After getting shredded by the 49ers in the playoffs a season ago, the Packers sent defensive coordinator Dom Capers to school in hopes that he could learn to defend the read-option. But Green Bay slipped overall defensively in the season after that tutorial, falling to 25th in total yards allowed -- two years after being dead last in the NFL.
School didn't really work. Maybe doing nothing will work? That seems to be the message coming out of Green Bay this offseason. From ESPN.com:
There are alterations coming to the Green Bay Packers' defense but nothing dramatic like a switch from the 3-4 as their base scheme.
Despite changes to the structure of defensive coordinator Dom Capers' coaching staff that seemingly could have made it easy to transition to a 4-3 scheme, the Packers are not headed in that direction.
"Our defense is going to change some," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Monday. "You don't ever stay the same. I'll set the vision for the defense. Dom Capers and the defensive staff will carry it out."
Basically, the Packers will keep running the same 3-4 defense they have always run under Capers. They're blaming injuries to key players for the misfires last year ... though we have previously been led to believe Ted Thompson's personnel moves create the kind of depth that allow teams to battle through such things.
Regardless, NFL teams should feel free to keep gaining massive chunks of yards at will!
