Mike Pettine's Defence

[Curly Calhoun]

Maybe so.

Or free agency. A couple guys short of a full deck on each side of the ball I'd say.

When I look at the two teams in this year's Super Bowl, the first thought that comes to mind is speed. San Francisco is ferociously fast on defense, and KC certainly has it on offense and special teams. If the Pack is going to close the gap between themselves and those two, team speed in every facet of the game is essential, IMHO.

 

[Sky King]

The defensive front seven and rotational players as a whole lacks the talent to stop the run consistently. Yesterday, they posed little threat to a good but not great running back who nevertheless was able to put up great numbers. Seven blocks of granite they're not. This team needs far more talent on D than only faster ILBs. If Rodgers, Adams, and Jones need to be surrounded by more talent than it's understandable that Clark and the Smith's do, too.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

When I look at the two teams in this year's Super Bowl, the first thought that comes to mind is speed. San Francisco is ferociously fast on defense, and KC certainly has it on offense and special teams. If the Pack is going to close the gap between themselves and those two, team speed in every facet of the game is essential, IMHO.

Fully agree and that was talked about back in the day when The Falcons all of a sudden had a lightening fast defense that took a lot of teams by surprise. On defense, the Packers definitely need more speed at ILB and on the DL. On offense, not sure if its the lack of speed or just the lack of play call creativity to use it. I also hope in MLF's second year, he can figure out a way to change up the speed which the offense runs during the course of the game. This huddle up, take forever to get subs in and the play called, while snapping the ball with 0 on the play clock got old and predictable. Even when down by 2 or more scores, the Packers yesterday seemed like there was no game clock to worry about.

 

[PackerFanLV]

When we spend $144M on our defense acquisitions and we are 18th in total defense yards allowed. Sure we were 10th in scoring defense but damn 18th in total yards allowed?! We were 18th last year too.

Then the 9ers burn us for 300 yds RUSHING?? Pettine had one thing to scheme for... The run! And he got his *** beat.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Pettine had one thing to scheme for... The run! And he got his *** beat.

See I don't buy that and I have read that a lot today. If Pettine sells out to stop the run, Kittle, Deebo and Sanders can tear the Packers up. The 49'ers have a lot of weapons and really it isn't the RB's themselves, but the OL and some really solid play calling by Shanahan and the 49'er coaches that make for a successful attack each week.

 

[jhawk008]

Sometimes its not as easy as "Just fire him and replace him!!"

Who are we gonna get that is INSTANTLY better than Pettine? I see alot of GB fans wanting him gone.

I instantly agree that we need more speed on the D. We've been needing it for years, and we've been suffering from TT's drafts where he constantly got a bunch of PAC12 slow but "smart" players who did NOTHING.

We're still suffering for TT's sins and it's gonna take 2 more drafts/offseasons until we are able to completely remove that

 

[adambr2]

See I don't buy that and I have read that a lot today. If Pettine sells out to stop the run, Kittle, Deebo and Sanders can tear the Packers up. The 49'ers have a lot of weapons and really it isn't the RB's themselves, but the OL and some really solid play calling by Shanahan and the 49'er coaches that make for a successful attack each week.

Well at some point you have to take that chance, sell out, trust your DBs to make plays in single coverage, trust your OLBs to generate pressure and force Jimmy G to beat you. You cant just sit there and do the same thing over and over and watch as you get gashed the entire game.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Well at some point you have to take that chance, sell out, trust your DBs to make plays in single coverage, trust your OLBs to generate pressure and force Jimmy G to beat you. You cant just sit there and do the same thing over and over and watch as you get gashed the entire game.

I get what you are saying, but I was more responding to the poster that said "Pettine had one thing to scheme for... The run! And he got his *** beat."

In week 12, Jimmy G and the 49'ers gashed the Packers Defense for 253 yards in the air, on only 20 attempts. So for one to say "all Pettine had to scheme for was the run" is not correct.

Should he have made adjustments yesterday once it became apparent that his base defense couldn't stop the 49'ers running game? Hell yes. But as you said and I am referring to, Shanahan is smart enough and has the receiving tools to fully take advantage of that.

I can imagine Shanahan was smiling last week, thinking to himself, "Mike Pettine is totally concerned about Kittle and going to try and stop him (which the Packers did early), I will show him what we can do on the ground." Check and Mate Mike

 

[PackAttack12]

It’s well known that the only potential weak spot on the 49ers offense is at quarterback. Our only chance was to close off the run and force Jimmy G to beat us.

Having a different plan initially isn’t necessarily the issue. The issue was making absolutely zero adjustments.

Never would have said this prior to yesterday, but I could be convinced that moving on from Pettine is the correct move. And MLF didn’t exactly give him a ringing endorsement in his postgame presser.

 

[swhitset]

Well at some point you have to take that chance, sell out, trust your DBs to make plays in single coverage, trust your OLBs to generate pressure and force Jimmy G to beat you. You cant just sit there and do the same thing over and over and watch as you get gashed the entire game.

While I do agree with Poker’s point, I think given the choice, i’d rather see them shut down the run. At least that opens up the possibility for interceptions, dropped passes, sacks etc...

 

[PackerFanLV]

I get what you are saying, but I was more responding to the poster that said "Pettine had one thing to scheme for... The run! And he got his *** beat."

In week 12, Jimmy G and the 49'ers gashed the Packers Defense for 253 yards in the air, on only 20 attempts. So for one to say "all Pettine had to scheme for was the run" is not correct.

Should he have made adjustments yesterday once it became apparent that his base defense couldn't stop the 49'ers running game? Hell yes. But as you said and I am referring to, Shanahan is smart enough and has the receiving tools to fully take advantage of that.

I can imagine Shanahan was smiling last week, thinking to himself, "Mike Pettine is totally concerned about Kittle and going to try and stop him (which the Packers did early), I will show him what we can do on the ground."

I feel it would be a lot closer if pettine schemed the run, then worrying about jimmy g throwing. Going into the 4th quarter jimmy g was 4 for 6 for 46 yards 0 td’s. Pettine got bullied he had nothing in plan for a plan B he just took it.

 

[adambr2]

Keep in mind that Pettine was never MLFs "guy," and that is often a factor. He is an MM holdover that got the benefit of the doubt this year and in the absence of an obvious decision (whether to retain or let go), MLF might simply prefer to move forward with a DC that he has ties to and better fits his philosophies.

They do need help at ILB and DL. It's a fine line. They can't just start over every couple years with new coaching personnel, you need some stability. But you also can't continue to be as loyal as they were to Capers and Thompson and fail to act when something either isn't a good fit or has run its course. If you don't think Pettine is the guy to maximize what you have here, it's probably a good time to move on.

 

[Ceodore]

I thought Pettine was fine most of the time but the times his schemes got exposed they were exposed horribly and it seemed he had no idea how to respond. Once Mostert gets his second TD and you see Garoppolo hasn't thrown hardly at all, don't you then TRY selling out on the run? At least make them beat you a different way.

 

[Sky King]

Pettine is the lightning rod for the defense and it goes with the territory. Still, he and his staff can't coach speed. Scheme and technique, maybe. Getting rid of Pettine is not going to make players run faster and that's what is missing most with some of them. Maybe if there's somebody out there who teaches better schemes and techniques they can turn the current talent into something more than it is. But who?

Nobody really heard of MLF only a year ago. Maybe there's a DC equivalent out there that's available right now. I'm not holding my breath though.

 

[mradtke66]

Sometimes, you just get beat.

I'd like to see some stats/snap counts, because to my eye, we played more base this game than any all season. I also saw a lot of Bear/46 fronts within the base personnel grouping. IE, both guards and the center covered up by our three down linemen. I also saw several snaps with both Martinez and Goodson at ILB.

I didn't keep track of bringing a safety down into the box--that might have been the only other obvious adjustment that could have been made, but maybe the already did it?

The next move you can do to stop the run is calling slants and other stunts to get into the backfield. IMHO, that's playing into the Shannahan/zone scheme hands. If you're slanting, the cutback lane opens up further. And you can take yourself out of the play easier.

From what I could see, the linemen didn't necessarily get beat. They made (most) of their hay going wide. They got bodies on bodies, won their battles, and Martinez/Goodson couldn't fight through the trash to clean up the play.

A run plugger DT and upgrade ILBs probably would have made the game a little more fair.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

While I do agree with Poker’s point, I think given the choice, i’d rather see them shut down the run. At least that opens up the possibility for interceptions, dropped passes, sacks etc...

I think we all agree and it all seems to point to the idea that the 49'ers just have more talent than the Packers.

We probably could be sitting here today talking about how Kittle, Samuel and Sanders shredded our secondary. Shanahan chose his poison, the run and it became apparent very early on, that he chose correctly. I don't think it even mattered who was running the ball for them, 9 out of 10 times they just seemed to have the right play called.

 

[Heyjoe4]

When I look at the two teams in this year's Super Bowl, the first thought that comes to mind is speed. San Francisco is ferociously fast on defense, and KC certainly has it on offense and special teams. If the Pack is going to close the gap between themselves and those two, team speed in every facet of the game is essential, IMHO.

That’s actually not a bad way to differentiate players who are otherwise close in ability. Who is faster, and who uses the speed to advantage?

 

[Mondio]

They did look pretty juiced, and i'm not sure if all of that was just extra energy either.

 

[Heyjoe4]

I think pettine time is up. If it wasn’t for the smith bros I think this D might have ranked close to last. But I will say this. Kevin king started the year off rough but man the 2nd half of the season he stepped up. Pettine has to go tho.

There’s a case to be made here for jettisoning Pettine. It’s up to LeFleur and Gluten. Pettine schemed up some pretty good QB pressures, but last night was not the first time the run defense played horribly. I hope the decision is made sooner than later. Don’t want another Dom Capers.

 

[Heyjoe4]

I hope GB uses its first pick in the draft on someone other than a project, like last year.

 

[easyk83]

Picking at 30 either youre picking a project, a rotational player to solid starter, or a character risk.

 

[swhitset]

I thought Pettine was fine most of the time but the times his schemes got exposed they were exposed horribly and it seemed he had no idea how to respond. Once Mostert gets his second TD and you see Garoppolo hasn't thrown hardly at all, don't you then TRY selling out on the run? At least make them beat you a different way.

I would prefer sooner than that lol.

 

[longtimefan]

See I don't buy that and I have read that a lot today. If Pettine sells out to stop the run, Kittle, Deebo and Sanders can tear the Packers up. The 49'ers have a lot of weapons and really it isn't the RB's themselves, but the OL and some really solid play calling by Shanahan and the 49'er coaches that make for a successful attack each week.

MLF press conference he said was either not physical enough or bad coaching....and he also said . we knew they wanted to run it.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Picking at 30 either youre picking a project, a rotational player to solid starter, or a character risk.

....Or....TJ Watt

 

[pacmaniac]

Sometimes its not as easy as "Just fire him and replace him!!"

Who are we gonna get that is INSTANTLY better than Pettine? I see alot of GB fans wanting him gone.

I instantly agree that we need more speed on the D. We've been needing it for years, and we've been suffering from TT's drafts where he constantly got a bunch of PAC12 slow but "smart" players who did NOTHING.

We're still suffering for TT's sins and it's gonna take 2 more drafts/offseasons until we are able to completely remove that

Rodgers only has 2 or 3 more years before he gets to Peyton Manning's age when he won his 2nd SB. Manning was totally washed up at that point and needed the #1 defense in the league to win it.