Packers Pressure Creators Step Up in Win over the Cowboys

Throughout Dom Capers' tenure as the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator, one thing has been evident: he's wanted to collect pass-rushers. While some of that also falls on general manager Ted Thompson, Capers' background in creating the fire blitz-zone scheme immerses the team.

Despite finding a gem in All-Pro outside linebacker Clay Matthews late in the first-round in the team's first season transitioning to a 3-4 defense, there's been a rough stretch of finding another edge defender to pair with him.

In 2009, it was Aaron Kampman, who was a solid player as a 4-3 defensive end but was a square peg in the round hole of Capers' scheme. Brad Jones, who has since moved to inside linebacker, also started during Matthews' rookie year. For the 2010 squad, Frank Zombo, Erik Walden, Jones and Robert Francois rotated opposite of the USC product, totaling just six sacks between them.

For a majority of the 2011 and 2012 seasons, Walden was the starting left outside linebacker, but during that stretch, he only produced six sacks. He obviously wasn't the direction the team wanted to lean on in the future.

Luckily, the Packers made two moves in 2012 and 2014 to acquire pieces that were of huge impact for this season's linebacking corps. The first was drafting Nick Perry in the first-round, another USC collegiate. Showing some flashes of premier talent in his first two years, he was still a fairly raw product, pushing Thompson to make the second move: signing big-time free agent Julius Peppers.

Peppers had spent the recent past in Chicago, pressuring quarterback Aaron Rodgers twice a year when he was with the Bears. Now armed with what looked like a three-headed monster, Capers' unit was in good shape. Re-signing Mike Neal, a college defensive tackle who over the years converted to 3-4 defensive end and eventually outside linebacker, even shored up the back-end depth, giving the team a four-man rotation which assured the starters, Matthews and Peppers, would have fresh legs late in games.

Against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, in a 26-21 win, that proved valuable. Peppers and Neal, with Neal coming off the bench mind you, led the squad with six total tackles each. Those two netted 1.5 sacks between them, while Perry, once thought not at a level to start for Green Bay, added 1.5 sacks by himself. On top of just sack production, Neal, Perry and Matthews combined for four more quarterback hits on Tony Romo, who was visibly altered by the rush.

Even against the Cowboys offensive line, noted by many as the best in the NFL, the low-rep count of the quadruplet gave them the edge when coming out fiery and well-rested off the bench as the game went on. 

Not only has the team been able to generate mismatches in pass protection on the boundary, but the interior of the defensive line has come around, too. The 3-4 defense is fronted by Letroy Guion, Mike Daniels and Datone Jones.

Guion was picked up as a low-priced free agent after the Packers' divisional rival Minnesota Vikings let the nose tackle test the open market. Well proving his contract's worth, he ranked as Pro Football Focus' 27th-best defensive tackle/nose tackle in their "rush" rating for 2014 (subscription). Some names he was listed above consist of Dontari Poe, a nose tackle taken 11th overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2012, and Ryan Pickett, who last year saw significant playing time in Green Bay and is now a member of the Houston Texans.

According to ESPN Wisconsin's Rob Demovsky, Guion's agent has confirmed interest between the two parties to lock him up for longer, as the nose tackle is only on a single-season one-million-dollar deal. When B.J. Raji went down with torn biceps in the preseason, the hope of an improved defensive line seemed bleak, but it's safe to say Thompson found yet another gem.

Daniels, like Guion, kind of came out of nowhere. After an injury held the Iowa Hawkeye out of the pre-draft cycle, Daniels fell to the fourth round in 2012. Really coming along in 2013, he's now a fringe-Pro Bowl talent, who should get there within the next few years.

Jones was unlike the others. A first-round selection in 2013, the young defensive end has had to put on weight over the course of his two years as a professional, changing his game, but for the better.

All three of the starting defensive linemen registered a hit on Romo in the game, as well as Micah Hyde—a hybrid safety and cornerback—who came on a blitz from the slot.

In Cheesehead TV's weekly "Chips Report," Brian Carriveau noted Peppers as the defensive performance of the game.

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Linebacker Julius Peppers—He may have faded late in the game, but Peppers' may have come up with the turning point, forcing a fumble on Cowboys Pro Bowl running back DeMarco Murray midway through the third quarter, setting up a Packers touchdown and pulling them within one point of the lead. Peppers also had a sack early in the game, had six total tackles—tying for the team lead—and forced another fumble that wasn't recovered by the Packers.

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Unmentioned are the rest of the Packers who helped slow down Romo, who had a league-leading 113.2 passer rating in the regular season, one point ahead of Green Bay's Rodgers. Netting a 143.2 performance against the Packers, it may seem like the squad failed to corral him, but he finished with a 77.8 mark in QBR, ESPN's way of rating quarterbacks. This was shy of his season average, even though he completed a 38-yard touchdown pass on the Packers secondary.

The front seven of Green Bay is under the radar but still making noise when it counts. For their sake, a couple of screams and shouts next week against the Seattle Seahawks would be helpful. Getting to Russell Wilson, one of, if not the most mobile quarterback in the league, is a hefty task but likely a necessary one for the Packers to leave with a win and a Super Bowl bid.

The NFC Championship could be a loud celebration of the unit, not just for the players but for the construction of the defense that came from the minds of both Thompson and Capers.