(02-05-2019, 10:51 AM)Bullseye Wrote:

(02-04-2019, 07:29 PM)TheO-LineMatters Wrote: Was he? That must've been in the early days. Dude, I'm 47. There are some days when I forget my own phone number. Remembering who our DC was 20 years ago, isn't high on my priority list. I'm lucky to remember my own name and address.

I'm 49 and I can totally relate!  

But I do remember Capers being here quite well.

Before Capers arrived, Dick Jauron was our first defensive coordinator, and I absolutely hated his schemes.  The only thing I liked about his scheme is that it was 4-3 based.  Otherwise it was awful, and besides one year in Chicago, he never had anything close to a dominant defense.

I was excited about Capers coming here before, but like you, I had concerns about his ability to run a 4-3 scheme.  But as it turns out, he put some very nice touches into our scheme. 

Imagine what most here hate about Wash's approach, and add to that the complete inability to time the few blitzes he would actually call, and take away half the stunts and that was Jauron.

Capers changed all of that, and his first year here in 1999, we had our first ever top 5 defense.  With him I had hope we could actually use Bryce Paup as a pass rusher.  That never happened, but it was a night and day difference.

Interesting side note.  I ran into a former Jaguar who was on those teams (Damon Jones) and asked him why the Jaguars timed their blitzes so much better under Capers, eagerly awaiting his insights.  The brevity and simplicity of the answer, while insightful, was something of a disappointment, summed up in one word: practice.  The team difndi bother to practice blitzing much under Jauron, while it was a point of emphasis under Capers.  I didn't get into the obvious differences in blitz designs and angles.

On any event, here is a link to Capers' coaching career.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/c...apeDo0.htm

I remember with the Pittsburgh, Capers was known for his blitz packages. They blitzed early, often and in a variety of ways. That is something we haven't done in a long, long time. This team rarely blitzes and it frustrates me. It seems like Wash knows he has really good defensive personnel, so he goes into a "bend don't break" mode, instead of getting the most out of his personnel by staying aggressive. If he can bring that aggressiveness back to this team, I'm all for bringing in Capers.

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