, I think both of those guys have been good football players and there is a reason why. Just what I know about those guys, and again, I am really in the preliminary stages of going through and looking at the guys that we have. But that’s the fun part about this business. I think there are some possibilities with what I see and I’ll certainly know more about it every step I go through. You start to get a clearer picture of what their strengths and weaknesses are, and quite frankly that will be a big determining factor in terms of how much we do of one thing or another because I think we’ve got to try to maximize what people can do.
I have to review some game film from last year to watch our linebackers play before I give a better answer. I can see taking away constant gap responsibility and allowing more freedom will do wonders for our LB corp. A great acquisition like … Oh, say Terrell Suggs…would allow more flexibility and depth and help out as that hybrid OLB/DE.
(What’s the importance of the nose tackle position in your scheme?)
It’s very important. There are different style nose tackles. Again, some nose tackles can sit in there and play head up on the center in quote what people call ‘two-gap.’ Others you put maybe on the edge of the center and they play more of a one-gap scheme. But I think probably the classic nose tackle, you look at the people in the league that have the big, physical nose tackle like a Hampton at Pittsburgh or Wilfork at New England, which are big, physical guys that are hard to knock off the ball. A lot of times they use up a couple of blocks.
I know there are a lot of people who think Pickett is the perfect answer here. I can’t agree. Last year Pickett was being blown off the ball, turning sideways and being handled by one lineman. This was all on Ryan Pickett. We need to move for someone big….say Albert Haynesworth to fill this role.
So, what do I expect/hope to see happen:
1. Aaron Kampman for Julius Peppers
2. Acquire Albert Haynesworth by trade with Al Harris & Brian Brohm or by $$$$$
3. Acquire Terrell Suggs
We have some draft picks we can use to help with a trade. Tennessee could use another good corner and a backup QB. We could trade Justin Harrell as part of a deal with Baltimore but 10 footballs is a high price to pay.
More to come………
This is posted over at the forums if there is more discussion than you want to post here.
Posted by Ross - a.k.a. The Fat Man in : Commentary ,
All right…this is a test. Above you will see a link to the Forum. I have a forum set up but have never run one. So I figure this is a good time since the traffic on the site tends to dip until the draft. I enjoy the discussions on the website and would like it to continue. Please offer any suggestions/improvements.
http://packershow.com/forums
Ross
Posted by PCastleberg in : Commentary ,
In quite possibly what was simultaneously one of Ted Thompson’s worst and most overlooked moves the releasing of Tracy White has really come back to bite this team. Tracy White was cut October 7th in favor of keeping Danny Lansanah.
Now I am far from saying that White would be a magical savior for the special teams considering all the other fluctuation from injuries that there has been but when you look at this move in hindsight and think about the fact that we basically cut our best special teams cover guy just to keep a practice sqaudder it hurt this team and it sent a very bad message.
I don’t have a problem with most of the moves made this year when you look at them:
- Corey Williams traded: people want to whine about this move but they forget that Williams would have been our highest paid DL and after he had to play full time last year he wasn’t nearly as effective. It would not have made sense for the Packers to keep him at the price tag he was going to command because the performance didn’t justify it. Ask yourself what kind of a difference he’s made in Cleveland this year. I think Thompson got as much as he could for him and that’s all I can ask.
- Brett Farve traded: Once again I have no problem with this move. People forget, Farve retired…not once but TWICE and didn’t decide to come back until after training camp had already started. At that point there was no going back for the Packers IMO. It was time to move on, the on again/off again act from Farve along with his open questioning of the multiple moves that created what he himself called “the most talented team I’ve ever been on” were tired and old. Rodgers has played very well, and while he has made some “rookie” mistakes he has shown that he has all the physical tools needed to lead this team for years to come. Once again I think Thompson got as much as he could for him and thats all I can ask.
- KGB gets cut: I have to admit I was VERY surprised by this move but in retrospect I wasn’t. While KGB is a fan favorite and a personal favorite the guy just didn’t have it any more. He couldn’t recover from the knee problems he was having and just couldn’t get it done any more. Classy guy that you hate to see go but I think it was the right move. Very similar feelings to seeing Henderson fade away.
- Tracy White gets cut: This is the one move I have a problem with. You have a guy who wasn’t that old (only in his 6th year), was VERY good at his job and was a veteran presence on a team severely lacking in veteran leadership. He was the leader of a very young unit. His play had not slipped, he was still getting the job done and getting it done well. Yet he was cut for a first year undrafted rookie who had showed some promise and we didn’t want to lose from the practice squad.
Now maybe I’ll be proven wrong, maybe Lansannah will prove to be the second coming of Ray Nitschke but I highly doubt it. Before this move was made our STs had only surrendered 1 kickoff/punt return of more than 30 yards. That came in White’s last game against Atlanta (54 yards). Since that time the Packers in 7 games have given up 6 kick off returns of 30+ yards. 3 of which went for over 50. Opponents average starting field position against the Packers is their 32 yard line and opponents have had 22 drives start in Packers territory.
Tracy White played in every game he was on the team this year. In his 7 games since being signed on October 7th Danny Lansannah has been a game day inactive in two of them. He has not been inactive since Nick Barnett went down with a season ending knee injury, which only leads on to believe that he has been on the field in the last 3 weeks while the Packers have surrendered kick off returns of 62 yards to the Saints and 40+ and 50+ to the Panthers in successive weeks.
In the grand scheme of things not many people will even mention Tracy White but in this case I would argue that he has been an invaluable missing link for our not so Special Teams.
