GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Darren Perry first met Dom Capers in 1992. He was a rookie safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Capers was the team's defensive coordinator.

Back then, Perry took Capers' hand-written plays and executed them on the field.

These days, Perry still follows Capers' instructions -- and yes, Capers still writes them out with pen and paper -- but by the time the Green Bay Packers' safeties coach gets the defensive coordinator's instructions, they have been input electronically and sent to iPads given to each coach and player.

Dom Capers is in his mid-60s, but the Packers say his ability to teach hasn't slowed. Jeff Hanisch/USA TODAY Sports

The method may have changed, but Capers' ability to run a defense has not.

Entering his seventh season as the Packers' defensive coordinator, his 30th as an NFL coach and his 43rd overall in the profession, Capers is still going strong.

Earlier this week, the 46-year-old Perry stood no more than 10 feet from Capers, who will turn 65 in the middle of training camp this August, and marveled at his longtime boss. And then he laughed when asked about the possibility of coaching for as long as Capers.

"I don't know about that," Perry said chuckling.

Yet here's a man who's about to be eligible for Medicare still in the pressure cooker of the NFL.

"You just appreciate his wisdom and always learn from him because he always has something to share," Packers defensive tackle Mike Daniels said. "He's been coaching since some of us were born, probably all of us were born. He would definitely know better than us."

By now, Capers has achieved all there is to achieve in the NFL. He's been a head coach -- twice. He's coordinated a Super Bowl-winning defense.

So why keep coming back?

"It's the only thing I know," Capers said. "I love the competitive aspect of this game. I don't know what else you could do that's more rewarding than when you put in the time and the effort and put together a game plan, and you go out and see it work."

These days, what excites Capers is the idea of trying to carry over what the Packers' defense did in the second half of the season. His defense played perhaps its best game of the year for all but the final few minutes of the NFC Championship Game loss in overtime to the Seattle Seahawks.

And believe it or not, he loves finding new ways to teach players.

"I think you have to constantly challenge yourself," Capers said. "It's a changing league. I can't tell you how much it's changed in the last 30 years."

When Capers first got to the Steelers in 1992, there wasn't a computer anywhere in the football offices. He would draw up all his defenses on paper and turn them over to his assistant, Billy Davis, now the Philadelphia Eagles' defensive coordinator.

"I can remember giving Billy $1,800 to go buy an Apple computer to take my drawings and go put them into a computer," Capers said. "That was 1992 or '93. It's funny how the league has changed since then. … I still do a lot of things by hand and then I hand it to my guys and they put it into the computer.

"The interesting thing is the young guy coming into the league now grew up with playing the video games and visual and the audio stimulation. When we first started, we had the big playbook and we'd use the overlays and you'd put it on the overhead. You don't do that anymore. Now you've got the Powerpoint presentations and the audio, and you've got to have the video because these guys have been sitting there playing those games growing up. When I was growing up, there wasn't any of that. They learn differently, and they have to be stimulated that way."

In the end, it doesn't matter whether the plays are scribbled on cocktail napkins or designed on an electronic tablet, or whether they're drawn up by a senior citizen or a youngster.

"Guys are meant to do certain things, and his job is to be a mentor and a coach," Packers linebacker Clay Matthews said. "And he's been able to do that successfully. You look at the rankings and what we've been able to do these last six years with Dom, it's pretty impressive."