by Mark Strotman | November 5th, 2009
Rarely do I ever step out of the Green Bay Packers’ corner, but for the life of me I can not figure out why three well-respected defensive players are freaking out. Charles Woodson, Cullen Jenkins, and Aaron Kampman have all expressed displeasure with the 3-4 defense and feel “handcuffed” by it.
I realize it can be hard to enter a defense where one knows they are not going to be the focal point. In Jenkins’ defense, he would be a stud at the 4-3 defensive end spot and would have many more sacks. Same with Kampman. But Jenkins’ job is to eat up linemen and let linebackers flow in, while Kampman now has some responsibility in pass coverage.
Look, neither are going to go the Pro Bowl even though both have the talent to do so. But when everything is broken down, wins are the most important thing at the end of the day. It’s an extremely humble thing to accept and easy for me to type it out here, but it’s true.
Everything is for the greater cause and in the 3-4 defense there are many spots on the field that are important but will not show up in the box score. What will show up in the box score is the final score. Those defenders need to realize that and shut their anger up.
If they think the defense is the problem and something better could be done, keep it in house and talk to defensive coordinator Dom Capers about it. Don’t cry to the media about how coaches won’t let you loose.
That’s not who the Packers are.
Mark Strottman is a Staff OP/ED writer for PackerChatters.com.
You can find more of Mark's articles on his blog, Strotty's Blog, and at the Examiner.com.
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I disagree. When your 3 best defensive players, all of whom have track records as being team guys and leaders, step out and criticize the scheme, there has got to be something to it and therefore, something done about it. Obviously the Packers and Capers have decided to do nothing about it. That is a problem.
I can see Woodson retiring early because of this and Kampman and Jenkins being traded. Losing your top 3 defensive players is going to set you back a long time. Or, you could try to meet these guys half-way, while staying within the system. Are Capers and McCarthy up to the challenge? Probably not.
Exactly! But the coaches need to send them that message. It’s time for the coaches to get in some players faces before this spirals out of control.
I am not sure if this coaching staff has it in them – starting with MM…
I have not seen a statement by Aaron Kampman where he has been critical of the 3-4 or the coaching staff. He remained silent early in the season when he knew that the media emphasis would be on his feelings concerning his role in the 3-4 and I haven’t seen a quote from him showing any discontent since then. He seems to be the class act for the Packers and certainly doesn’t fit in with the players who made their feelings known through the press. I’m not saying that he is happy with his role in the 3-4 defense, but I haven’t seen a statement attributed to him where he trashes the scheme or the coaches running it. Has a story come out recently that I’ve missed?
I agree with Rick. The Pack has played the worst teams in the league so far, and T.B. up next. If they are griping now, imagine how they would be if The Pack was a one win team. Can’t let the prisoners run the asylum, so to speak.
Remember the exhibition season, and the Bears game? The defense was swarming, aggressive and very effective. Now look at the two Minny-ha-ha games and the Bengals loss. The defense looked like Bob Sanders had donned a Dom Capers disguise, stuffed the real Dom in a closet, and called his infamous “react defense” (read: “please don’t beat us too badly”).
What happened to that old aggressiveness? The Packers should be making the offense adjust to them- not reacting and taking a beating against good teams (Minny and Cincy).