What we ought to remember with the 2010 unit, that team was riddled with injuries. Jerimichael Finley was lost for the year and Ryan Grant went down in game 1. In addition we lost Morgan Burnett by week 4 or 5. With this team we really haven't lost any major contributors for the season, knock on wood. Of course it seemed as though the defense really took off following Burnett's injury, Capers was forced to play more to the strengths of his personnel and Nick Collins started playing a lot of single high. Peprah's coverage failings were hidden by playing him up near the LoS which also helped cover up the weaknesses of Hawk and Bishop in coverage.
Defensively that 2010 unit was a genuinely dominant outfit and I have to rate Hawk and Bishop as better than Barnes Kirksey and Martin. At OLB I think that Matthews in 2010 was a better more disruptive player than Zadarius and far more versatile... but Gary and Preston are both better players than Zombo, who was a solid journeyman but thats it.
In the defensive backfield Collins was obviously a top flight defense changer, the kind of guy that makes everyone else on the field better with him by playing Ed Reed style center field. Woodson was still in DPoY form and Williams had turned into an elite lockdown corner and was playing the best football of his career. I think Alexander is as good as Williams was and while King is very good in press coverage he lacks Woodson's off ball ability to disrupt offenses and make plays. Sam Shields was better than either Sullivan Jackson.
Up front Raji looked like he'd be a franchise NT and defensive cog that would eventually find his way to Canton. His production and usage were unreal, the guy never came off the field and still put up 6 sacks on the year. He put an exclamation point on the season when he dropped into coverage in the final minutes of the NFCG like a jumbo sized linebacker and deftly picked off Caleb Haney before high stepping into the end zone, he then danced. Pickett was another venerable and reliable inside rush defender and Johnny Jolly was an able contributor as well. With this current unit Kenny Clark hasn't had quite the usage that Raji had but when healthy he's been just as disruptive. I dont think that either Lowry or Lancaster are as stout against the run as Pickett and Jolly, but with Keke you have an extra interior pass rusher creating disruption from the inside. I give the current unit a slight edge.
In comparison I'd say that the 2010 unit was much better in coverage and generally had a better back 6 or 7 depending on the alignment. I'd also credit them for being more disciplined and cohesive as a group whereas this present group seems more mistake prone. It comes down to Pettine versus Capers IMO, and with this defense when Pettine schemes in an aggressive fashion the unit looks markedly better than when we play back or in coverage. We have at its core a pressure oriented defense, Pettine unfortunately hasn't always schemed to the units strengths. See Sunday night's tilt versus last weeks game against the Lions.
EDIT:
Caveat: I dont fault Pettine for occasionally playing in a more coverage oriented fashion, sometimes it makes sense to drop 8 especially when an offense starts leaving more blockers in or starts making quick throws. The extra defenders in the throwing lanes creates an extra chance for turnovers if the opposing quarterback is looking for hot reads. It's more when we play back throughout a game that this fan becomes frustrated. Take Stafford for instance, he is if you let him set his feet a very good quarterback with a lot of arm talent and all things considered better than his production suggests, he is after all on the Lions. But with Stafford you should make pressure your priority. Give him 3.5-4 seconds to throw all game long and he can and will pick most defenses apart.
