APC Week 9 Mailbag: Super Bowl match ups, Vince Biegel and Dom Capers

Are we already thinking about the Super Bowl? We’re over halfway throuhgh the regular season and I’m starting to wonder about who will show up in the end. It’s been an up and down season so far and I’m still not convinced that anyone is guaranteed to make a deep run in the playoffs. And Packer fans, we’ve had a long layoff, so I hope my Packer takes aren’t too spicy.

Let’s open some mail:

I’m going to interpret ‘scariest’ to mean the two teams in the Super Bowl that, if they made it to Minneapolis, I might not even watch. Not wanting to watch a Super Bowl? Can you imagine a scarier nightmare?

Two teams that I don’t want to see in the Super Bowl, because I’m super petty, are the Vikings vs. Patriots. I’m a Packers fan so I see Vikings fans being completely insufferable if they won the big one. Saying “Super Bowl-winning quarterback Case Keenum” or “Super Bowl-winning quarterback Sam Bradford” just makes me cringe.

And Patriots, haven’t you guys won enough? You’re in contention with the worst defense in the league and I need the Football Gods to even out this discrepancy. I’ll tune into watch Justin Timberlake, but that’s it.

So Kyler Fackrell hasn’t been great. Or good. He’s been bad. But Vince Biegel is stronger and has better hand placement on initial contact than Fackrell, for sure. Biegel is also more than a pass rusher and is quite adept to sniffing out the run. One thing to be certain, offensive line play has struggled league-wide. With that in mind, you’d think that even the most pedestrian of pass rushers could put some pressure on the QB.

The Packers have really struggled to put together a consistent pass rush. I hate to be that guy, but... it might just be scheme. Which brings me to the next question:

I’ve written about McCarthy and when his statute of limitations may be up, but the conversation, I feel, will be more about Dom Capers if they continue to struggle. Dom Capers came in as the defensive coordinator in ‘09 and in his first two seasons the Packers finished second in DVOA, per Football Outsiders. In the third year, though, they plummeted to 25th. They’ve averaged 18th in DVOA since those two seasons of finishing second — or in other words: below league average. That’s not something that you can have consistently year after year when you have a Hall of Fame quarterback doing everything that he can on offense in order to win championships.

Granted, the talent hasn’t necessarily been there. However, they could use a defensive coach in there that will indentify the most talented players in the draft rather than drafting players that may or may not fit a scheme that hasn’t worked.

Thanks, guys!