Mike McCarthy wants Green Bay Packers to keep new defense a secret this preseason
By Hayden Kane
The Green Bay Packers are hoping that adjustments to their scheme on the defensive side of the ball will make them a more complete team this season.
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When their opening game against the Seattle Seahawks arrives on September 4th, they will unveil those changes against the Super Bowl champs. In the meantime they have the remainder of training camp and four preseason games to work on their new defense.
They don’t want to give anything away in the process, however. According to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com, McCarthy has instructed defensive coordinator Dom Capers to keep things tight to the vest this preseason. That means that the Seahawks and any other preseason opponent will see vanilla defense, with no indications of what’s coming this season.
"Coach Mike McCarthy has things he wants defensive coordinator Dom Capers to keep stowed away until the regular-season opener at Seattle on Sept. 4.Whatever glimpses of it the Packers have shown at practice so far, they don’t want it getting out of Green Bay this summer.“What we plan on doing for Seattle is nothing we’ve been practicing outside,” McCarthy said. “And frankly, we probably won’t show it the first four weeks of preseason.”"
The secrecy of NFL schemes and playbooks seems to be overstated from time to time. Given the relative mediocrity of the Packers’ defense in recent seasons, it seems hard to believe that this change will be so huge that it warrants such secrecy.
It is understandable that teams do not want to give away game plans in the preseason. All 32 NFL teams run plain offenses and defenses in these games that decidedly do not count.
But to think it will make a huge difference for the Packers is probably misguided. The success of their defense will hinge much more on health and the improvement that comes with some new personnel on that side of the ball.