Capers has plenty of options with his talented cornerback. Matt Bowen
Now that the Redskins have delighted us with another high-profile coaching hire and Iowa put to bed questions about the Big Ten with a dominant win over Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl last night, it’s time to talk NFL playoffs.
And I want to start with one player who’s going to be monumental when it comes to installing the game plan at practice today — the Packers’ Charles Woodson.
If there’s one player I want to watch this wild card weekend, it’s Woodson. Why? Easy, because the Packers — after beating ‘Zona handily in a game that equated to a preseason contest on Sunday — will face some tough matchups from a scheme perspective with Arizona coming to the stadium with a complete offensive game plan this week.
And Woodson should be the catalyst for Dom Capers’ defense -- how they line him up, the matchup he’s going to draw on first and second downs and, more important, how he will be used on third downs. Does Capers move him inside on third downs — especially if Anquan Boldin is active — or does he keep him out on the island, matched up with Larry Fitzgerald?
However, that’s the luxury of having Woodson. He’s a hybrid of sorts when it comes to secondary play in the postseason. There are no doubts, from my perspective, that Capers can even move Woodson into the box if he has to. Plenty of options with a player of his caliber — one who’s playing at a higher level than any defender in the league right now.
But the key to the Green Bay defense in using Woodson — within Capers’ system — is to move him around. Install a game plan that plays to his strengths and the strengths of the defense. What I mean is that Woodson becomes a wild card for Ken Whisenhunt’s offense in Arizona. Just as we see when offenses align players out of formation, move wide receivers inside, or align the TE as the “X” receiver (as we see in Green Bay with TE Jermichal Finley), it causes matchup problems. Play Woodson at comer outside the numbers vs. the Cardinals’ pro sets. When they bring in their Zebra personnel (3 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB), move Woodson inside on the slot when the Packers use their sub packages. And in doing that, incorporate him into the pressure schemes of Capers. Send the Nickel man pressure and the Nickel zone pressure with Woodson blitzing off the edge — where he can use his speed and athleticism to beat offensive tackles and running backs who turn to him in scan protection.
Don’t use him solely on a player like Fitzgerald. He’s too valuable. Capers can play a form of man-under with Fitzgerald with a corner playing a trail technique with a half-field safety over the top. You can take away the deep ball by doing that and allow Woodson to have a bigger impact in other areas of the field. Just as offenses use a player to exploit a defense, use Woodson to exploit the Cardinals’ offense.
Now, for ‘Zona. Boldin is the wild card. And if he’s healthy enough to go, we’ll see a matchup that’s built for the late afternoon Sunday game -- two of the most physical players at their positions going against each other. This is when you assign Woodson to Boldin on third downs and in the red zone. You need a physical defensive back to beat Boldin, and I hope the officiating crew assigned to the game lets us watch this matchup if possible. Let them fight, let them push and let them play football.
Make no mistake about it, Green Bay is a very dangerous team this postseason because of Capers’ defense. I’ve been a big supporter of QB Aaron Rodgers all season, but you win in January with a ball-hawking defense that uses its key players in ways that create advantages for the defense. Woodson has to be that guy, and Capers needs to exploit Whisenhunt and Kurt Warner with him.
Various alignments and various responsibilities that force the Cardinals to rework their own game plan on the fly.
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Matt - curious for your take on something from the last match-up. Clay Matthews flat out owned the Cardinal line on his side. He drew two holding penalties including for a safety plus had 7 pressures or hits, all in only 31 pass attempts. And that was just Matthews. If he's able to have that kind of success this week, do you still blitz Woodson or do you have him drop back and jumping routes? Warner this year has really been all or nothing - he doesn't really have average weeks, he's either exceptional or kills his own team. Is Warner more susceptible to coverage schemes or pressure, given his quick release?
best sign I saw at a packers game this year: 75% of the earth is covered by water. the rest is covered by charles woodson.
Nice to see the excitement here, and there's no doubt that Wood's awesome, and he's the solution to GB's secondary problem if there is one, but I still have to say that Packer fans should consider well the meaning of this sentence: Jarrett Bush is our nickel back. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
The key to the game plan is to keep the protection off balance, and then for the front 7 to smack them in the mouth once they are. ...and AZ has the weapons to do that too, so...
Y'know, momentum's a funny thing. It's not just a matter of winning the final games of the regular season. It's really about going in with an attitude, and the Cards might have that because of their belief that GB beat up on their back-ups gratuitously. ...nevermind the fact that they could've stopped us from doing that by playing the game more competitively on their end (why is it our fault that they put their scrubs in for us to crush?), but they believe that they've got something to prove, and sometimes - maybe even most times - that's all it takes. It's not who you play. It's how you play.
Matt, I agree completely with your hope that the refs allow a little bit more back and forth between the players this week. Let the guys challenge each other.
Did you find that officials took it easy during the playoffs? Did the have a tendency to let the players compete a little bit more because it was (theoretically) the better players/teams competing? Or did the call things the same way.
Woodson is the best tackler from corner, it's why he can transition to safety seamlessly.
The run sets, and where Woodson lines up, that is a great matchup also. Charles also plays better as the season goes on because he has so much experience playing cold weather games, though this week it isn't so much of a factor.
Warner should stay in three wide, avoid Woodson(he always has two other great targets) and hope he can wear down the Green Bay line enough through control of tempo that his team can be in position to take it in the second half.
With the Packers edge rushers coming on strong, that may be tough to ask.
Fortunately the Cards defense also has done some great things this year. They got into Eli's gameplan so much that cadence and changing plays at the line were made obsolete. The plan was done so well vs. the Giants that it helped avalnche into a losing streak for them.
With Rodgers playing some of the best football of his young career and the Packers run game finding new legs, this game has some much playmaking possible. The Cards need to bring that A game effort with them like they've done against other good NFC opponents this season. Their defense has been able to game plan with some of the best.
Scott M-
I agree with you on Matthews. The Packers have the edge rushers who can get to the QB, but I think we will see Capers use Woodson in the pressure schemes in their 3rd down sub packages. I would pressure Warner, he is too good to sit back and zone and take your chances.
PackerBacker-
All depends on the crew you get. The Packers will know what they are going to see from the refs. Each team gets a detailed report explaining what penalties are called, and have to adjust their game plan based off of that.
I absolutely agree that they should be moving Woodson all over the field; moving him all over is what has allowed him to be such a big playmaker: sacks, pressures, hits, confusion, turnovers. Besides, if you line him up one on one against Fitz all game I doubt he'd be able to Fitz out of the game. Revis is the only guy in the league that covers that well. Which is really what makes this Defensive Player of the Year race so interesting. You have the true shutdown corner and the versatile playmaking corner. How do you even choose!?!?
When healthy, Antoine Winfield is a better tackler than Woodson...but Woodson is better in coverage.
...just seen Adrian Peterson run thru Woodson tackles too many times to consider him the "best".
Matt,
You would have to admit that Whisenhunt knows this form of the 3-4 inside and out.
Thor,
Maybe you should watch some game film from the recent Bears vs. Vikings game, I recall Winfield being used as a speed bump by several Bears; Woodson hasn't been worked like that since he's been in GB. If how he tackles Adrian Peterson is the standard you judge on, how can you compare since Winfield is on the same team as Peterson. We'll keep Chuck, thanks.
Did Winfield play every game this season? How often does he man up instead of playing zone?
Fitz makes huge plays on the shallow crossing route. Charles should probably cover Boldin more often. It's hard to stay across the field laterally and face the ball to make plays. Charles can fight Boldin out of his break on those vertical stems for the dig at ten yards. That frees up others to help on Fitz.
Thor,
Maybe you should watch some game film from the recent Bears vs. Vikings game, I recall Winfield being used as a speed bump by several Bears; Woodson hasn't been worked like that since he's been in GB. If how he tackles Adrian Peterson is the standard you judge on, how can you compare since Winfield is on the same team as Peterson. We'll keep Chuck, thanks.
On the flip side from Woodson, Arizona's DBs cannot stay with Driver, Jennings, Jones, Finley, Lee and Nelson. It'll be a track meet with the Cardinals reading a lot of the back of the Packers' jerseys on Sunday afternoon.
Hey Matt, did you see that Bob McGinn of the Journal-Sentinel named you one of the worst "Core" players of the decade for the Packers? Seems like a cheap shot, solely based on the Atlanta playoff loss. Don't worry, though, we love ya'.
Matt,
I agree usage of Woodson is important to the GB scheme this weekend. But I think there are 2 other DEF keys to a GB victory.
The first and least obvious is GB ability to stop the run and make AZ one-dimensional. Arizona's playoff run included 102, 145, and 102 yards against ATL, CAR, and PHI on the way to the SB. Far better than their regular season rushing offense. That kept opponent DEF's off balance and opened up play action passes to Fitzgerald.
The second is they need to knock down and/or harrass Kurt Warner early. Warner's accuracy really suffers when he's thinking about the pass rush and not reacting to get the ball to his receivers. If he gets in rhythm with the passing game, you could see another PIT-like performance against the GB secondary.
Miss on these two keys and it won't matter what GB does with Woodson.
Matt,
I agree usage of Woodson is important to the GB scheme this weekend. But I think there are 2 other DEF keys to a GB victory.
The first and least obvious is GB ability to stop the run and make AZ one-dimensional. Arizona's playoff run included 102, 145, and 102 yards against ATL, CAR, and PHI on the way to the SB. Far better than their regular season rushing offense. That kept opponent DEF's off balance and opened up play action passes to Fitzgerald.
The second is they need to knock down and/or harrass Kurt Warner early. Warner's accuracy really suffers when he's thinking about the pass rush and not reacting to get the ball to his receivers. If he gets in rhythm with the passing game, you could see another PIT-like performance against the GB secondary.
Miss on these two keys and it won't matter what GB does with Woodson.
I'm guessing we're going to see some different things from both D's this weekend. I have a feeling Arizona will deploy some of the same tatics they used against MN. I also think, while the Packers will do some special things with Wood, he's too valuable to take off these WRs... especially since Harris is gone. I'm thinking they use him as a decoy, and bring some pressure from guys who haven't blitzed much (Bigby, Collins, Bush, or Williams).
I'm guessing we're going to see some different things from both D's this weekend. I have a feeling Arizona will deploy some of the same tatics they used against MN. I also think, while the Packers will do some special things with Wood, he's too valuable to take off these WRs... especially since Harris is gone. I'm thinking they use him as a decoy, and bring some pressure from guys who haven't blitzed much (Bigby, Collins, Bush, or Williams).
Yeah, yeah, the Cardinals played the subs a little earlier last week. What caught my eye wasn't the final score, but how much more excited and faster the Packers played than the Cardinals. The Packers were clearly pumped to play a meaningless game, finish the season with a win, and continue their second half momentum. The Packer D, especially the linebackers, played at a speed a gear higher than the Cardinals. If the Packers can bring that speed and intensity next week, can the Cardinals match it?
On his weekly television show, Coach McCarthy said that it was a blast to clearly hear the chants of "Go Pack Go" throughout the Cardinals stadium during the game. Hopefully, Packer fans can once again fill the stands this week.
According to the stats guys at Football Outsider, who track every play every game, Woodson has a substantial lead on other corners for solo tackles on running backs. Add in his blitz capability and shutdown skills, I take Woodson over Winfield every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Woodson has a body of work; Winfield has an arm or a leg of work.
@GoPack...
As I said- When healthy....he clearly is not healthy when playing with a broken foot.
@MrMurder- the original comment was the Woodson was the best tackling corner....I suggested Winfield was better at tackling and indeed he is...Woodson is better at coverage...but from his Oaktown days on I have seen far too many missed tackles to be considered better than WInfield. I am not alone in that sentiment.
The vikings often play man coverage because the front 4 is so strong...as was evidenced in both packer games this year.
@packer Pete- of course, woodson has more tackles than winfield- Antoine sat out 6 six games with an injury...
His play over the last decade is well known and speaks for itself.
Packers fans get so touchy when it come to the Vikes...I love it.
@GoPack...
As I said- When healthy....he clearly is not healthy when playing with a broken foot.
@MrMurder- the original comment was the Woodson was the best tackling corner....I suggested Winfield was better at tackling and indeed he is...Woodson is better at coverage...but from his Oaktown days on I have seen far too many missed tackles to be considered better than WInfield. I am not alone in that sentiment.
The vikings often play man coverage because the front 4 is so strong...as was evidenced in both packer games this year.
@packer Pete- of course, woodson has more tackles than winfield- Antoine sat out 6 six games with an injury...
His play over the last decade is well known and speaks for itself.
Packers fans get so touchy when it come to the Vikes...I love it.
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Jan 06, 2010
01:06 PM
Mr. Woodson as we like to call him here in wisconsin, has the best defense i have ever seen since Reggie White....