Packers coach Mike McCarthy (left) fist bumps Kevin Greene before a preseason game last August. McCarthy and the Packers will have the same corps of defensive assistants next season, with the exception of Greene, who resigned last month as the outside linebackers coach. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Green Bay — Kevin Greene used unforgettable style and unmatched enthusiasm to coach the Green Bay Packers' outside linebackers for the last five seasons.

But Greene's gone now, having resigned Jan. 17 to take a break from coaching and spend more time with his family.

Mild-mannered Scott McCurley, 33, will handle some of Greene's old duties as the assistant to Winston Moss, whose responsibility has been expanded to include both inside and outside linebackers.

They will continue working under Dom Capers, who at 63 ranks as the NFL's fifth oldest defensive coordinator behind Pittsburgh's Dick LeBeau, 76; Houston's Romeo Crennel, 66; Dallas' Rod Marinelli, 64; and Baltimore's Dean Pees, 64.

The average age of the 32 defensive coordinators is 51.6.

At the scouting combine in Indianapolis, coach Mike McCarthy said that even without Greene his defensive staff had more than enough life and pizzazz.

"Absolutely!" McCarthy exclaimed. "A lot of juice in that room. That's a very talented coaching staff."

Capers begins his sixth season with the same corps of assistants, with the exception of Greene.

Moss, 48, also has served as assistant head coach since 2007. Cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt, 35, arrived in 2008. Safeties coach Darren Perry, 45, and defensive line coach Mike Trgovac, 54, started with Capers.

"Everybody has great respect for Dom," McCarthy said. "I think that's reflected consistently through the players and coaches. That is truly an indication that they play for him."

Capers, according to McCarthy, always has coached with his own style. He's a portrait of focus and intensity at practice and games.

"Winston commands the most respect of any defensive coach on our staff," McCarthy said. "That's what the players tell me. He has outstanding presence and command.

"Joe Whitt is excellent. 'DP' (Perry) brings a lot of energy to the table. Scott will bring a nice dimension. 'Trgo' (Trgovac) is an old-school guy.

"We are not lacking in energy."

Unlike the past, when inside linebackers watched tape and studied in one classroom while the outside linebackers were in another classroom, the linebackers will work together in one room.

"We could be more coordinated between the inside linebackers, the outside linebackers and the defensive line. Do more things together," McCarthy said. "You can get too individualized in this deal and then communication breaks down."

Will the outside linebackers be coached to play the same physical techniques that Greene held near and dear?

"There's just not one way of doing it," McCarthy said. "You got speed rush, speed to power, bull rush, the rush angle.

"What's the primary and what's the secondary? Is that going to adjust some? Yes."

McCarthy declined to elaborate, saying the players would be informed of defensive adjustments April 21 when the off-season program opens.

"I really don't want to get into specifics because we haven't even presented it to the players yet," McCarthy said. "Dom and I are still working through it."

Last month, defensive end Mike Daniels conceded that the fire and physical nature the defense often showed in the off-season, training camp and first half of the season slipped down the stretch.

"The first games we flew around," McCarthy said. "We had continuity. We had confidence.

"I hate saying injuries, but as the personnel changes we didn't have the continuity and confidence in that middle part of the season where we needed that defense to step up."

When the defense lost Clay Matthews, Nick Perry and Casey Hayward for long stretches, it abandoned various packages, blitzes and coverages because the backups apparently weren't equipped to handle them.

"It's no different than the quarterback," McCarthy said. "Who's your backup quarterback? If your backup quarterback does not let the rest of the offense play at some level of its capability you don't have the right guy. They're not going to be Aaron Rodgers, but they have to utilize the system and keep creating opportunities.

"I went through it with four quarterbacks for the second time in my career. That's a hard deal. You can say, 'Develop 'em.' You play four guys in one year, that's a big challenge.

"One thing those guys did, and I thought the (offensive) staff did a really good job, is we stayed productive. Now, we threw some interceptions, but the offense stayed productive at the hardest times.

"We didn't get that done defensively."

Atop McCarthy's defensive agenda will be using even more players and even more of Capers' ample playbook.

He was encouraged by the play of the defense despite early injuries in the 23-20 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in an NFC wild-card playoff game.

Linebacker Mike Neal suffered a knee injury and departed after five snaps, leaving rookie Andy Mulumba to play 57 of the defense's 64.

At cornerback, Sam Shields bowed out with a knee injury on the second snap and Davon House came off the bench to play 61.

"We didn't have the continuity," said McCarthy, referring to the entire season. "The playmaking ability wasn't quite where we needed it to be. And when you go through change like that it's a very natural reaction to pull back.

"I think we have to accept that and be more forthcoming with what we have. I thought the last game was a clear indication of that.

"We played the last game with guys that didn't practice but the approach didn't change. In my opinion, the defense played well enough to win the game.

"You lost Mike and Sam in the first five plays....We need to be more prepared for those types of things, and we can do that."

When asked about some awful showings by the defense from Games 8-12, McCarthy said, "One thing I was critical of, I thought we were really a tired team going against Minnesota and Detroit. That Thanksgiving break kind of rejuvenated us because we played good football in December."

If McCarthy had his druthers, the Packers would play on Thanksgiving Day each year.