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Packers reach agreement with Capers
By Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel
Jan. 18, 2009 10:20 p.m.

Pittsburgh -- Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy's new defensive coordinator will be Dom Capers.

A source familiar with the search process said Sunday night that McCarthy and Capers had reached an agreement on a new deal that would bring the longtime defensive coordinator and former head coach to Green Bay.

Capers made himself known with a 3-4 defense, but he has worked with other defenses as well and probably will employ a hybrid 3/4 - 4/3 defense. This past season, Capers was a special assistant with the New England Patriots, coaching mostly in the secondary.

Capers was the fourth of four prominent defensive coaches to interview with McCarthy. He visited Friday night and Saturday with McCarthy and then agreed to a new deal Sunday night.

Terms of the agreement are not known.

In Capers, McCarthy would be getting a coach who cut his teeth in the 3-4 system and used it consistently, sometimes with great success and other times with very little. During his three years as head coach of the Texans, his biggest failure was getting the defense established. Twice it ranked 31st in the league.


Capers, 58, has some experience running the 4-3, too, and undoubtedly picked up some wide-ranging concepts from Bill Belichick during his year with the Patriots. Part of the interview with McCarthy presumably will be to see how compatible their defensive philosophies are.


Capers got his start in the NFL in New Orleans under coach Jim Mora, moved on to become a very successful coordinator with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was head coach of the Carolina Panthers for three seasons, had two good years as defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars under Tom Coughlin, was head coach of the Houston Texans for five years and spent two seasons as an assistant in Miami.

He had been rumored to be a candidate to replace New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who took the St. Louis Rams job this week.

eagle13 wrote:Knew M3 would not risk a newbie. I understand that & agree for the most part.
As for Capers specifically - guess I don't feel very strongly either way.

Hopefully his experience will give him tools to rise to the challenge. He's gotta be innovative himself & create a somewhat unique scheme variation here. Not implement a set in stone scheme he's picked up or used in past.
Hope for the best...

GO PACK!!!

DocHoliday wrote:Wow, I'm shocked with the support on here. My first reaction is epic failure. I didn't even know he was still in the league. To me he is the worst of all the candidates out there. He hasn't done a damn thing other than lead the Panthers to the championship, but they were an expansion team that didn't have a salary cap. He runs an awful zone blitz scheme, and we don't have the linebackers for it. Ugh, worst decision ever. Maybe Mac was looking for a guy that is just as conservative as he is, lol.

McCarthy on Capers, new 3-4 defense
By Lori Nickel of the Journal Sentinel
Jan. 19, 2009 1:06 p.m.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy is speaking now at his press conference in Lambeau Field.

Here are the highlights from McCarthy:

It was difficult to let DC Bob Sanders and the other coaches go, on a personal note. I just didn't feel we were headed in the right direction, based on the last three years.

Capers is an excellent fit. He brings credibility, lots of experience. Will move forward this week on filling out the rest of the staff. Not in a hurry to lock up Capers before the NY Giants could woo him. The Packers have a lot to offer Capers, too.

The Packers are looking now at a 3-4 defense with Capers, a system McCarthy prefers. It's an excellent run defense. Ends Aaron Kampman and Cullen Jenkins will probably be excited about this change. The 3-4 creates matchup problems from the start for opponents game-planning for the Packers.

Green Bay's current linebackers could fit in to this scheme very well. Ryan Pickett is a pure nose tackle (to anchor the 3-4). Most of the pieces are here.

Winston Moss was a part of the Packers search process and is a big part of the future with the Packers staff; he will remain with Green Bay in his typical position as assistant head coach/linebackers coach. (It doesn't look like he's headed elsewhere, in other words.)

The promotion of Shawn Slocum over other candidates as special teams coordinator was due to the fact that he is an excellent coach. He also had the support in the building from colleagues and players.

The firing of strength and conditioning coach Rock Gullickson was about making progress. I did not see growth and improvement. The environment was not ideal. At the end of the day, are we moving forward? Is there growth? It was not headed in the right direction.

Mark Lovat is one of five candidates to replace Gullickson. Will take as long as it takes to fill out staff; will not rush the interview process.

Doesn't feel like this is almost starting a new system from scratch. A change was needed to bring home the next world championship. I will do everything in my power to bring home the next champsionship, even if it means making these tough decisions.

These were the decisions of McCarthy; not GM Ted Thompson.

(This blog will be updated (I hope by 2 p.m.) once I can transcribe direct quotes from McCarthy.)

Wade-A-Holic wrote:[sarcasm]You're really well informed about Dom Capers. You must be a smarter man than Tom Coughlin, who brought him on to have great success when he was in Jacksonville and now wanted him in New York.[/sarcasm]

1991, Pittsburgh's defense is ranked 22nd in scoring. Capers takes over and the Steelers are ranked 2nd, 8th, and 2nd from '92-'94.

1998, Jacksonville is ranked 17th in scoring defense. Capers takes over and instantly takes that defense to #1 in points allowed.

That "awful" blitz scheme became known as the Blitzburgh defense.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... apers.html

That article gives a lot of good information about Capers. Some of the highlights, for me, are that he's not an intense, get in your face and yell kind of guy. He also thinks that the 3-4/4-3 talk is overrated. He's more interested in giving teams different looks and getting results from his personnel. I wouldn't be surprised to see Kampman stand up a few times next season. He also won't start running those zone blitzes unless he knows he has the personnel for it. He's a micro-manager and a teacher who pays great attention to detail.

DocHoliday wrote:

Wade-A-Holic wrote:[sarcasm]You're really well informed about Dom Capers. You must be a smarter man than Tom Coughlin, who brought him on to have great success when he was in Jacksonville and now wanted him in New York.[/sarcasm]

1991, Pittsburgh's defense is ranked 22nd in scoring. Capers takes over and the Steelers are ranked 2nd, 8th, and 2nd from '92-'94.

1998, Jacksonville is ranked 17th in scoring defense. Capers takes over and instantly takes that defense to #1 in points allowed.

That "awful" blitz scheme became known as the Blitzburgh defense.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... apers.html

That article gives a lot of good information about Capers. Some of the highlights, for me, are that he's not an intense, get in your face and yell kind of guy. He also thinks that the 3-4/4-3 talk is overrated. He's more interested in giving teams different looks and getting results from his personnel. I wouldn't be surprised to see Kampman stand up a few times next season. He also won't start running those zone blitzes unless he knows he has the personnel for it. He's a micro-manager and a teacher who pays great attention to detail.

I WATCHED Farve tear Caper's zone blitz apart EVERY time he played against it. The only time Capers had real success was when he had linebackers like Kevin Greene. The Blitzburgh scheme has changed A LOT since he LEFT Pittsburgh in 1995. As far as being smarter than Tom Coughlin, if Capers is so in demand how come he wasn't a DC last year, and why did Belichick tell him to find employment elsewhere this year? I'm sorry if you take offense to my not drinking the kool aid on Capers.
Yes he has had some defensive success, but why is it that his team plays great one year and then like crap the next? I realize there are bigger issues with each team than just him, but I'm just not excited about him as our new DC. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll be the next Fritz Shurmur, but I have my doubts.

Here are his overall team defense NFL rankings as a Special Assistant, DC and Head Coach.
Pittsburgh (DC under Bill Cowher)
1992 - # 2 11-5
1993 - # 8 9-7
1994 - # 2 12-4

Carolina (Head Coach)
1995 - # 8 7-9
1996 - # 2 12-4
1997 - # 13 7-9
1998 - # 27 4-12

Jacksonville (DC under Tom Coughlin)
1999 - # 1 14-2
2000 - # 16 7-9

Houston (Head Coach)
2002 - # 20 4-12
2003 - # 27 5-11
2004 - # 15 7-9
2005 - # 32 2-14

Miami (Special Assistant & DC under Nick Saban and Cam Cameron)
2006 - # 5 6-10
2007 - # 30 1-15

New England (Special Assistant under Bill Belichick)
2008 - # 8 11-5

DocHoliday wrote:I WATCHED Farve tear Caper's zone blitz apart EVERY time he played against it. The only time Capers had real success was when he had linebackers like Kevin Greene. The Blitzburgh scheme has changed A LOT since he LEFT Pittsburgh in 1995.