Last week Packers fans were ready to call for Capers’ job, and some may still be, but after the defensive showing last week vs. Chicago, fans may be a little more hesitant to do so.

Yes, I understand that Chicago isn’t one of the best teams in the league. They aren’t going to be making a deep playoff push anytime soon. Since Chicago is rallying behind their young quarterback, they are a little less apt to throw the ball. Packer fans knew that going in to this game that Chicago was going to run the ball, and after the showing against Detroit, I think its safe to say we were all a little skeptical of how the defense would do going in to Chicago. As confident as I am in Capers play calling abilities, I was a little skeptical myself, but Capers didn’t disappoint.

Stopping the run is key in defensive football. Against a team like Chicago that utilized multiple tight ends and ran with 21 and 22 personnel groupings (2 backs, 2 tight ends) the Packers had to answer with their front 7. We saw a number of players rolled in the box, making sure they outnumbered the offense. There are 3 key things when defending the run, they are:

Gap assignment

Playing downhill

Swarming the to the ball carrier

Lets go to the tape and see how each of these apply.

Early in the game here, and the Packers come out with their base eagle front. The 5 tech, Lowry, is playing to the closed side of the formation, or the side with the tight end. Daniels is playing backside in a 3 technique, or outside shade of the guard. Matthews will be in a 9 technique in which he is outside of the tight end. Matthews and Perry are both responsible for contain. They cannot afford to get beat in the run game. Jones comes from depth and rolls up in the box to give the Packers 8 men vs. 21 personnel (two backs, 1 tight end). Clark here is shaded on the center, known as a 1 technique. The gap they are lined up in is their gap, with the inside linebackers playing the playside B gap and backside A.

Watch Daniels on this play. This sums up his power and explosiveness. He has a quick one-two step off the line of scrimmage and plays on “their grass”. When I say that, I mean that he is playing on their side of the line of scrimmage. This is key for any defensive football player. If you are playing on your side of the line of scrimmage, you are catching and giving ground to the offense. Daniels gets his arms extended and the center going backwards. He engages the blocker and finds the ball. This is what makes him great.

Here the Packers again go with an eagle front. Watch Clark engage the center and shed the block. The guard ends up with a face full of grass once Clark sheds the block. One of the things that makes him so good is his hands and footwork. Watch how he takes short strides, keeping his legs under him. Nothing too wide and no crossing over. He is paying dividends this year at nose tackle.

Martinez here is responsible for the A gap, since Daniels is in a 3 technique. We talked earlier about coming downhill and filling your gap, and he does that perfectly here. Ryan is responsible for the cutback lane, which he takes away. It is important that the cutback player does not overpursue, becasue if he does then the ball carrier can break a big run.

Perry here does a good job of engaging and containing the play. This play was not designed to go outside, but he does take away the bounce that could have happened.

I thought that this particular play deserved to be shown from the wide angle. Jake Ryan had one of his best plays of the game here. Watch how he comes downhill, sheds the guard and finds the ball. If I was teaching a linebacker how to play the run, I would show this play over and over. Martinez also does a good job here and makes a heads up play. He sheds the backside block and closes in on the ballcarrier.

The thing that was great about this game is that the Packers didn’t have to stunt much. They could stay in their base fronts (which we hardly see), anchor down and play good fundamental run defense. This play is an example of that, and the entire front 7 rallies to the ball.

The Packers go again with base personnel. I love to see when they run this, because we truly see how great a 3-4 defense can be. With the nickel, like we are used to seeing, we don’t truly understand how great this defense can be. The base package is what I like the most about it.

Chicago goes with a stretch concept on this run. Instead of having an assigned man they they block, the offensive line will zone step either way and block a man in their zone and work to the second level. That sounds like a good concept right? Except they are running to Nick Perry’s side. This was easily his best game of the year. Watch Perry here get his inside hand on the fullback and force the back to turn up in the hole, where he meets a swarm of Packer defenders. This is awesome. This is exactly what the force player does. He forces it, and the defense feasts from it. Textbook. I’ve watched this play over and over and it never gets old.

The Packers go with dime personnel here on a 3rd down play. We see again the dominance of Nick Perry. I haven’t wrote much about him this year, but man did he have an amazing game. We talked earlier about the importance of the hands and watch Perry here destroy the tackle. He starts to get blocked down inside, but he rips across his body with the inside arm and gets free, finding the ball carrier. In case he did get beat (not likely in this game) Randall is in position as the secondary support player, that is, if Perry gets beat then Randall will force the ball carrier in to Clinton-Dix, or the ally player. He plays the ally where the ball carrier will be turned up to. The inside linebackers, Martinez and Jones, flow to the ball as well. This was a great example of playing team defense!

This game really was refreshing to a lot of fans. It was good to see the defense turn loose and take care of business. I’m hoping that this game may have restored some faith in the Capers defense and lets hope to see this run defense duplicated against Baltimore.

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For my Packers notes and film breakdown: @PTTF_ChalkTalk

Go Pack Go!