GREEN BAY PACKERS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR DOM CAPERS - Ingles

01/21/2011

When you first got here can you kind of assess where you thought the talent level was and how it fit to your system and where it is now and how it fits to where you're at now?

DOM CAPERS: Well, I thought there was good talent here. You never know how you're going to make the transition. You know, that's a process you go through and it's kind of a step by step process.

And I think anybody that's followed our defensive team over the last two years, I think it was significant. The first half of the season last year we were a different team than we were the second half. We started to have some things come together and were able to get our run defense playing very well.

One thing that's been consistent I think is we've had people that can take the ball away and we've been fairly consistent in taking the ball away. We've been a lot more multiple this year because the players' understanding of the defense. I've always believed that first of all you have to have adapt what you're doing to the players and what they show on the practice field that you can do, do with efficiency. And the second half of this season we've played a lot of different personnel combinations based off of our opponent that week.

So I think that we're closer now in terms of looking more like a 3‑4 team, but we still have a lot of elements and we play a lot of sub defense because I think it fits our strengths of our personnel.

How valuable is it, you have you here, you have Mike Martz, Mike Tice over in Chicago, to have former head coaches on a staff in other roles?

DOM CAPERS: Well, I think if you haven't experienced being a head coach, all right, then I think you look at things totally differently because you look at the big picture. You know, having done it twice with two expansion teams and then coming here and working for Mike, you have an appreciation for what the head coach goes through, that his decisions affect the whole squad. So I think it helps you be a better assistant really.

I told Mike when I first came in, I'm going to try to be that guy for you that I was always looking for.

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