arstyle27
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Official Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears Vol. MNF at Soldier Field!
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by fraij da 5 11,
- Start date
arstyle27
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but it looks like its on a chevy tracker so....
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but it looks like its on a chevy tracker so....
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hahahahaa... I'll be at this game monday night!!! it's going be a nice one!!! I got my money on green bay though
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hahahahaa... I'll be at this game monday night!!! it's going be a nice one!!! I got my money on green bay though
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A MNF game thats supposed to be this good this early in the year in Chicago is friggin dope. I guess any MNF game between the Bears and Packers when its not -30 degrees is nice lol.
But seriously i would kill to go to this game with it not being cold yet.
But seriously i would kill to go to this game with it not being cold yet.
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A MNF game thats supposed to be this good this early in the year in Chicago is friggin dope. I guess any MNF game between the Bears and Packers when its not -30 degrees is nice lol.
But seriously i would kill to go to this game with it not being cold yet.
But seriously i would kill to go to this game with it not being cold yet.
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[h3]http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/16665/packers-bears-i-jayrod-finally-means-something[/h3]
[h3]Packers-Bears I: JayRod reaches relevance[/h3]
US Presswire, AP PhotoQuarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler have both led their teams to 2-0 records heading into their "Monday Night Football" showdown.
Here we go! A full 15 months after we tried to christen the "JayRod" rivalry, we finally have a matchup worthy of hyping.
This is what we envisioned all along: Two smart, young quarterbacks with strong arms and favorable schemes leading their undefeated teams into a "Monday Night Football" showdown for sole possession of first in the NFC North. Jay Cutler and his Chicago Bears are one of the NFL's biggest surprises, while Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers have thus far satisfied expectations if not exceeded them.
Of course, we have a dramatic twist. After an offseason of massive hype for Rodgers, some of it here on this blog, Cutler has compiled the NFL's highest passer rating through two games and has appeared a natural in Mike Martz's aggressive offensive scheme. Rodgers, on the other hand, described his Week 1 performance at Philadelphia as "terrible." It was a slight exaggeration but nevertheless confirmation that he and the Packers have opened the season at less than full throttle.
[h4]Jay Cutler vs. Aaron Rodgers, 2010[/h4][table][tr][th=""]Player[/th][th=""]Comp.[/th][th=""]Att.[/th][th=""]Pct.[/th][th=""]Yards[/th][th=""]YPA[/th][th=""]TD[/th][th=""]INT[/th][th=""]Rating[/th][th=""]W-L[/th][/tr][tr][td]Cutler[/td][td]44[/td][td]64[/td][td]68.8[/td][td]649[/td][td]10.14*[/td][td]5[/td][td]1[/td][td]121.2*[/td][td]2-0[/td][/tr][tr][td]Rodgers[/td][td]38[/td][td]60[/td][td]63.3[/td][td]443[/td][td]7.38[/td][td]4[/td][td]2[/td][td]94.0[/td][td]2-0[/td][/tr][tr][td]*Leads NFL[/td][/tr][/table]
Regardless, JayRod's teams are both 2-0 as the matchup approaches. If you subscribe to the theory that championships require elite quarterback play, you'll have no trouble deciding where to focus Monday night at Soldier Field (ESPN, 8:30 ET).
[h4]Podcast: Jay Cutler[/h4]
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler joined "The Waddle & Silvy Show" to discuss a win over the Cowboys, the "Monday Night Football" matchup with the Packers and Kristin Cavallari. Listen
"It's big," Cutler said Monday on ESPN 1000's "The Waddle & Silvy Show." "The season is long, though. I don't think we want to put all of our eggs in this game. But it's a huge game."
Cutler and Rodgers spoke Sunday night, as they have routinely done since the Bears acquired Cutler last year. Cutler is 27. Rodgers turns 27 in December. If all goes as planned, they'll wage a decade-long battle for NFC North supremacy.
That vision seemed blurry, at best, for most of last season. While Rodgers earned the NFC's starting spot in the Pro Bowl, Cutler threw a league-leading 26 interceptions, including six in two losses to the Packers, and entered 2010 at a career crossroads.
[h4]Jay Cutler vs. Aaron Rodgers, head-to-head[/h4][table][tr][th=""]Player[/th][th=""]Comp.[/th][th=""]Att.[/th][th=""]Pct.[/th][th=""]Yards[/th][th=""]YPA[/th][th=""]TD[/th][th=""]INT[/th][th=""]Rating[/th][th=""]W-L[/th][/tr][tr][td]Cutler[/td][td]40[/td][td]72[/td][td]55.5[/td][td]486[/td][td]6.75[/td][td]3[/td][td]6[/td][td]55.7[/td][td]0-2[/td][/tr][tr][td]Rodgers[/td][td]33[/td][td]52[/td][td]63.5[/td][td]364[/td][td]7.00[/td][td]1[/td][td]0[/td][td]90.5[/td][td]2-0[/td][/tr][/table]
Could he and Martz construct a cooperative dynamic to resurrect both of their reputations? Or would their personalities clash and take us through a spectacular conflagration?
A two-game sample size is too small to draw any grand conclusions, but it would be hard to foresee a better start. Cutler is not only completing nearly 69 percent of his passes, but he's averaging an NFL-high 10.14 yards per attempt. Essentially, that means Cutler has had elite-level accuracy while throwing plenty of low-percentage downfield passes. Already this season, the Bears have completed eight passes of 20 or more yards -- one more than the Packers and good for eighth best in the NFL.
Cutler has thrown a few passes up for grabs, and the worst -- into triple coverage Sept. 12 against the Detroit Lions -- was tipped by two different defenders. Tellingly, though, it's the only interception Cutler has thrown this season, and he credited his elevated decision-making to "a little bit of a lot of things."
"[Martz is] so conscious of giving me an answer for each and every coverage that goes with each play," Cutler said. "I'm not going out there thinking, 'If this happens, maybe I throw it here [or] maybe I've got to throw it here.' It's very clear-cut: 'Throw it here. If you get this, you've got to go here. If this happens, this is your hot [read].' He always gives me an answer. As long as I have an answer, most of the time I'm going to do the right thing."
When you take a step back, however, you realize that Cutler's turnaround goes back further than the start of this season. As you can see in the chart below, Cutler has thrown 13 touchdowns and two interceptions over his past four games dating to December 2009. If you want, you could argue that performances in meaningless games at the end of a 7-9 season have limited significance. They seem relevant to me, however, when you see Cutler pick up this season where he left off.
[h4]Jay Cutler, past four games*[/h4][table][tr][th=""]Comp.[/th][th=""]Att.[/th][th=""]Pct.[/th][th=""]Yards[/th][th=""]YPA[/th][th=""]TD[/th][th=""]INT[/th][th=""]Rating[/th][th=""]W-L[/th][/tr][tr][td]86[/td][td]135[/td][td]63.7[/td][td]1,198[/td][td]8.87[/td][td]13[/td][td]2[/td][td]118.07[/td][td]4-0[/td][/tr][tr][td]*Dating back to 2009[/td][/tr][/table]
There's no doubt Cutler needed to harness his powerful arm with a more even-keeled mindset, a work in progress that has nevertheless manifested itself in ways beyond interception totals. To me, Cutler displayed more poise in the Week 2 27-20 victory over the Dallas Cowboys than I had ever seen from him in a Bears uniform.
Rather than capitulate to the Cowboys' initial frenzy, Cutler hung on. Instead of throwing wildly in the face of a blitz, he waited for Martz to make the necessary adjustments. (Most notably, Martz shortened Cutler's drops to let him release the ball quicker.)
"We knew [the Cowboys] were going to come out fired up," Cutler said. "... I just told those guys to hang in there. You just don't want a turnover there. You kind of want to play the field-position game. You just want to weather it a little bit. You just want to get through that first five, six, eight minutes and settle down a little bit. See what they're going to do, and make some changes."
Whoa. Was that really Cutler speaking? Or was it Rodgers, who has been nothing if not poised since the otherwise tumultuous moment he took over the job in 2008. That poise is why Rodgers clinically, but without a trace of concern, dissected his season following last Sunday's 34-7 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
In his first six quarters of the season, Rodgers completed 57.4 percent of his passes (27 of 47) for 298 yards. Those numbers won't get you kicked out of the league, but NFC North observers know they're pedestrian by Rodgers' standards. To that point, Rodgers had been uncharacteristically inaccurate, missing open targets on more than a few passes and throwing the same number of interceptions (two) it took him five games to accumulate last season.
After halftime against the Bills, however, Rodgers completed 11 of his final 13 passes and accounted for three touchdowns as the Packers pulled away.
"The second half was more the way I'm capable of playing," Rodgers said, "[with] the rhythm I felt like I should be playing with."
Which brought him up to speed just in time to fulfill another line on our NFC North wish list. "JayRod" finally means something.
nice read
@ jayrod wonder how long he been sitting on that
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[h3]http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/16665/packers-bears-i-jayrod-finally-means-something[/h3]
[h3]Packers-Bears I: JayRod reaches relevance[/h3]
Here we go! A full 15 months after we tried to christen the "JayRod" rivalry, we finally have a matchup worthy of hyping.
This is what we envisioned all along: Two smart, young quarterbacks with strong arms and favorable schemes leading their undefeated teams into a "Monday Night Football" showdown for sole possession of first in the NFC North. Jay Cutler and his Chicago Bears are one of the NFL's biggest surprises, while Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers have thus far satisfied expectations if not exceeded them.
Of course, we have a dramatic twist. After an offseason of massive hype for Rodgers, some of it here on this blog, Cutler has compiled the NFL's highest passer rating through two games and has appeared a natural in Mike Martz's aggressive offensive scheme. Rodgers, on the other hand, described his Week 1 performance at Philadelphia as "terrible." It was a slight exaggeration but nevertheless confirmation that he and the Packers have opened the season at less than full throttle.
[h4]Jay Cutler vs. Aaron Rodgers, 2010[/h4][table][tr][th=""]Player[/th][th=""]Comp.[/th][th=""]Att.[/th][th=""]Pct.[/th][th=""]Yards[/th][th=""]YPA[/th][th=""]TD[/th][th=""]INT[/th][th=""]Rating[/th][th=""]W-L[/th][/tr][tr][td]Cutler[/td][td]44[/td][td]64[/td][td]68.8[/td][td]649[/td][td]10.14*[/td][td]5[/td][td]1[/td][td]121.2*[/td][td]2-0[/td][/tr][tr][td]Rodgers[/td][td]38[/td][td]60[/td][td]63.3[/td][td]443[/td][td]7.38[/td][td]4[/td][td]2[/td][td]94.0[/td][td]2-0[/td][/tr][tr][td]*Leads NFL[/td][/tr][/table]
Regardless, JayRod's teams are both 2-0 as the matchup approaches. If you subscribe to the theory that championships require elite quarterback play, you'll have no trouble deciding where to focus Monday night at Soldier Field (ESPN, 8:30 ET).
[h4]Podcast: Jay Cutler[/h4]
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler joined "The Waddle & Silvy Show" to discuss a win over the Cowboys, the "Monday Night Football" matchup with the Packers and Kristin Cavallari. Listen
"It's big," Cutler said Monday on ESPN 1000's "The Waddle & Silvy Show." "The season is long, though. I don't think we want to put all of our eggs in this game. But it's a huge game."
Cutler and Rodgers spoke Sunday night, as they have routinely done since the Bears acquired Cutler last year. Cutler is 27. Rodgers turns 27 in December. If all goes as planned, they'll wage a decade-long battle for NFC North supremacy.
That vision seemed blurry, at best, for most of last season. While Rodgers earned the NFC's starting spot in the Pro Bowl, Cutler threw a league-leading 26 interceptions, including six in two losses to the Packers, and entered 2010 at a career crossroads.
[h4]Jay Cutler vs. Aaron Rodgers, head-to-head[/h4][table][tr][th=""]Player[/th][th=""]Comp.[/th][th=""]Att.[/th][th=""]Pct.[/th][th=""]Yards[/th][th=""]YPA[/th][th=""]TD[/th][th=""]INT[/th][th=""]Rating[/th][th=""]W-L[/th][/tr][tr][td]Cutler[/td][td]40[/td][td]72[/td][td]55.5[/td][td]486[/td][td]6.75[/td][td]3[/td][td]6[/td][td]55.7[/td][td]0-2[/td][/tr][tr][td]Rodgers[/td][td]33[/td][td]52[/td][td]63.5[/td][td]364[/td][td]7.00[/td][td]1[/td][td]0[/td][td]90.5[/td][td]2-0[/td][/tr][/table]
Could he and Martz construct a cooperative dynamic to resurrect both of their reputations? Or would their personalities clash and take us through a spectacular conflagration?
A two-game sample size is too small to draw any grand conclusions, but it would be hard to foresee a better start. Cutler is not only completing nearly 69 percent of his passes, but he's averaging an NFL-high 10.14 yards per attempt. Essentially, that means Cutler has had elite-level accuracy while throwing plenty of low-percentage downfield passes. Already this season, the Bears have completed eight passes of 20 or more yards -- one more than the Packers and good for eighth best in the NFL.
Cutler has thrown a few passes up for grabs, and the worst -- into triple coverage Sept. 12 against the Detroit Lions -- was tipped by two different defenders. Tellingly, though, it's the only interception Cutler has thrown this season, and he credited his elevated decision-making to "a little bit of a lot of things."
"[Martz is] so conscious of giving me an answer for each and every coverage that goes with each play," Cutler said. "I'm not going out there thinking, 'If this happens, maybe I throw it here [or] maybe I've got to throw it here.' It's very clear-cut: 'Throw it here. If you get this, you've got to go here. If this happens, this is your hot [read].' He always gives me an answer. As long as I have an answer, most of the time I'm going to do the right thing."
When you take a step back, however, you realize that Cutler's turnaround goes back further than the start of this season. As you can see in the chart below, Cutler has thrown 13 touchdowns and two interceptions over his past four games dating to December 2009. If you want, you could argue that performances in meaningless games at the end of a 7-9 season have limited significance. They seem relevant to me, however, when you see Cutler pick up this season where he left off.
[h4]Jay Cutler, past four games*[/h4][table][tr][th=""]Comp.[/th][th=""]Att.[/th][th=""]Pct.[/th][th=""]Yards[/th][th=""]YPA[/th][th=""]TD[/th][th=""]INT[/th][th=""]Rating[/th][th=""]W-L[/th][/tr][tr][td]86[/td][td]135[/td][td]63.7[/td][td]1,198[/td][td]8.87[/td][td]13[/td][td]2[/td][td]118.07[/td][td]4-0[/td][/tr][tr][td]*Dating back to 2009[/td][/tr][/table]
There's no doubt Cutler needed to harness his powerful arm with a more even-keeled mindset, a work in progress that has nevertheless manifested itself in ways beyond interception totals. To me, Cutler displayed more poise in the Week 2 27-20 victory over the Dallas Cowboys than I had ever seen from him in a Bears uniform.
Rather than capitulate to the Cowboys' initial frenzy, Cutler hung on. Instead of throwing wildly in the face of a blitz, he waited for Martz to make the necessary adjustments. (Most notably, Martz shortened Cutler's drops to let him release the ball quicker.)
"We knew [the Cowboys] were going to come out fired up," Cutler said. "... I just told those guys to hang in there. You just don't want a turnover there. You kind of want to play the field-position game. You just want to weather it a little bit. You just want to get through that first five, six, eight minutes and settle down a little bit. See what they're going to do, and make some changes."
Whoa. Was that really Cutler speaking? Or was it Rodgers, who has been nothing if not poised since the otherwise tumultuous moment he took over the job in 2008. That poise is why Rodgers clinically, but without a trace of concern, dissected his season following last Sunday's 34-7 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
In his first six quarters of the season, Rodgers completed 57.4 percent of his passes (27 of 47) for 298 yards. Those numbers won't get you kicked out of the league, but NFC North observers know they're pedestrian by Rodgers' standards. To that point, Rodgers had been uncharacteristically inaccurate, missing open targets on more than a few passes and throwing the same number of interceptions (two) it took him five games to accumulate last season.
After halftime against the Bills, however, Rodgers completed 11 of his final 13 passes and accounted for three touchdowns as the Packers pulled away.
"The second half was more the way I'm capable of playing," Rodgers said, "[with] the rhythm I felt like I should be playing with."
Which brought him up to speed just in time to fulfill another line on our NFC North wish list. "JayRod" finally means something.
nice read
@ jayrod wonder how long he been sitting on that
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its going to be a good game I won't have any have to be dressed warm... how the weather is going right now here!!! 90s in sept!! Loving it!
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its going to be a good game I won't have any have to be dressed warm... how the weather is going right now here!!! 90s in sept!! Loving it!
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[h1][/h1]
[h1]Gurus Capers, Martz ready to square off[/h1][h4]AP[/h4] [h4]Dom Capers’ Packers defense will go up against Mike Martz’s Bears offense for the first time Monday night in Chicago. [/h4]
By By Greg A. Bedard
Sept. 23, 2010 |(19) Comments
Packers/NFL Calendar
PACKERS (2-0)WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Monday
at BEARS (2-0)
WHERE: Soldier Field
TV: ESPN
RADIO: AM-620 and Packer Radio Network affiliates
PACKERS: Schedule | Roster | 2010 Stats
BEARS: Schedule | Roster | 2010 Stats
MORE COVERAGE: Chicago Tribune
NFL: Scoreboard | Schedule
Green Bay — It almost seems inconceivable given their status as two of the top thinkers on their side of the football, but Monday night will mark the first time Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz and Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers have matched wits in the National Football League.
Martz directed the Detroit Lions against the Miami Dolphins in 2006, but Capers was calling the plays for Nick Saban's personal defense at the time.
And when Martz was in San Francisco in '08, Capers was a special assistant in the secondary for Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.
So seeing Martz and Capers locked in a chess match will be something to behold, even if Martz is just two games into installing his offense in Chicago.
"I'm looking forward to seeing our defense with Dom calling it, competing against their offense," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "Yes, I'm looking forward to that."
One Packers player, end Ryan Pickett, played for five years under Martz in St. Louis. And if Pickett knows one thing from watching Martz's offense operate in person, it's this: If the Packers don't get enough pressure on the preferred five-step drop in Martz's offense . . .
"There's going to be trouble," Pickett said.
Sure, it's important for every defense to bring pressure against every quarterback.
But because of the coverages Capers prefers to play behind his zone blitz scheme, it's paramount that the Packers get home against Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.
It's because the Martz offense prefers to use five- and seven-step drops to time their lethal downfield passing.
"He's going to spread you out, he's wide open," Capers said of Martz. "He's going to take a lot of shots down the field; they run a lot of deeper-breaking routes. He isn't afraid. He's going to throw the ball down the field and look for big plays."
And those deeper-breaking routes on deep drops by the quarterback are the exact weakness of Capers' scheme.
"If you run zone blitzes, the coverage behind it has holes. That's just the arithmetic of it," said a former NFL head coach and defensive coordinator who wished not to be identified because of his relationship with Capers. "It has nothing to do with how good a coach he is. Same with (coordinator) +### LeBeau at Pittsburgh.
"If you block the zone blitz, you will win."
In league defensive circles, the zone blitz scheme is known to have a lack of "deep integrity." That means there are holes in the deeper portion of the field - between 12 to 15 yards in a five-step drop, and 15 or more yards with a seven-step drop - in front of and around the safeties.
By definition, most zone blitz schemes run zone coverages behind their blitzes.
Capers' preferred coverage is some variation of the Cover-2. That means both safeties play deep and split the field. Capers especially likes to do that behind his nickel and dime packages.
"Just finding a hole to put the ball," Cutler said of the "psycho" variation of the nickel package the Packers like to use with one lineman. "You’ve got a bunch of guys back there that are really good at playing zones."
The cornerbacks usually play some variation of zone coverage themselves, whether they trail the receiver a bit off the line (quarters coverage) or give a big cushion off the line and backpedal (usually a variation of Cover-4 where the corners and safeties basically divide up the field equally and keep the play in front of them).
"With every defensive scheme, you're going to have strengths and weaknesses," the former coordinator said. "The thing is, you get to name them. I know what mine are, and mine aren't the same as Dom's. I don't want ever to have the weakness of lack of deep integrity. Ever. And if I'm too stick in the mud for that reason, then fire me. Because I'm not going to sell the farm to try to get a sack or pressure and leave some corner or some seam route saying, 'Well, they caught us, we were in the wrong call.' I never want to have to say that."
Along with some definite blown assignments by individual players, not getting enough pressure on the quarterback played a hand in the Packers' struggles last season against the Steelers and Arizona Cardinals. Those teams, along with the Minnesota Vikings, consistently hurt the Packers with routes that broke toward the middle of the field.
But that was then.
Now that the Packers are in the second year of his scheme, Capers has shown a much greater propensity to run more variations of man-to-man coverages behind his different pressures.
The most popular choices have been "2 man" — Cover-2 with man-to-man underneath — and "man free." That utilizes one deep safety and the rest play man-to-man, including the other safety, whether it’s Nick Collins or Morgan Burnett charging down to pick up a receiver. That’s how Burnett got his interception against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
"He does such a good job of moving guys around," Martz said of Capers. "He can put the offense on their heels. You just have to really, really focus on who has got who, so to speak. He's knows what he's doing. He's very disciplined with how he approaches it. Everybody is always right where they need to be with Dom regardless of the defense."
The last time Martz faced a similar zone-blitz scheme, it was '03 when the Rams beat the Steelers, 33-21. Rams quarterback Marc Bulger threw for 375 of the team's 448 offensive yards on 22 completions (17 yards per completion average).
Of course, if the Packers pressure Cutler like their first two opponents - the Packers lead the league with 10 sacks, including six by linebacker Clay Matthews - they'll have no trouble making Capers' first matchup with Martz a decided victory.
"If we don't get the quarterback, there's going to be a lot of stress on the secondary and a lot of openings," Pickett said. "We have to get pressure on him, definitely. What we have to do is stop the run first and make them one dimensional. If you don't, and they have a play-action with the five-step drop, that's tough to defend."
NickBarnett
Goodmorning , is it Monday yet!?
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[h1][/h1]
[h1]Gurus Capers, Martz ready to square off[/h1][h4]AP[/h4] [h4]Dom Capers’ Packers defense will go up against Mike Martz’s Bears offense for the first time Monday night in Chicago. [/h4]
By By Greg A. Bedard
Sept. 23, 2010 |(19) Comments
Packers/NFL Calendar
PACKERS (2-0)WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Monday
at BEARS (2-0)
WHERE: Soldier Field
TV: ESPN
RADIO: AM-620 and Packer Radio Network affiliates
PACKERS: Schedule | Roster | 2010 Stats
BEARS: Schedule | Roster | 2010 Stats
MORE COVERAGE: Chicago Tribune
NFL: Scoreboard | Schedule
Green Bay — It almost seems inconceivable given their status as two of the top thinkers on their side of the football, but Monday night will mark the first time Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz and Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers have matched wits in the National Football League.
Martz directed the Detroit Lions against the Miami Dolphins in 2006, but Capers was calling the plays for Nick Saban's personal defense at the time.
And when Martz was in San Francisco in '08, Capers was a special assistant in the secondary for Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.
So seeing Martz and Capers locked in a chess match will be something to behold, even if Martz is just two games into installing his offense in Chicago.
"I'm looking forward to seeing our defense with Dom calling it, competing against their offense," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "Yes, I'm looking forward to that."
One Packers player, end Ryan Pickett, played for five years under Martz in St. Louis. And if Pickett knows one thing from watching Martz's offense operate in person, it's this: If the Packers don't get enough pressure on the preferred five-step drop in Martz's offense . . .
"There's going to be trouble," Pickett said.
Sure, it's important for every defense to bring pressure against every quarterback.
But because of the coverages Capers prefers to play behind his zone blitz scheme, it's paramount that the Packers get home against Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.
It's because the Martz offense prefers to use five- and seven-step drops to time their lethal downfield passing.
"He's going to spread you out, he's wide open," Capers said of Martz. "He's going to take a lot of shots down the field; they run a lot of deeper-breaking routes. He isn't afraid. He's going to throw the ball down the field and look for big plays."
And those deeper-breaking routes on deep drops by the quarterback are the exact weakness of Capers' scheme.
"If you run zone blitzes, the coverage behind it has holes. That's just the arithmetic of it," said a former NFL head coach and defensive coordinator who wished not to be identified because of his relationship with Capers. "It has nothing to do with how good a coach he is. Same with (coordinator) +### LeBeau at Pittsburgh.
"If you block the zone blitz, you will win."
In league defensive circles, the zone blitz scheme is known to have a lack of "deep integrity." That means there are holes in the deeper portion of the field - between 12 to 15 yards in a five-step drop, and 15 or more yards with a seven-step drop - in front of and around the safeties.
By definition, most zone blitz schemes run zone coverages behind their blitzes.
Capers' preferred coverage is some variation of the Cover-2. That means both safeties play deep and split the field. Capers especially likes to do that behind his nickel and dime packages.
"Just finding a hole to put the ball," Cutler said of the "psycho" variation of the nickel package the Packers like to use with one lineman. "You’ve got a bunch of guys back there that are really good at playing zones."
The cornerbacks usually play some variation of zone coverage themselves, whether they trail the receiver a bit off the line (quarters coverage) or give a big cushion off the line and backpedal (usually a variation of Cover-4 where the corners and safeties basically divide up the field equally and keep the play in front of them).
"With every defensive scheme, you're going to have strengths and weaknesses," the former coordinator said. "The thing is, you get to name them. I know what mine are, and mine aren't the same as Dom's. I don't want ever to have the weakness of lack of deep integrity. Ever. And if I'm too stick in the mud for that reason, then fire me. Because I'm not going to sell the farm to try to get a sack or pressure and leave some corner or some seam route saying, 'Well, they caught us, we were in the wrong call.' I never want to have to say that."
Along with some definite blown assignments by individual players, not getting enough pressure on the quarterback played a hand in the Packers' struggles last season against the Steelers and Arizona Cardinals. Those teams, along with the Minnesota Vikings, consistently hurt the Packers with routes that broke toward the middle of the field.
But that was then.
Now that the Packers are in the second year of his scheme, Capers has shown a much greater propensity to run more variations of man-to-man coverages behind his different pressures.
The most popular choices have been "2 man" — Cover-2 with man-to-man underneath — and "man free." That utilizes one deep safety and the rest play man-to-man, including the other safety, whether it’s Nick Collins or Morgan Burnett charging down to pick up a receiver. That’s how Burnett got his interception against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
"He does such a good job of moving guys around," Martz said of Capers. "He can put the offense on their heels. You just have to really, really focus on who has got who, so to speak. He's knows what he's doing. He's very disciplined with how he approaches it. Everybody is always right where they need to be with Dom regardless of the defense."
The last time Martz faced a similar zone-blitz scheme, it was '03 when the Rams beat the Steelers, 33-21. Rams quarterback Marc Bulger threw for 375 of the team's 448 offensive yards on 22 completions (17 yards per completion average).
Of course, if the Packers pressure Cutler like their first two opponents - the Packers lead the league with 10 sacks, including six by linebacker Clay Matthews - they'll have no trouble making Capers' first matchup with Martz a decided victory.
"If we don't get the quarterback, there's going to be a lot of stress on the secondary and a lot of openings," Pickett said. "We have to get pressure on him, definitely. What we have to do is stop the run first and make them one dimensional. If you don't, and they have a play-action with the five-step drop, that's tough to defend."
NickBarnett
Goodmorning , is it Monday yet!?
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Lol why is that article comparing Cutler with Rodgers. Its been 2 games, he isnt touchin Rodgers
JayRod...no
JayRod...no
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Lol why is that article comparing Cutler with Rodgers. Its been 2 games, he isnt touchin Rodgers
JayRod...no
JayRod...no
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Is that a throwback for the Packers this season?Originally Posted by fraij da 5 11
Chuck resurrected in Green Bay though.... Chicago was just nearing the end of the line for the Kid.
Let your man Charles flourish at age 34
You should cop one of these though
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Is that a throwback for the Packers this season?Originally Posted by fraij da 5 11
Chuck resurrected in Green Bay though.... Chicago was just nearing the end of the line for the Kid.
Let your man Charles flourish at age 34
You should cop one of these though
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^yea
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^yea
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as of right now rodgers isnt "touchin" cutler could that change yep since like you said its only week 2 but right now cutler is balling and rodgers isnt
anyways
[h3]http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/16871/friday-injury-report-packers-bears[/h3]
[h3]Friday injury report: Packers-Bears[/h3]
September, 24, 2010
Sep 24
5:09
PM ET
By Kevin Seifert
Because the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears aren't playing until Monday night, they're not required to classify the status of injured players until Saturday. So here are the highlights of Friday's practice participation:
Chicago Bears: Left tackle Chris Williams (hamstring) and safety Major Wright (hamstring) were the only players who didn't practice. We already know Wright won't play against the Packers, but it's starting to look unlikely for Williams as well. All other players, including linebacker Lance Briggs (ankle) are on track to play.
Green Bay Packers: The offensive line took another hit Friday when left guard Daryn Colledge sat out because of a sprained knee suffered in Thursday's practice. Rookie Bryan Bulaga replaced Colledge, leaving left tackle to Chad Clifton (knee). Coach Mike McCarthy said he is "concerned" about Colledge, who rarely misses practice. He said he thought Clifton moved well in practice, but suffice it to say, the left side of the Packers' offensive line is in flux. The Packers also limited defensive end Ryan Pickett (hamstring), and could not get rookie defensive end Mike Neal (side/rib) on the practice field.
over/under on 8 sacks combined in this game?
