One comment on Capers and the media talk

[Russ Smith]

All the talk all week from Sterling Sharp, Theismann etc about the genius Capers and his 3-4 would confuse the Cards etc.

So early in the game Aikman says in talking to the Cardinals they saw something last week on film that said in 3 and 4 WR sets they could make hay over the middle. And for 4 quarters the Cards did that OVER AND OVER. There was literally one incomplete pass over the middle in the whole game and it took a great play by Woodson to stop that.

So how come Capers didn't recognize at some point in the game to quote Greg Jennings "they have our number" and change his defense?

Really seemed odd to me that we were able to do essentially the same thing the whole game.

 

[ajcardfan]

Probably nothing is more overhyped about the game today than how "brillant" OCs and DCs are.

There is rarely anything significant done during games, it's more about how players execute the matchups. He called zone, he called man, he called zone blitzes. That's all he can do. They didn't get enough pressure in any of those, and they couldn't cover our guys well enough to stop one of the most accurate passers ever.

 

[Zeno]

We heard last year before the NFC Championship about about the Eagles DC Jim Johnson being able to to scheme to stop us and that didn't work either.

 

[WildBB]

Probably nothing is more overhyped about the game today than how "brillant" OCs and DCs are.

There is rarely anything significant done during games, it's more about how players execute the matchups. He called zone, he called man, he called zone blitzes. That's all he can do. They didn't get enough pressure in any of those, and they couldn't cover our guys well enough to stop one of the most accurate passers ever.

I LOVE IT!! To quote a famous athlete in SB III. THEY CAN ALL EAT THEIR PENCILS AND PADS!

 

[Brighteyes]

Didn't I hear somewhere the Green Bay in general doesn't over-scheme. They come up with great working plays and execute them -- whoever the opponent.

I honestly don't think it ever occurred to them that this team they "whipped" twice could pose a challenge. It certainly never occurred to the paid sports analysts.

 

[Totally_Red]

Dom Capers told Peter King that he dialed up coverage and he dialed up blitzes and Kurt Warner was that good that he was able to recognize and beat both. I think when you have the best playoff quarterback of all time, even a magnificent defensive coordinator is going to be challenged to slow him down. Just think back to last year's games against Philly and the Steelers. Dick LeBeau and the late Jim Johnson are considered two of the best DCs of the modern era. And the Cardinals offense was up to the task.

Now if they can just figure out the Niners.

 

[conraddobler]

If I was going to try to do something to Warner it would be simply to make him dump it off and hit him.

If you can't pressure Warner and you can't hit him enough to get him rattled, you generally are going to lose.

The reason Warner and the Cardinals are so hard to stop is that they've achieved a level where there are too many ways they can hurt you to defend everything and Warner reads the defense and dials up what's left.

In a situation like that there is nothing you can do, we had the same problem with the Packers, whatever we did they beat except for a couple plays which ended up being the difference.

 

[Brighteyes]

What a difference a run game makes.

 

[joeshmo]

Actually aikman brought it up in the broadcast.

It wasnt really the scheme. It was the fact that their DB's have major trouble with bunch packages. No one knows or is communicating when to release or not release a WR in those bunch packages. Could be a issue by having two rookie outside linebackers. Along with poor safety play = middle of the field open most of the time, especially when a reciever is coming out of a bunch package. Cards noticed this major problem while watching the Pitt game when Ben threw for over 500 yards.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Probably nothing is more overhyped about the game today than how "brillant" OCs and DCs are.

There is rarely anything significant done during games, it's more about how players execute the matchups. He called zone, he called man, he called zone blitzes. That's all he can do. They didn't get enough pressure in any of those, and they couldn't cover our guys well enough to stop one of the most accurate passers ever.

Yup... further, it doesn't matter how "great" the DC is said to be (what a joke), if Warner has time, he will shred the defense. He is one of those QB's (Peyton Manning, Montana types), who are simply above the rest when it comes to pre-snap reads, knowing precisely where the ball needs to go, and then delivering it in flawless fashion... There isn't a DC (past or present) that can stop this when these QB's are given time. The only answer is to disrupt the QB by getting pressure, banging him around and forcing him out of the pocket... Amazingly, our O-line performed in such a way where Kurt was barely touched all game. Incredible...

 

[Perfectionist]

What a difference a run game makes.

Oh how true, and funny it seems I have heard no one talk about our running game against the Pack. Of course when there is a gillion passing yards in a game who is going to bring it up?

 

[ajcardfan]

Oh how true, and funny it seems I have heard no one talk about our running game against the Pack. Of course when there is a gillion passing yards in a game who is going to bring it up?

Deion and Mariucci both praised it during Gameday final. In fact, Mariucci said it's why we're a better team than last season. Other than that though, not a whisper about it. You'd think a 6.8 ypc against the top ranked rush defense, by a team that supposedly can't run, would have gotten more attention than it has.

 

[Russ Smith]

Actually aikman brought it up in the broadcast.

It wasnt really the scheme. It was the fact that their DB's have major trouble with bunch packages. No one knows or is communicating when to release or not release a WR in those bunch packages. Could be a issue by having two rookie outside linebackers. Along with poor safety play = middle of the field open most of the time, especially when a reciever is coming out of a bunch package. Cards noticed this major problem while watching the Pitt game when Ben threw for over 500 yards.

That's actually my point. The whole week I got inundated with talk about how Capers was a genius and his 3-4 confused everyone. First they didn't seem to care that we play a 3-4 too and second they didn't seem to understand that Warner has seen everything and when he's on it really doesn't matter what the defense does.

The Cards found a problem with Green Bay's defense in the middle and the exploited it repeatedly for 4 quarters and nothing Capers or anybody else tried helped.

It really reminded me of years ago when the 49ers played Denver in the Super Bowl. The talk all week was hard hitting rookie Steve Atwater was going to make the 49ers WR's pay for going over the middle. By the end of the first half Atwater was one of the biggest goats in Superbowl history as the 49ers repeatedly used his desire to make big hits against him by getting him into coverage and then running double moves or pump fakes that got him coming up as they went over the top. They made Atwater look like a guy signed off the street before the game.

I don't know exactly who was at fault in GB's defense but it was the same kind of effect.

A basketball analogy would be watch any UCLA game this year and watch how teams are designing almost every play to attack wherever Nikola Dragovic is on defense. The Cards found the GB weakness and played the old go after it until they stop you approach.

I watched the game with a friend who kept saying if I'm New Orleans I'm working on covering the middle. My response was I hope they do because that would be missing the point, the Cards weren't going over the middle because they like to, they were going thre because they had found a weakness, that approach was specific to that game, they will try to find a weakness with NO and go after that and it might be something completely different.

 

[RedViper]

Oh how true, and funny it seems I have heard no one talk about our running game against the Pack. Of course when there is a gillion passing yards in a game who is going to bring it up?

In the pregame show last week they talked about how the Packers were going to protect their run defense stats at all cost even though the game was meaningless. I'm still stunned by that. Anyone that looked at the Atlanta playoff game last year would have seen the exact same thing. A running game will suddenly appear where none previously existed. For the Packers to play hard to protect their run defense stats in a meaningless game only to get burned by a Whisenhunt rope-a-dope was pure buffoonery.