It's time for this week's edition of the Packers mailbag. Soon after Green Bay's game against the New York Jets, look for the form to submit questions for next week's mailbag.
Q: With Brad Jones 2 costly defensive holding penalties, would the packers be wise to give Lattimore or Barrington a look at his spot against the jets? - Matt F., Sheboygan, WI
Q: Why does Brad Jones start? I know what he can do. I want to see Sam Barrington and Jamari Lattimore get a chance. They are both more physical and better tacklers. - Dirk, Phoenix
Q: Why is Brad Jones Playing? - John, Connecticut
A: This is just a small sampling of the Brad Jones questions that came in this week. There is no doubt that Jones deserves all of the criticism. From a missed opportunity for a relatively easy interception to three missed tackles to a penalty taking away a Clay Matthews/Julius Peppers combined sack, Jones did a lot of things poorly in Week 1.
Four days after the game, defensive coordinator Dom Capers was asked directly if a change should be made in Jones' spot, and what followed was a 242-word response that didn't really answer the question. The closest Capers came to being specific to the question that was asked was by saying "we go through and look at personnel and how can we get our best people on the field and pick up and move forward."
Watching live, it was obvious how much Jones struggled. On second viewing, it was startling to realize that the Packers allowed Jones to play every single defensive snap. Yes, it's true: Jones played all 70 snaps and was one of only four Green Bay defensive players to be on the field the entire game.
To put any doubt to rest that Jones didn't get the job done in Seattle, he was rated by ProFootballFocus as the NFL's worst inside linebacker in Week 1. Jones' minus-5.8 rating was by far the worst in the league, too. The second-worst inside linebacker in the NFL in Week 1? A.J. Hawk at minus-4.1. Indeed, the Packers had the two lowest-rated inside linebackers in the league. Meanwhile, Jamari Lattimore and Sam Barrington each played zero defensive snaps.
As head coach Mike McCarthy stood at the podium Wednesday (Sept. 10) and announced that Jones' quadriceps injury kept him out of practice that day and that it would very likely keep him out of Thursday's practice as well, it seems (based on the number of questions on this topic and in comments on Twitter) as if that was the best news that Green Bay's fan base could ask for.
Q: When do you fire Capers and start looking for a new DC? - Mike, Iowa
Q: I'm wondering just how long the Pack is going to stay with capers. They have too much talent to be playing such sloppy defense. This guy really hasn't done much of anything except for the super bowl year. - Cabin Fever, Montana
Q: Packer's defense couldn't solve the Seahawks offense and couldn't seem to adjust even in the second half. Why does Packer Management put up with Dom Capers losing defensive schemes? - Packer Fan in Cali
A: Again, this is only a portion of the questions that came in that were negative about Capers. Of course, this was a hot topic late last season, too.
McCarthy and Capers thought that a new 4-3 defense was going to surprise the Seahawks. It didn't. The coaches thought having "more personnel, less scheme" was going to work. After one game, it didn't. The defense became so discombobulated in the first half that it allowed Marshawn Lynch to run for a touchdown with only 10 players on the field. The classic 2-4-4 defense, if you will. Capers didn't want a repeat of that in the second half, so he opted to abandon his first-half plan and ended up not substituting nearly as much in the final 30 minutes of play.
It's only been one game, but the concern from Packers fans is understandable. After all, the results in Seattle were much of the same that got Green Bay's defense in trouble previously. But don't hold your breath for a change at defensive coordinator any time soon, unless the problems from the Seahawks game continue for multiple weeks and get worse rather than better.
Q: The 4-3 defense didn't win us our first game how do you expect that the 4-3 Defense will win the next game? Will it be possible for the Packers to go with the 3-4 D? 3-4 Zone Blitzing? Let the running backs have their gain. I feel that we should work more toward making the QB throw most of his passes away, than for him to have a bunch of time in the pocket to complete his passes. And 4-3 didn't stop Lynch. What is the possibility that the 4-3 will work in our next game? I prefer sticking with the 3-4 D. That will do a lot better in limiting the yards on Defense. - Josh, Missouri
A: Capers does plan to continue mixing in a 4-3 defense. He believes it fits the style of Julius Peppers and Mike Neal well, while also giving Clay Matthews a chance to move around more rather than just lining up at left or right outside linebacker. However, an important note to make sure no one overreacts based on how much the 4-3 is used: Capers said "there might be games where you might not see a lot of it. There could be games where you could see a lot of it." So, the 4-3 defense is here to stay, at least right now.
Q: There is no creativity or imagination to the Packers offense. Should Mcarthy be calling the plays? Who comes up designs the plays the offense uses? I think I counted 4 passes for a yard or loss in that game. The slant worked great the one time they used it, high percentage pass with the potential to be a big gainer also. - Mark, Hudson
Q: It's becoming more and more obvious to me that Mike McCarthy is not a complete coach. That devastating loss to the Seahawks was not one or two problems but many and I think the game is too complicated for him and his staff. There are several coaches in the NFL right now that would have more than one Super Bowl if they had Bret Favre and Aaron layed in their laps like McCarthy has. The complete disregard for a back-up quarterback last year and his loyalty to Dom Capers are big deals. Rodgers knows that Mike has not been a dream coach and sometimes it shows in his frustration on the field but I really think that the overall ability it takes to handle any football team is not there. I think it's time for the conversation to begin about somebody else for Ted Thompson to carry and, frankly, I think the Ted/Mike show might have to be challenged. Rodgers will never win another ring as long as this coaching staff stays intact and what a shame...great job...wrong people running the show. - B Gailbreath, Madison
A: It wasn't to the level of negativity that there was toward Jones and Capers, but McCarthy got his share of wrath in this week's mailbag. I think the biggest criticism from me coming out of the Seattle game is how McCarthy admitted to leaving many of his "shot plays" on his call sheet. Aaron Rodgers' 5.7 yards per pass attempt (among the five-lowest marks in this category in his career) demonstrate how conservative the Packers' offense was.
The criticism that McCarthy gets (the one that keeps him outside the top four in conversations about the NFL's best coaches) is that -- to the point of B Gailbreath in Madison -- he's almost exclusively an offensive coach. There are those who believe that McCarthy, as the head coach of the team, should be more involved with the defense than what he is. But, to Mark in Hudson's question, McCarthy will undoubtedly be the offensive play-caller all season. He would've given up that role if it would've helped to keep Joe Philbin from taking the Dolphins head coaching job, but aside from a situation like that, don't expect McCarthy's job description to change any time soon.
Q: How can coach McCarthy honestly think he has one of the best offenses in the league if he is only going to use one side of the field in a big game because of one defensive back? - Jeremy, Saukville
Q: why did the packer coaching staff decide that their top rated quarterback wasn't good enough to challenge seattle's top rated corner ? they should be ashamed to call themselves coaches when they are supposed to encourage their players to play at a high level and don't allow their players to play the way they can and McCarthy you should know better than anyone Rodgers is the best but you didn't let him try to prove it !!!! - Henry, Kenosha
A: I have two points to make on this topic. 1. Doesn't it sound like wise strategy to throw to the team's best receiver (Jordy Nelson) who's being guarded by a cornerback not nearly as good as Richard Sherman? And, on a related note, doesn't it sound like wise strategy to NOT throw to the team's third-best receiver (Jarrett Boykin) who's being guarded by one of the top cornerbacks in the entire NFL? I think the answers there are obvious. Green Bay waited for Sherman to eventually switch over and cover Nelson, which never happened. Now, obviously that worked out very well for Sherman and the Seahawks, and it didn't work well for the Packers. But if I'm running Green Bay's offense, give me Nelson vs. Byron Maxwell all day rather than Boykin vs. Sherman. However, 2. That doesn't mean a former NFL Most Valuable Player should have zero targets in Sherman's direction. Rodgers said he made a few looks that way and just decided not to throw it. That's partially Boykin's fault, too, because if history has taught us anything about Rodgers it's that he'll throw to the open receiver. But yes, it definitely looks bad for Rodgers, McCarthy and Green Bay's offense when Sherman gets to trot off the field with a smile on his face not having been tested at all.
Q: Adrian Peterson has to be licking his chops after last nights game. I think the Packers should get rid of 75% of the team and hopefully the Vikings will pick them up assuring the Packers a victory over them. They thought they were going to do so good against Seattle and got pummeled, what do they do now? - Dave, Sun Prairie
A: Marshawn Lynch is obviously a great running back, but yes, Peterson must have loved what he saw from the Packers' run defense. It's just one game, but Green Bay enters Week 2 as the NFL's 31st-ranked run defense. And it won't get any easier for the Packers, as the New York Jets exited their Week 1 win as the league's top-ranked rushing offense.
Q: When and why have the Packers not re-signed Ryan Pickett and Johnny Jolly? - David, Salt Lake City
A: Well, no NFL team has picked up Pickett or Jolly, so obviously there's a consensus that those two players aren't valued anymore. Specifically for Green Bay, it's a defense that wants to be more versatile and quick in an effort to be ready for an NFL that now features offenses playing in space more. That style certainly didn't work in Week 1, but the Packers have 15 more games to try to show that it can be effective.
Q: Why would you not be ready to play the first game after 4-preseason games? - Joe, Antigo
A: McCarthy actually commented after the preseason finale that he hadn't felt this good about his team heading into the regular season in several years. So it's safe to say that McCarthy was likely a bit stunned that Green Bay played so poorly in Seattle.
** Thanks to everyone for the huge number of questions this week. I answered as many as I could. Keep sending them in every week. **
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