Pettine can't guarantee wins, sacks or takeaways at this point. Even if he did, those words would ring hollow until production is realized on the field. However, Pettine's renewed passion for the sport has been obvious to everyone he's crossed paths with in during his short time in Green Bay.

It's what sold Head Coach Mike McCarthy on hiring Pettine back in January and convinced highly regarded defensive assistant Joe Whitt to stay on board as Green Bay's new pass-game coordinator.

Pettine's defensive mantra of "keep it likeable and learnable" has won over a locker room full of hungry players eager to devour an exciting, yet digestible, playbook.

His scheme, an offshoot of the 3-4 defense Rex Ryan deployed with Baltimore and the New York Jets, has been retooled and streamlined over the years to conform to offseason requirements of the most recent 2011 collective bargaining agreement.

No longer, Pettine says, does he carry 50 or 55 calls into a game. Instead, he slants toward 25-30 calls, affording his players the necessary reps to get comfortable while remaining complex enough to keep the opposing offenses wary.

"I think he's handled everything well," said defensive tackle Kenny Clark of Pettine. "He has us locked in. He has us focused. When he speaks, everybody is listening. Everybody is just trying to get better and we're just enjoying playing for him."

Two rounds of offseason installations gave returning players their first introduction to the defense, but it was equally imperative to Pettine for players to also get to know the person behind the call sheet.

So Pettine sat down with each defensive player and his position coach during organized team activities, put down a piece of paper in front of the player and asked him to write down personal goals for the season.