Pass Rush

[Wade-A-Holic]

Just because I'm avoiding writing a paper and I'm curious about how this breaks down, I compiled a breakdown of where sacks came from in the Packers defense vs some of the other teams that run 3-4 defenses.

Packers: 37 total
DBs: 5
LBs: 25.5
DL: 6.5

Steelers: 46 total
DBs: 3
LBs: 33.5
DL: 9.5

Ravens: 32 total
DBs: 2.5
LBs: 18.5
DL: 12

Cardinals: 42 total
DBs: 3.5
LBs: 18.5
DL: 19

Chargers: 34 total
DBs: 5.5
LBs: 19.5
DL: 8

Browns: 40 total (surprising)
DBs: 5
LBs: 24.5
DL: 9

Broncos: 39 total
DBs: 3
LBs: 25 (How are they not offering Dumervil a crazy sum of money? he accounted for 17 of those)
DL: 11 (Vonnie Holliday had 5, a lot of Packer fans wanted him back here last year)

Cowboys: 42 total
DBs: 1
LBs: 27
DL: 14

Patriots: 31 total
DBs: 2
LBs: 22
DL: 7

Jets: 32 total
DBs: 4.5
LBs: 19.5
DL: 8

Dolphins: 44 total
DBs: 3.5
LBs: 26.5
DL: 14

Chiefs: 22 total
DBs: 3
LBs: 11.5
DL: 7.5

49ers: 44 total
DBs: 5
LBs: 25.5
DL: 13.5

What does this say to me? Our defensive line was atrocious when it came to getting after the QB, which helps put the Mike Neal and CJ Wilson selections in perspective. Both were described by Packer brass as guys who really fire off the snap and can beat offensive linemen with quickness or with a bull rush. Moreover, the way you beat guys like Favre and Warner is to collapse the pocket with up the middle pressure, something we couldn't generate last season. That needs to change this year.

[chuckleslove]

That also shows that our LB pass rush wasn't as bad as some people think it is, we were second only to Pittsburgh who arguably has the best LB core in the NFL. Our DBs also were right behind SD for the lead. This really does make the Neal and Wilson picks look much more planned and calculated than I originally thought.

[Wade-A-Holic]

That also shows that our LB pass rush wasn't as bad as some people think it is, we were second only to Pittsburgh who arguably has the best LB core in the NFL. Our DBs also were right behind SD for the lead. This really does make the Neal and Wilson picks look much more planned and calculated than I originally thought.

Not to mention, had our defensive line gotten more push up the middle and collapsed the pocket more often, it likely would flush the QB towards our linebackers on the outside.

[LUKE23]

I'd be interested to see the numbers for all the 3-4 teams if you get the chance. Aren't there 13-14 teams that run it now?

[Wade-A-Holic]

Sure, so Miami, Dallas, Kansas City, New England, New York Jets, Denver, and San Francisco is what I need to add? Am I missing any? Oakland went away from it, right? And all the other teams that are running it are just doing it this year...

[Wade-A-Holic]

Oh yeah, Cleveland too.

[LUKE23]

I'd also incorporate pressures and knockdowns if those numbers are available as well, since getting close to a sack can often lead to an INT or incompletion. I'm guessing just off eyeballing it we were low in those two numbers. If not, just sacks will do.

[MikeIsGood]

While you're at it, make me lunch. kthx.

[askdavescat]

I really do expect our pass defense to improve this year. I think:

1. Year 2 in the system, everyone's gonna be more familiar with their roles.
2. Brad Jones gets bigger and stronger, and was better than given credit for in his 1/2 year of play. Also, don't count Obiozor out yet (Greene was really high on this kid last year).
3. New DE's Neal and Wilson, along with Wynn, will be in the pass defense rotation, and will help provide better interior pocket pressure. Flushed QB's will be there for the pickin' for Matthews and Jones.
4. Burnett will either beat out Bigby, or at least replace him on most pass plays. Burnett will not play so far back as Bigby does, and will actually be in position to make plays on the ball/receiver in the middle of the field, rather than let the crossing receiver catch and run for 15 yards before dragging him down from behind.
5. With improved middle-of-the-field coverage from Burnett, Capers will feel comfortable enough to actually send Woodson, Collins, and/or Burnett on blitzes again, a staple of his 3-4 defense that was missing last year after all of the DB injuries.

[Wade-A-Holic]

I'd also incorporate pressures and knockdowns if those numbers are available as well, since getting close to a sack can often lead to an INT or incompletion. I'm guessing just off eyeballing it we were low in those two numbers. If not, just sacks will do.

For some reason, although those stats are often presented during telecasts and what not, they are not an officially kept stat and therefore difficult to find. Football Outsiders keeps the stat, but they haven't released their Football Outsiders Almanac 2010 yet, so I can only see their leader board for it.

[Icness]

Be careful in comparing them though, because GB runs a different 3-4 than some other teams. GB uses more inside slant technique from their ends, which is designed to get the OLB one-on-one with the tackle and no guard help. Dallas does that, Cleveland does that most of the time, San Diego does it when Merriman is in the game. Pittsburgh, Arizona and Miami don't use that very often--they ask their ends to play head up on the tackle primarily. It changes the blocking scheme and is more useful for blitzing up the gut a la James Harrison or Karlos Dansby in Arizona.

I think you'll see more variety and experimentation this year from the front 3, maybe even line them up on the outside shoulder of the tackle. Cleveland morphed to that late last year and really found success, and i think it would work very well against the iffy tackles in the NFC North.

[Wade-A-Holic]

Be careful in comparing them though, because GB runs a different 3-4 than some other teams. GB uses more inside slant technique from their ends, which is designed to get the OLB one-on-one with the tackle and no guard help. Dallas does that, Cleveland does that most of the time, San Diego does it when Merriman is in the game. Pittsburgh, Arizona and Miami don't use that very often--they ask their ends to play head up on the tackle primarily. It changes the blocking scheme and is more useful for blitzing up the gut a la James Harrison or Karlos Dansby in Arizona.

I think you'll see more variety and experimentation this year from the front 3, maybe even line them up on the outside shoulder of the tackle. Cleveland morphed to that late last year and really found success, and i think it would work very well against the iffy tackles in the NFC North.

Thanks. I knew all 3-4s aren't created equal, but that's good information. If I'm understanding this correctly, the trade off for the inside slant technique is that it gets you one on one with your linebacker on their tackle, but also seems to simplify the blocking assignments? That's putting a lot of faith in your outside backers to beat their tackles one on one.

I certainly hope we see some more variation this year. Cullen Jenkins can definitely get to the QB off the edge, and CJ Wilson looks really quick off the edge as well.

[xTitan]

I'd also incorporate pressures and knockdowns if those numbers are available as well, since getting close to a sack can often lead to an INT or incompletion. I'm guessing just off eyeballing it we were low in those two numbers. If not, just sacks will do.

I agree with this, and this stat shows the huge drop off after Kampman left, Aaron did not have a lot of sacks being the rush LB but he had a ton of pressures...I believe it was 25+.

[jimmybones]

I really do expect our pass defense to improve this year. I think:

1. Year 2 in the system, everyone's gonna be more familiar with their roles.

This is a good point and one I think many people are forgetting. Remember this time last year, all the talk was about how long it was going to take everyone to adjust to the 3-4. We should be more "adjusted" this year.

[automatic44]

Interesting post WAH, nice work. Pretty interesting that AZ has more sacks from their D-line than they do from their LBs, although I guess I shouldn't be surprised seeing as they have Dockett and Campbell as their ends. Also interesting that SF put up those numbers with somewhat mediocre OLBs. But seeing as how we had the least D-line sacks definitely makes me feel better about how our draft went. Last season, other than Jenkins (Although the numbers don't back it up) none of our D-lineman were more than run stuffers. Im not saying we're gonna rely heavily on our line for pressure, but I think the guys we got will definitely make a difference.

[Wade-A-Holic]

As I suspected

Pressed last week about not drafting an outside pass rusher, General Manager Ted Thompson argued that he’d improved the Green Bay Packers’ pass rush nonetheless.

He was referring to two players specifically, second-round draft pick Mike Neal of Purdue and seventh-rounder C.J. Wilson of East Carolina. Both were selected as 3-4 defensive ends who can move to tackle when the Packers play their nickel defense.

Those are hardly marquee pass-rushing positions, but Thompson suggested the two can augment a Packers pass rush that finished No. 12 in the NFL in sacks percentage last season and disappeared in the team’s 51-45 playoff loss at Arizona.

“I think those guys can play, and they’re going to help us in the sub packages. Yeah, I do,” Thompson said of Neal and Wilson after the draft. “That’s one thing that’s a little bit overlooked. The pass rushing in this defense isn’t just from the outside linebacker spot. We have other people involved.”

The Packers see Neal as the more likely of the two to get on the field this season, based on where they drafted him. But they still can hope that in Wilson they landed another Mark Tauscher — the rare seventh-round pick who produces immediately in the NFL.

The 6-foot-3, 290-pound Wilson had 27 career sacks at East Carolina, where he played end in the base defense and moved inside to tackle on passing downs. He put up 10½ sacks as a junior and 5½ as a senior, and the Packers are hoping other NFL teams overlooked his inside-rushing potential last weekend.

“Oh yeah, I think I can (make a difference this season),” Wilson said Saturday at the Packers rookie orientation camp. “I love rushing the passer, that’s one of my best things is rushing the passer. If that’s what they need me to do, I’ll do it.”

Even the best inside rushers put up modest sack numbers — last season, Atlanta’s Jonathan Babineaux led defensive tackles in sacks with only six. But a good inside rusher can create major problems for a passing game even if he’s not sacking the quarterback. Pressure from the middle of the pocket can force a quarterback to get rid of the ball before he’s ready, or prevent him from stepping up in the pocket, which makes him more vulnerable to rushers coming off the edges.

The Packers’ first-team nickel defense is likely to feature B.J. Raji and Cullen Jenkins as the inside rushers. Raji, who at 337 pounds is more of a power rusher, had only one sack as a rookie but was selected at No. 9 overall last year in part because of his ability to collapse the pocket. Jenkins had 4½ sacks in his first season in defensive coordinator Dom Capers’ 3-4 scheme.

But others will get their chance as part of a rotation and filling in because of injuries. Neal, who at 6-3 and 294 is built similarly to Wilson, played defensive tackle at Purdue and had 5½ sacks in each of the past two seasons.

“I do, and obviously they think I can (contribute immediately as a rusher) too, that’s why they drafted me,” Neal said. “I’m a little smaller defensive tackle than what they have on the line right now. It’s all in the making, with a little technique I think I can definitely contribute.”

Wilson was the last of the Packers’ seven draft picks last weekend but gained extra notice among team officials with his reaction to his selection. He expected to go two or three rounds earlier, and he shared his anger with the Packers when they called after drafting him and in a conference call with reporters in Green Bay shortly thereafter.

He said those feelings have mostly subsided, though he doesn’t want to them go away completely.

“At this level everybody’s good, everybody’s fast, everybody’s strong,” Wilson said. “So you have to have some motivation to make you work even harder, you have to have that chip. Everybody has some chip on your shoulder, but mine is pretty big.”

[Wade-A-Holic]

Pretty good blog entry:

After a year in which Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator overhauled the defense and brought so many different schemes, packages and personnel groupings, it's almost hard to believe that he's still got something new up his sleeve. But according to several of his players, that's exactly what's going to happen.

"It's so much easier [this year], because you've got the concepts. Now we're adding things to the defense that we didn't have last year," said defensive lineman Ryan Pickett. "He keeps stuff coming at us. But at the same time, we've got the basics. We built the foundation last year. Now we're just trying to add on to it. Everybody's working to get this stuff down, so we can be even better than we were last year."

Capers' biggest challenge a year ago was switching from the base 4-3 defense under old defensive coordinator Bob Sanders to the new base 3-4, which was a sweeping change in itself.

That change included a transformation that saw the Packers go from a unit that was ranked 26th and 20th respectively in rushing and overall defense in the NFL in 2008 to a unit that ranked first and second overall in those same respective categories in 2009

And now that makeover is expected to become even more pronounced. And the way Pickett puts it, it's going to be a lot easier this upcoming season because they don't have to learn those base concepts all over again.

"We're going to have better communication, because all the players are comfortable in the defense now," said Pickett. "It's like we've been doing it for years. That's what it seems like. We've had all offseason, all last year, so it's like second nature to us now. So we're getting the whole concept of the defense. Last year … we learned as we went. This year, we've kind of got a grasp of what Coach Capers is teaching us. We love it."

One of the changes Capers has in store is the move of Pickett to defensive end, while B.J. Raji takes over nose tackle duties in his stead. And that's just one alteration Capers has in his seemingly endless bag of tricks.

One may wonder how Capers can possibly get even more creative than he did a year ago. In addition to to his switch to the 3-4, the Packers played in the nickel defensive package heavily against good passing teams, which gave essentially a 2-4-5 look, and there was the occasional dime package as well.

Even more innovative was the use of Capers' personnel grouping dubbed "Big Okie" that substituted linebacker Brandon Chillar in place of a safety to keep good running backs like Steven Jackson and Adrian Peterson in check. And then there was "Corner Okie" that employed NFL Defensive Player of the Year Charles Woodson as a safety.

More imaginative yet was the "Psycho" 1-5-5 look that didn't have a single player in a three-point stance and kept defenses guessing who was going to rush the passer. And apparently Capers has even more in store for this season.

"It's difficult going week in and week out without a game, but we're putting in so many defenses that you have to stay focused," said linebacker Clay Matthews. "We're putting in so much more than we put in last year, which I think is going to pay dividends."

So what more can Capers have in store? Head coach Mike McCarthy gave observers a hint of it at this past April's NFL owners meetings when he mentioned using inside linebackers such as Chillar and Nick Barnett rushing from the outside more often. Matthews elaborated on the idea after OTAs on Wednesday.

"This defense has some players … it's not just outside linebackers," said Matthews. "As you see from me out there, I can rush the A-gap, B, C, outside. It really doesn't matter. They've got us coming from everywhere.

"I know there's a few new wrinkles in which we'll have some inside linebackers coming off the edge, some interior linemen coming off the edge. So it's kind of deceiving when you say you have two outside linebackers. Because we bring everybody from the defense that is at one point or another, rushing from an outside linebacker standpoint."

According to McCarthy on Wednesday, the Packers were going to continue to their installation process during Thursday's OTA session. But according to several players on their Twitter accounts, the coaches gave them the day off.

How much they may or may not have accomplished in team meetings from an install standpoint is unknown, but in any case, the team will continue to process next week.

"Everybody will have been introduced to all the new concepts and everything we're trying to accomplish by the end of tomorrow's practice," said McCarthy, "and we'll go into the mini-camp and we will go back and review installs one through nine."

[El Duderino]

That's a really nice read, the players no doubt should feel more comfortable with a year under their belts in the scheme and i vastly prefer this scheme to the one Bates ran.

That said, if the defense this year will be more able to prevent getting eaten alive by teams with a good QB and passing game, it's largely going to ride on if another consistent pass rushing threat at OLB can slow down offenses keying heavily on Matthews and/or if our CB situation can be productive from both a starter next to Woodson and depth there.

About a 1/3 of the league is running a 3-4 defense now, the scheme can only cause so much confusion. Our pass rushers besides Matthews simply will have to beat their man better against good passing teams and our corners can't get burned so often.

[crkone]

Anyone following Clay on twitter. He's training with Jay Glazer at MMAthletics in Hollywood.

@ClayMatthews52: 261 and in the best shape of my life!! @Jay_Glazer's MMAthletics has me right n still a month till camp...

[MickeyDavis]

Clay could have a MONSTER year IF the other side of the line can rush the passer. Otherwise teams will just keep doubling him as AZ did.