How will Capers change the secondary/coverage scheme?

[Ring 6]

Zactly - he is a coach and a damn good one....he has tons of experience and will be just what BB needs to help teach the young secondary their responsibilities.

With Hobbs, Richardson, Meriwether and most likely lots of new faces - be they rookies or FA's - lots of teaching will be needed during training camp and throughout the first half of the season. Dom Capers gives BB that much needed help installing what they want to do, they way they want it done.

Other than keeping Rodney (the only experinced guy) - letting Zant and maybe Gay & Scott move on is a good thing. Fresh faces and talent is what they need. By the way...who is Tim Mixon DB NEP?

We need to make plays and stop these seemingly easy first down conversions on 3rd down, through the air from happening. It seemed like there was an inordinate amount of convserions at the worst possible moments over the past few seasons. That may be from a lack of pressure, poor coverage from our LB's (that will change this year as well - look for good cover guys coming in at LB) or just bad DB's - or a combination of all three.

See I hate comments like this. You said:

We need to make plays and stop these seemingly easy first down conversions on 3rd down, through the air from happening

The facts are: We allowed the FEWEST 3rd down conversions in the NFL last year, and were 4th best in 3rd down conversion allowed %.

This has always annoyed me. Many fans think we are supposed to never allow a 3rd down conversion. We allowed less than 4 a game, and a 34% conversion ratio, and fans are saying we have to fix that problem where we allow easy 3rd conv all day long.

 

[Jimke]

One thing that we forget when we are Mangini bashing is that

Eric was a good defensive backs coach. The Pats need a good

tutor for their defensive backs especially if they draft a couple.

 

[Ring 6]

Who implied that? I implied that Capers was brought in to fulfill a job, the job of making the secondary more effective, and that includes perhaps a change from their current coverage scheme, and that Capers has enough experience and a long enough resume to be given input into that change.

Nobody is saying that Capers knows more about defense than Belichick, but following your logic, BB would have to do everything himself and there'd be no room for coordinators and assistants. I'm not implying anything more than what I have stated above and I am most certainly not trying to say anything negative about BB.

If you change coverage schemes, you change the philosophy of your defense. YOU are implying that BB will change his philosophy and adopt Capers'. That is wrong. A DB coach coaches the DB in the manner the HC tells him to. A DB coach does not choose coverage schemes.
BBs philosophy is 11 man team defense. You dont have that philosophy and allow the secondary coach to play schemes that conflict with it.

I have absolutely no doubt that Capers will have input. I have absolutely no doubt that Capers will have an idea here and there that BB will test. But there is absolutely no way we are changing our defensive philosophy to become a defense that is like what Capers has run in the past.

Let me put it another way.
BB and Capers have called defenses differently over there careers.
Capers will adapt to BBs system, not BB changing to do what Capers has done.

 

[BradyManny]

If you change coverage schemes, you change the philosophy of your defense. YOU are implying that BB will change his philosophy and adopt Capers'. That is wrong. A DB coach coaches the DB in the manner the HC tells him to. A DB coach does not choose coverage schemes.
BBs philosophy is 11 man team defense. You dont have that philosophy and allow the secondary coach to play schemes that conflict with it.

I have absolutely no doubt that Capers will have input. I have absolutely no doubt that Capers will have an idea here and there that BB will test. But there is absolutely no way we are changing our defensive philosophy to become a defense that is like what Capers has run in the past.

Let me put it another way.
BB and Capers have called defenses differently over there careers.
Capers will adapt to BBs system, not BB changing to do what Capers has done.

Fair enough. I see what you're saying, but I maintain BB brought Capers in for a specific reason.

I was trying to get a feel for what Capers has done in the past to see why BB would hire him now, and therefore, what BB may be leaning towards implementing next season. Capers is too high profile a guy & likely too expensive a coach to not have some serious input in next season's defense. Both from the standpoint that the Pats wouldn't hire him and from the viewpoint that he wouldn't want to be here if he was just a tool for BB to use.

To put it another way, BB wouldn't have hired Capers if he didn't intend to implement some of the things Capers has done in the past, and excelled at in the past. That's the reason you hire someone with that level of experience.

And again, you are referring to Capers as DB coach. That's incorrect, he is also a special assistant. I can't for the life of me figure out why you take the hiring of Capers with that title as a slight to BB.

 

[LawstSoul]

To suggest that the best defensive mind in the NFL all of a sudden said "Lets go get Dom Capers so we can change what we do because he knows more about defense than me" is foolish.[/QUOTE]

And poor grammar to boot! ;-)

 

[Pats726]

See I hate comments like this. You said:

We need to make plays and stop these seemingly easy first down conversions on 3rd down, through the air from happening

The facts are: We allowed the FEWEST 3rd down conversions in the NFL last year, and were 4th best in 3rd down conversion allowed %.

This has always annoyed me. Many fans think we are supposed to never allow a 3rd down conversion. We allowed less than 4 a game, and a 34% conversion ratio, and fans are saying we have to fix that problem where we allow easy 3rd conv all day long.

I know...I agree don't let the facts get in the way of an argument...LOL GREAT POINT!!

 

[Ring 6]

Fair enough. I see what you're saying, but I maintain BB brought Capers in for a specific reason.

I was trying to get a feel for what Capers has done in the past to see why BB would hire him now, and therefore, what BB may be leaning towards implementing next season. Capers is too high profile a guy & likely too expensive a coach to not have some serious input in next season's defense. Both from the standpoint that the Pats wouldn't hire him and from the viewpoint that he wouldn't want to be here if he was just a tool for BB to use.

To put it another way, BB wouldn't have hired Capers if he didn't intend to implement some of the things Capers has done in the past, and excelled at in the past. That's the reason you hire someone with that level of experience.

And again, you are referring to Capers as DB coach. That's incorrect, he is also a special assistant. I can't for the life of me figure out why you take the hiring of Capers with that title as a slight to BB.

He hired Capers because he is a very good coach.
Let me put it a different way.

BB has 30 years experience as a defensive genius. He has developed over 30 years a philosophy of how he wants to play defense. Its incredulous to me that he will bring in a guy who has been much less successful, by the way, with the intention of changing the way his defense plays. After all this time and all this success, he is not suddenly going to say:
I don't believe in being conservative on defense any more. I don't believe in the 2 gap system. I want to change my defense to a blitzing free-for-all, playing for the big play, and risking allowing the big play.
That is an exxageration and simpification of BB vs Capers, but in general is the difference.

The bottom line to me is that BB wants to stay within the philosophy he believes in, and has developed over 30 years. What he wants to change is that he wants to EXECUTE IT BETTER. How do you execute it better? You either get better players to play it or better coaches to coach it. Or both.

That, to me, is Capers value. We aren't becoming a defense based on Capers beliefs, we are adding an excellent coach to coach BBs beliefs to the players he is responsible for.

As far as the 'special assistant' title, I think it is just an honorary title for a guy who has been a coordinator and HC for many years who is accepting a job as a position coach.
Dante Scarneccia is the Asst HC. That doesn't mean he is doing more than any OL coach, but his years of service, and status allow him the title.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

What made the past defenses of 2001, 2003, and 2004 great was the ability to jam recievers at the line and disrupt the timing of the offense. However, during the past three years, these defenses haven't been able to do that. Opposing recievers were getting a free release off of the line of scrimmage, making it a lot easier for offenses to execute. It was frustrating to see guys like Greg Lewis (who hardly had any catches before they played New England) tear it up. With that said, I would like to see Dom Capers install a more aggressive style of play with the secondary. Of course the Pats have to have the players to do this which could explain the trade rumors for Lito Sheppard. They need CB's that are aggressive at the line and don't play 5-10 off every play.

 

[BradyManny]

He hired Capers because he is a very good coach.
Let me put it a different way.

BB has 30 years experience as a defensive genius. He has developed over 30 years a philosophy of how he wants to play defense. Its incredulous to me that he will bring in a guy who has been much less successful, by the way, with the intention of changing the way his defense plays. After all this time and all this success, he is not suddenly going to say:
I don't believe in being conservative on defense any more. I don't believe in the 2 gap system. I want to change my defense to a blitzing free-for-all, playing for the big play, and risking allowing the big play.
That is an exxageration and simpification of BB vs Capers, but in general is the difference.

The bottom line to me is that BB wants to stay within the philosophy he believes in, and has developed over 30 years. What he wants to change is that he wants to EXECUTE IT BETTER. How do you execute it better? You either get better players to play it or better coaches to coach it. Or both.

That, to me, is Capers value. We aren't becoming a defense based on Capers beliefs, we are adding an excellent coach to coach BBs beliefs to the players he is responsible for.

As far as the 'special assistant' title, I think it is just an honorary title for a guy who has been a coordinator and HC for many years who is accepting a job as a position coach.
Dante Scarneccia is the Asst HC. That doesn't mean he is doing more than any OL coach, but his years of service, and status allow him the title.

I'm not arguing with any of that. But BB himself is not afraid of change, in fact, he embraces the changes that come into the NFL. He's normally ahead of the game, and he does adapt quickly. So I do think he intends on tinkering with the defense this off-season, and I think he wouldn't have brought Capers in if he didn't think he could add value...BEYOND execution of that plan.

We're not going to suddenly change from 3-4, or 2-gap, but we may go back to a more aggressive approach with our DBs. Is that something Capers is familiar with? That's one thing what I wanted to know...

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Fair enough. I see what you're saying, but I maintain BB brought Capers in for a specific reason.

I was trying to get a feel for what Capers has done in the past to see why BB would hire him now, and therefore, what BB may be leaning towards implementing next season. Capers is too high profile a guy & likely too expensive a coach to not have some serious input in next season's defense. Both from the standpoint that the Pats wouldn't hire him and from the viewpoint that he wouldn't want to be here if he was just a tool for BB to use.

To put it another way, BB wouldn't have hired Capers if he didn't intend to implement some of the things Capers has done in the past, and excelled at in the past. That's the reason you hire someone with that level of experience.

And again, you are referring to Capers as DB coach. That's incorrect, he is also a special assistant. I can't for the life of me figure out why you take the hiring of Capers with that title as a slight to BB.

What you are failing to factor in is Capers didn't have any other options. He was only being considered for position coaching jobs, not being considered by anyone as a DC. Or as a HC. So bringing him here just means Bill also thought he would make a very good position coach, and perhaps Dom thought being a very good position coach here might open up DC jobs to him again down the road. And it's entirely possibly Bill added the special assistant title in deference to a former NFL HC being asked to perform as a position coach and to facilitate his being perceived as more in a market down the road.

And it's also entirely possible Bill either has concerns about Pees effectiveness going forward or even Pees desire to remain here as opposed to returning to a college if not NFL HC position in the forseeable future. In that case part of Dom's duties could be simply learning the entire defensive system just in case he could be running it for Bill in the future.

 

[fgssand]

See I hate comments like this. You said:

We need to make plays and stop these seemingly easy first down conversions on 3rd down, through the air from happening

The facts are: We allowed the FEWEST 3rd down conversions in the NFL last year, and were 4th best in 3rd down conversion allowed %.

This has always annoyed me. Many fans think we are supposed to never allow a 3rd down conversion. We allowed less than 4 a game, and a 34% conversion ratio, and fans are saying we have to fix that problem where we allow easy 3rd conv all day long.

Andy,

I looked at that stat yesterday.....it all comes down to WHEN that stop is made. Take your 34% number and play it for someone that cares about stats.

I care about see a defense that can be counted on to make that stop at the KEY game defining moment, such as a during the final drive of a Superbowl or an AFC Championship game.

I want the defense that you just KNOW will come up huge and make the stop to win a game - like the "D" we used to have when we won Superbowls.

Do you remember the feeling you had when you just knew the "greatest show on turf" was going to be shut down or when you knew Peyton Manning was not going to get it done or when you were positive a play would be made to keep the Titans from winning.

Give me that kind of defense coupled with our new offense and then you'll see multiple Superbowls going forward. It really is that simple.

 

[BradyManny]

So bringing him here just means Bill also thought he would make a very good position coach, and perhaps Dom thought being a very good position coach here might open up DC jobs to him again down the road. And it's entirely possibly Bill added the special assistant title in deference to a former NFL HC being asked to perform as a position coach and to facilitate his being perceived as more in a market down the road.

And it's also entirely possible Bill either has concerns about Pees effectiveness going forward or even Pees desire to remain here as opposed to returning to a college if not NFL HC position in the forseeable future. In that case part of Dom's duties could be simply learning the entire defensive system just in case he could be running it for Bill in the future.

Fair enough...my opinions on Caper's role were informed by Reiss' piece on him and Caper's quotes, in particular as it pertains to him & Pees working together. It sounded like he'd have plenty of input.

But perhaps I am overplaying that. Nonetheless, I'd like to know what Capers is most known for scheme wise, even if that may not translate to the Patriots next season, even if he is here more for execution than scheming.

 

[upstater1]

Seems to me the defense repeatedly came up huge in all the close games we played this year up until the last one.

They shut the Ravens, Eagles, Cowboys, Chargers, Jaguars, Giants (17th week), all when they had to.

Our defense did a decent enough job.

They certainly weren't the problem during the Super Bowl.

 

[Deus Irae]

Andy,

I looked at that stat yesterday.....it all comes down to WHEN that stop is made. Take your 34% number and play it for someone that cares about stats.

I care about see a defense that can be counted on to make that stop at the KEY game defining moment, such as a during the final drive of a Superbowl or an AFC Championship game.

I want the defense that you just KNOW will come up huge and make the stop to win a game - like the "D" we used to have when we won Superbowls.

Do you remember the feeling you had when you just knew the "greatest show on turf" was going to be shut down or when you knew Peyton Manning was not going to get it done or when you were positive a play would be made to keep the Titans from winning.

Give me that kind of defense coupled with our new offense and then you'll see multiple Superbowls going forward. It really is that simple.

Other than a couple of fluke situations (Manning eluding that sack, a helmet reception, etc.), the defense did exactly what you're calling for.

There's been an interesting dynamic at play over the past 2 seasons. Last year, the offense was the weak sister. However, when it came to the playoff loss in the AFCCG, it was the defense that choked the game away. The result was a complete overhaul of the offense (including the mistake of replacing Graham with Brady). This season, the defense was the weaker unit, but the offense gas-piped it in the playoffs. Now, it's looking as if we're possibly going to witness an overhauling of the defense.

 

[fgssand]

Other than a couple of fluke situations (Manning eluding that sack, a helmet reception, etc.), the defense did exactly what you're calling for.

There's been an interesting dynamic at play over the past 2 seasons. Last year, the offense was the weak sister. However, when it came to the playoff loss in the AFCCG, it was the defense that choked the game away. The result was a complete overhaul of the offense. This season, the defense was the weaker unit, but the offense gas-piped it in the playoffs. Now, it's looking as if we're possibly going to witness an overhauling of the defense.

Call it what you want, but three years of "flukes" and "almosts" is the difference between the great and the near great.

Great teams find a way.......

 

[Deus Irae]

Call it what you want, but three years of "flukes" and "almosts" is the difference between the great and the near great.

Great teams find a way.......

Ok, this level of spoiled petulance is just ridiculous. Great teams don't always find a way. Other teams play too. The Steelers didn't win their 4 titles all in a row, for example. The Patriots weren't going to beat the Broncos + the officials, they almost beat the Colts + the officials + the illness, and it was the offense that blew the game against the Giants.

No team wins every year, but this New England team is currently in the midst of the most successful run of any team in the NFL's Super Bowl era.

 

[BradyManny]

and it was the offense that blew the game against the Giants.

The offense deserves its fair share of blame, but the defense had the chance to win the game for us and it didn't...for the second straight season, in the same situation.

This defense was awfully close to being the first scoring defense in the league, it took a brutal game by the defense in Week 17 - so it might seem odd that I'm advocating "re-hauling", but that's what I'm doing, and I think it's what BB plans on doing.

They probably have one of the top 5 defenses in the league, but you have to aim to be #1. On paper, there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to assemble a D that's capable of #1 even with the holes we have going into the offseason.

 

[fgssand]

Ok, this level of spoiled petulance is just ridiculous. Great teams don't always find a way. Other teams play too. The Steelers didn't win their 4 titles all in a row, for example. The Patriots weren't going to beat the Broncos + the officials, they almost beat the Colts + the officials + the illness, and it was the offense that blew the game against the Giants.

No team wins every year, but this New England team is currently in the midst of the most successful run of any team in the NFL's Super Bowl era.

I beg to differ about our 'D' in the Superbowl - the first 10 minutes set the tone and the last drive finished us off.....I know how even time of possession was, but, really - make the damn stop down the stretch and we win the game (same story in Indy last year).

If you want to go down as one of greatest of all time then one more Superbowl win is needed. This will put us in the same class as Pittsburgh, SF and Dallas.

Show me two and I'll call us the greatest of all time - nothing wrong with striving for that. I also think we are going to win at least two more.....

If we learned anything over the past three years it is that it is really, really hard to win a Superbowl.

 

[Deus Irae]

I beg to differ about our 'D' in the Superbowl - the first 10 minutes set the tone and the last drive finished us off.....I know how even time of possession was, but, really - make the damn stop down the stretch and we win the game (same story in Indy last year).

If you want to go down as one of greatest of all time then one more Superbowl win is needed. This will put us in the same class as Pittsburgh, SF and Dallas.

Show me two and I'll call us the greatest of all time - nothing wrong with striving for that. I also think we are going to win at least two more.....

If we learned anything over the past three years it is that it is really, really hard to win a Superbowl.

What the hell are you talking about? That first 10 minutes resulted in a field goal. That's it. The Giants had the longest drive in Super Bowl history and only managed 3 points for the trouble. They did not score again until the 4th quarter.

The problem was that New England's record-setting offense scored a whopping 7 points in 3 quarters, and 14 points total.