The Dom Capers experiment

[Fencer]

IIRC, Capers is actually the DB coach, as well as having some kind of special assistant title.

How do you guys feel that worked out?

 

[billdog3484]

Well, I think if you look at the overall performance of our DB's it wasnt great

however, i see a few things

(1) the personnel at DB was not great
(2) the pass rushing personnel likewise was not great
(3) the DB play seemed to improve markedly over the course of the season

so, I think that it is really hard to tell. but i was impressed at the improvement he made. and, we dont know what kind of voice he had with the ultimate decisions made and the positive/negative impact of it.

 

[reflexblue]

IIRC, Capers is actually the DB coach, as well as having some kind of special assistant title.

How do you guys feel that worked out?

I have to say when i heard he was coming on board last year i thought it was a great move. I invisioned the Defense improving dramatically. But because of the amount of injuries its hard to tell what effect he did have if any. I certainly didn't hear anything out of Gillette about him vastly improving anything,although our rookie DB's and B.Meriweather played well. So i guess thers an answer.

 

[jbb9s]

IIRC, Capers is actually the DB coach, as well as having some kind of special assistant title.

How do you guys feel that worked out?

Its hard to say what his true impact was but I can say I was surprised he wasn't as prominent as some made it out to be (I remember some people pointing out he was the de facto ASST HC meaning that he would actually take control if the super bowl rams tape surfaced and BB was suspended for a year).

Its hard to criticize the guy since he didn't have too much to work with. Signing Law mid-season may have helped make the playoffs after Wheatly went down but obviously that decision is made over Capers head as a DB coach.

All that being said, although I really don't have any basis for it, I'd give him a C just because of the 3rd and 15 in OT.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

You have to give him a pass because he basically didn't have anything to work with. With the parts they had, Capers would be a head coach if they ranked high in pass defense.

 

[Remix 6]

i noticed more bump & runs which i liked

 

[PatsDeb]

I was going to say, before I saw everyone else's similar answers, that it's hard to tell because he didn't have much to work with starting out - a bunch of rookies, jags or over-the-hill guys, then lots of injuries to what he did have. Pass defense for most of the year was pretty suspect, but we did seem to improve down the stretch as the rookies/younger guys got more playing time. The competition was pretty suspect too, though.

Merriweather did have a couple of good-looking safety blitzes for strip sacks at the end of the year - I wonder whose idea those were and whether he can build on them next year?

 

[AzPatsFan]

Amidst all the wailing about our Defense they STILL FINISHED in the top ten Defenses of the League.

Rebuilding the defensive backfield takes time. I thought Brandon Meriweather's improvement was noticeable this year. He is one of the better Safeties in the League now. Wheatley went on IR almost as soon as he became a regular, but I liked what I saw. Ditto for Willhite. We will never know what Tank could have contributed. They certainly invested a lot in him in pre-season, only to see his season (and career?) end early. SS was and is a weakness, even when Rodney was playing. Bless him but Rod was playing on instincts and emotion, long after his wheels had departed, and he couldn't cover anybody. The upcoming draft wil bring another couple of DBs up high and the larder will then be full. Then good coaching is needed to bring it out.

Dom Capers is a quality Coach and part of Belichick's wisdom is surrounding himself with able players and Coaches, and letting them do their jobs.

BTW, everyone talks of McDaniels as a HC candidate, but I'm surprised that Dom Capers isn't being discussed as well.

 

[BPF]

Capers definitely had his work cut out for him this season and I think the improvement was quite noticeable by season's end for the young DB's. There is doubt in my mind that the younger player in the secondary will be much improved next season. I'm extremely excited to see what Merriweather, Wheatley and Wilhite will do next season.

 

[BestQB]

Amidst all the wailing about our Defense they STILL FINISHED in the top ten Defenses of the League.

Rebuilding the defensive backfield takes time. I thought Brandon Meriweather's improvement was noticeable this year. He is one of the better Safeties in the League now. Wheatley went on IR almost as soon as he became a regular, but I liked what I saw. Ditto for Willhite. We will never know what Tank could have contributed. They certainly invested a lot in him in pre-season, only to see his season (and career?) end early. SS was and is a weakness, even when Rodney was playing. Bless him but Rod was playing on instincts and emotion, long after his wheels had departed, and he couldn't cover anybody. The upcoming draft wil bring another couple of DBs up high and the larder will then be full. Then good coaching is needed to bring it out.

Dom Capers is a quality Coach and part of Belichick's wisdom is surrounding himself with able players and Coaches, and letting them do their jobs.

BTW, everyone talks of McDaniels as a HC candidate, but I'm surprised that Dom Capers isn't being discussed as well.

I don't want to come off as Rodney's apologist but I remember what he did to Dallas Clark last year. Shut him down. I agree he no longer has the wheels but when you study as hard as he does and you can diagnose your opponent's play a lot quicker, you don't need to have the wheels. You simply have to get to the spot before your man does or prevent him from getting there on time.

 

[BradyManny]

IIRC, Capers is actually the DB coach, as well as having some kind of special assistant title.

How do you guys feel that worked out?

Meriweather made big improvements. Wilhite was mixed as a slot corner, and played well on the outside against poor competition. Wheatley looked promising before hitting IR. Lewis Sanders played well as a nickel CB and filled in at safety. Deltha O'Neal was very mixed, more bad than good.

Considering what he had to work with, I thought Capers did well. He's responsible for the secondary, and honestly, the pass defense issues had more to do with the ILBs defending TEs in the middle of the field than any of the DBs troubles.

The coverage this season, to me at least, seemed a little more varied. Maybe it was losing Asante freed them up to do more, or Harrison's injury led to some changes.

 

[JoeSixPat]

IIRC, Capers is actually the DB coach, as well as having some kind of special assistant title.

How do you guys feel that worked out?

Other secondary coaches have dealt with injuries in the past and have largely covered them up. I don't think Capers did that as well - but you've got to put some of that on player execution as well.

The 3rd and 15 by Farve that resulted in the critical loss to the Jets for example was an execution breakdown - not a poor call by Capers. It would take a lot of tape review to know overall how he did - and Belichick will certainly engage in that.

 

[Canada's #1 Pats Fan]

Capers may not be HC candidate but he certainly may be a DC candidate for some of the new coaches around the league. He could be that settling force (with experience) especially for a rookie HC (perhaps McDaniels?)

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

I wonder how much of the improvement down the stretch was also due to the opponents the Patriots faced as well as the conditions? Surely the conditions vs Oakland, Arizona, and Buffalo helped to cover up some of the problems the passing game may have had.

I would like to see what Capers can do with another year of Wilhite and Meriweather, a healthy Weatley, and perhaps a fa and draft pick.

 

[mgteich]

I think that Capers did as well as could be expected with what he had. The defensive stats were reasonable.

SAFETY
Capers adapted to the loss of Harrison, Tank Williams and even James Sanders for some of the year. He converted a JAG corner into an acceptable safety. Meriweather continued to step up.

CORNER
Hobbs played fine. Sure, we would like to have had a shut down corner as our #1 and Hobbs as our #2, but Capers adapted, as did Hobbs (often forgotten). Webster, Lew Sanders and O'Neal all spent lots of time injured. Wheatley was developing slowly, but well. Many here thought that he was good enough to be a starter at the beginning of the season. Wilhite was developed into a reasonable nickel, and an OK backup corner in his first year. Also, Capers did OK with the jags.

PROSPECTS FOR 2009
Capers should be someone that will likely be considered for DC positions. The secondary is better than when he started. Wilhite and Wheatley should be more valuable next year than this. Hobbs and Meriweather will be the base of the secondary. We all know that we need to add a starting safety and a backup safety. The team would do well to re-sign Lew Sanders to a 2-3 year deal as a backup defensive back. He can play both corner and safety, a perfect patriot, aperfect inexpensive addition.

We will likely sign our usual set of free agents, possibly including a re-signing of O'Neal.

The bottom line is that the secondary is getting better, with Capers having led the effort in extreme adversity. But, in the end, Belichick probably didn't need someone as good as Capers to manage the secondary.

 

[SoCal Pmen]

Pats should offer the DC position to Romeo. If he turns it down, they should elevate Dom Capers to that position. I have little faith in Pease.

 

[Fencer]

So the consensus is that the problems in pass defense related primarily to:

1. Lack of talent (e.g., making it a good decision to have CBs play way off the ball)
2. Lack of talent (ILBs and SS covering the middle of the field)
3. Lack of talent/scheme (pass rush)

Fair enough, I think.

 

[jczxohn1]

I think that Capers did as well as could be expected with what he had. The defensive stats were reasonable.

SAFETY
Capers adapted to the loss of Harrison, Tank Williams and even James Sanders for some of the year. He converted a JAG corner into an acceptable safety. Meriweather continued to step up.

CORNER
Hobbs played fine. Sure, we would like to have had a shut down corner as our #1 and Hobbs as our #2, but Capers adapted, as did Hobbs (often forgotten). Webster, Lew Sanders and O'Neal all spent lots of time injured. Wheatley was developing slowly, but well. Many here thought that he was good enough to be a starter at the beginning of the season. Wilhite was developed into a reasonable nickel, and an OK backup corner in his first year. Also, Capers did OK with the jags.

PROSPECTS FOR 2009
Capers should be someone that will likely be considered for DC positions. The secondary is better than when he started. Wilhite and Wheatley should be more valuable next year than this. Hobbs and Meriweather will be the base of the secondary. We all know that we need to add a starting safety and a backup safety. The team would do well to re-sign Lew Sanders to a 2-3 year deal as a backup defensive back. He can play both corner and safety, a perfect patriot, aperfect inexpensive addition.

We will likely sign our usual set of free agents, possibly including a re-signing of O'Neal.

The bottom line is that the secondary is getting better, with Capers having led the effort in extreme adversity. But, in the end, Belichick probably didn't need someone as good as Capers to manage the secondary.

While veteran Pats watchers may have expected a bigger impact from Capers' coming on board, it appeared fairly early on, in TC, that he was going to be more a Quality Control, detail, technique-oriented influence than one who would be challenging Pease' s play-calling. Hopefully, he will be around next year to complete the impact he has had on many players, whose instruction was cut short due to the number of injuries suffered. When BB speaks of "coaching them up" you can bet Capers is in there getting his hands dirty.