Why did GB blitz so much? Do you know that the only time they didn't blitz, Indy went 3 and out? Not only did GB blitz, they sent 8 guys many times, and continued to get burned. At the end of the first quarter, Indy was on pace for nearly 1000 yards. GB kept blitzing. Peyton is to smart to let the blitz get to him. Good offensive teams WELCOME the blitz. I just don't get it. Is anyone in GB whining about the blitz happy defense????
Yeah... Sherman's talking about backing off the blitz. Slowik apologized to the world this morning for not adjusting more quickly to the Colts. The Packers would have had a real chance to win, I think, if they would have played their base defense and/or dropped seven on every play and dared the Colts to beat them on the ground. James was banged up, so I would have loaded up on the pass and forced Indy to score on the ground while eating up the clock. Getting into a shootout in the name of trying to stop the run was...well...obviously not good.
I don't really like what I am hearing out of GB by Slowik and Charmin (Sherman) about backing off of the blitz. If during camp they are implementing a heavy blitz style of defense, follow it through. There are two ways of defending the pass - Jim Johnson's (Philly's d-cordinator) defense of take off the QB's head or play coverage. Remember the "No Blitz Fritz" days of Fritz Shermur? Jim Johnson always finds a way to get pressure and plug running lanes and he does it with not an overly talented group of players. They give up yards but do not break. Stick with the aggressive game plan and adjustments can be as a game goes on. Scrapping a philosophy after three games tells the players your not confident in the system. Why take your coaching seriously after that.
GB has a dilema. When they blitz they are able to stop the run. If they dont they will get run over. These blitzes are run blitzes. The only problem is good QB's will eat that up (like grossman and manning) Bad ones will struggle (Delhomme) There is no real solution with thier personnel at this time other than to keep losing. Enjoy the season.
Wow, BearsFan1 dissed the GB defensive personel and then put Grossman and Manning in the same sentence - impressive. A little soon to put Grossman in the same catagory as Manning but he definately has upside. The downside of his injury is obviously playing time. We won't see the true Grossman until late '05 season when he has about 12-15 games under his belt.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bloken)</div><div class='quotemain'>I don't really like what I am hearing out of GB by Slowik and Charmin (Sherman) about backing off of the blitz. If during camp they are implementing a heavy blitz style of defense, follow it through.</div> Maybe they never should have implemented it in the first place? I can see blitzing one or two guys from different places to keep the Offense on guard, but you can't blitz 7 or 8 guys and expect to win. Any smart QB will audible to pass, and GB should have known that Manning is as smart a QB as there is. I agree that it would work on a crappy QB, but you can't use the same game plan for every team. Stop Manning, or stop a beat up RB? I'd try and stop Manning. So they admit that they messed up? They shouldn't abandon their philosophy, but they should be able to adjust it when needed.
Slowik is a Jim Johnson wanabe. The Eagles always find a way to get to the QB, especially on 3rd down. That tells me the philosophy works, but the coaching staff are not disguising the blitz and/or do not recognize where to send the players to find the mismatch. Philly has never had a dominate player on the line or in the LB group (Trotter was below average at Washington and Douglas couldn't even sniff a QB in Jacksonville) but they were still able to apply pressure when they needed. An aggresive defense is as sucessful as the scheme/game plan. When you don't have the correct scheme/game plan - you get lit up or a RB busts 150 on you. Just my opinion.
That game was a little odd. Its actually more common to see lots of blitz packages at the beginning of a season as offenses get used to each other again. As the season wears on, blitzes will die down. I can't blame GB too much for going in with a heavy blitz plan. The idea is sound. Knock Manning to the ground a couple of times, get him overthinking, and let him make a mistake. Obviously, it didn't work. GB should have adjusted faster than they did.
