Defense Eager To Employ New Tweaks To Scheme

Offseason workouts in the NFL can be a real grind. There are no games to look forward to, and there are no pads and no hitting to spice up the practice action. But talk to a few of the Green Bay Packers' defensive players and there's definitely some excitement swirling as the offseason winds down with next week's mini-camp. That energy stems from what they see as a potentially expanded playbook in the second year of defensive coordinator Dom Capers' 3-4 scheme. "We went through the first half of these OTAs and we were just kind of rehashing memory from last year, but now we're learning new defenses," second-year outside linebacker Clay Matthews said. "We're trying to implement new ideas and schemes to see ways in which we can beat teams that we fell short (against) last year. "We're light years ahead of where we were last year and we look forward to start using all these plays we're putting in." No scheme stays exactly the...