If Mike Pettine can put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks with essentially the same collection of edge rushers from last year, then the Green Bay Packers' new defensive coordinator should earn a new nickname: Magic Mike.

For it might require smoke and mirrors given that he won't have much more to work with than what the fired Dom Capers had in that department last season.

In a draft so weak on outside pass rushers that there was only one consensus stud in the first round -- N.C. State's Bradley Chubb, who went No. 5 overall to the Broncos -- Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst didn't have one that he deemed worthy of taking with any of his first 10 picks. He bypassed the edge rusher position until his 11th and final selection -- No. 248 overall -- when he finally felt the value was right and took Kendall Donnerson, an outside linebacker from Southeast Missouri State.

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What tricks do you think will help the Packers pass rush?

A healthy Clay Matthews and healthy Nick Perry I think is a good start.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

That said, Biegel is the wild card. He could be Corey Bradford or he could be TJ Watt. I don’t discount Fackrell either.

Originally Posted by: nerdmann 

Pettine's tricks are a lot of creative blitzes and coverage. Example he might surprise blitz Josh Jones off the edge and drop Matthews into coverage. Using a lot of DBs, which makes Josh Jones and LB Burks more interesting because they have small LB size, but basically have Safety coverage ability... so they can blitz, or if other DBs blitz, then can drop into coverage.

Originally Posted by: beast 

Capers somehow managed to create a defensive plan that was both confusing for the players yet predictable to the other team offense. Fixing this issue will help a long way to improving the defense.

As a fan, it is much less painful to see when the secondary just gets outplayed versus when the secondary does not even know what end zone they are defending.

Originally Posted by: dyeah_gb 

I would like to see Pettine rush 4 DL at times along with a blitzer. Daniels, Clark, Wilkerson, Lowery, and Adams can all get after the QB. Put four of them in with their hand on the ground and
add in Jones, Burks, or maybe Alexander coming from who know where would be fun to watch I would think.
However way he does it I am sure Pettine is counting on getting pressure from those DL. Nothing messes with a QB more than pressure breaking down the pocket from the inside.

Originally Posted by: warhawk 

I would like to see Pettine rush 4 DL at times along with a blitzer. Daniels, Clark, Wilkerson, Lowery, and Adams can all get after the QB. Put four of them in with their hand on the ground and
add in Jones, Burks, or maybe Alexander coming from who know where would be fun to watch I would think.
However way he does it I am sure Pettine is counting on getting pressure from those DL. Nothing messes with a QB more than pressure breaking down the pocket from the inside.

Originally Posted by: warhawk