Aaron Rodgers(notes) is playing at an MVP level and the Green Bay Packers remain
undefeated. However, the spotty play of a generous defense is keeping them from
being completely satisfied.

The Packers hope to tighten up things on the defensive end and complete
their second straight season series sweep of the Minnesota Vikings on Monday
night at Lambeau Field.

Green Bay (8-0) is off to its best start since opening with 10 straight wins
in 1962, but the reigning Super Bowl champs have not been a complete team.

Thanks to Rodgers, the Packers are averaging an NFL-high 34.4 points per
game this season, and have won 14 in a row including postseason since losing
31-27 at New England last Dec. 19. Green Bay will now try for its 10th
consecutive win at Lambeau Field, where it has also won four of the last five
versus Minnesota (2-6).

The problem for the Packers of late has been on the defensive end. They rank
31st in pass defense (299.6 yards per game), 30th in total defense (399.6) and
17th in points per game allowed (22.4).

Despite returning a pair of interceptions for touchdowns last Sunday, Green
Bay allowed its most points of the season and almost blew a 21-point lead in a
45-38 win at San Diego.

“We’re 8-0. We’ve earned it,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “But we have
expectations and the level of play that not only the individual expects of
himself but what we expect of each position, each unit.”

The Packers have allowed a whopping 43 plays of 20 or more yards, including
two of the Chargers’ TDs last week.

“On defense, anyway, none of us are happy with the way we’re playing right
now,” defensive coordinator Dom Capers said. “Certain segments we’re happy
with. So the only way you improve that is you go back to work and work that much
harder to get better.

“I think we can make significant improvement, I know that.”

The Packers gave up 435 total yards at Minnesota on Oct. 23, when they held
on for a 33-27 win. Adrian Peterson gained 175 of the Vikings season-high 218
rushing yards in that contest.

“We’ve shown on tape that if we execute, we can play with any team in this
league,” said Minnesota receiver Percy Harvin(notes), who expects to play Monday night
despite dealing with a rib injury he suffered against the Packers.

Minnesota might be able to move the ball versus Green Bay, but stopping
Rodgers is another story.

Rodgers completed 24 of 30 passes for 335 yards and three TDs last month
against Minnesota, and went 21 of 26 for 247 yards last week against the
Chargers, tossing four touchdowns to increase his NFL-leading total to 24.

“He is a special, special, special, special player,” said receiver Greg
Jennings(notes), who has caught six TD passes from Rodgers this season including four
over the last five games.

Jennings had seven receptions for 147 yards including a 79-yard catch and
run for a score at Minnesota last month. Rodgers has completed 68.9 percent of
his passes for 1,602 yards with 14 TDs and three interceptions in his last five
games against the Vikings.

His counterpart, Minnesota rookie Christian Ponder(notes), made his first career
start in the Oct. 23 loss, throwing for 219 yards with two touchdowns and two
interceptions to keep the Vikings competitive.

Ponder was 18 of 28 for 236 yards and a TD during Minnesota’s last game, a
24-21 win at Carolina on Oct. 30.

Coming off their bye week, the Vikings hope to maintain the momentum earned
from that victory and parlay it into an upset Monday night.

“You always have to be excited over improvement and build on it,” tight end
Visanthe Shiancoe(notes) said. “The excitement is going to cause the building process,
so it has to be there.”

With Peterson toting the ball, the Vikings at least have a chance to give
the Packers problems. Fourth in the NFL with 795 yards on the ground, Peterson
has averaged 110.3 and rushed for three TDs in his last three games at Lambeau.

IRVING, Texas — One way to get better in any business is to weaken the competition.

Dallas coach Jason Garrett hired Green Bay wide receivers coach Jimmy Robinson for the same position with the Cowboys on Friday, less than a week after the Packers won Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium.

Robinson, who has been in the NFL since 1990, replaces Ray Sherman. Sherman coached the Cowboys’ wide receivers from 2007-10 and interviewed for the head coaching position that went to Garrett after the season. Sherman was quickly informed he would not be retained in 2011.

Garrett and Robinson were together with the New York Giants in 2000-03, when Garrett was the backup quarterback and Robinson was the wide receivers coach. Through the years Robinson has coached some of the NFL’s best receivers, including Indianapolis’ Marvin Harrison, the Giants’ Amani Toomer and New Orleans’ Joe Horn. He has been with the Packers since 2006, helping in the development of Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, James Jones and Jordy Nelson.

With the Cowboys, he inherits Miles Austin, who has played in the last two Pro Bowls, Dez Bryant, who had his rookie season cut short by a fractured ankle, and Roy Williams (at least for now) as the top three wideouts.

Robinson is the fourth addition to Garrett’s staff since the season ended. Rob Ryan was named the defensive coordinator and brought linebackers coach Matt Eberflus and defensive assistant Ben Bloom with him from Cleveland. Brian Baker was named the defensive line coach earlier in the week.

Mike Woicik is expected to take over as the strength and conditioning coach but nothing official has been announced yet. Woicik spent the last 11 seasons in New England, winning three Super Bowls, after winning three in his tenure with the Cowboys from 1990-96.

Todd Archer covers the Cowboys for ESPNDallas.com.

Follow Todd Archer on Twitter: @toddarcher

DALLAS – Like many great innovations, the defensive concepts that will be employed in Super Bowl XLV were created in a basement by a handful of people looking for a better way.

Super Bowl XLV scouting report | Preparations

It was 1992, and Bill Cowher had just become head coach of the Steelers. Cowher favored the 4-3 defensive alignment. Then-defensive coordinator Dom Capers liked the 3-4. Secondary coach Dick LeBeau was a proponent of 3-4 that favored elaborate blitzes. All were looking for ways to combat passing offenses and to produce pressure on quarterbacks.

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” said LeBeau, now the Steelers’ defensive coordinator.

So the outline of the Steelers’ 3-4 was drawn up. Only Capers’ outline, hand-drawn by LeBeau, ran several hundred pages. The system underwent changes over the years as LeBeau and Capers took separate paths, including becoming head coaches, but the fundamentals remain the same.

The Packers, with Capers as defensive coordinator, look a lot like the Steelers. It wouldn’t take long for players from either team to feel at home in the huddle of the other.

And it’s no coincidence the Steelers led the NFL in 2010 with 48 sacks and the Packers were tied for second with 47. Or that the Steelers were second in total defense, and the Packers were fifth.

In some ways, LeBeau and Capers are alike. They roomed together when they were first with the Steelers, and they are both from small towns in Ohio.

But the two have dramatically different personalities. Cowher told the Dallas Morning News that LeBeau was a “loose cannon” when it came to dreaming up defensive schemes.

Capers was more meticulous and hasn’t changed. He uses a rainbow of highlighters in his notes. He writes everything down, relying on younger assistants to handle the technology end of the business. If he had to call a game based on computer printouts, he would be lost.

When Capers interviewed in Green Bay two years ago, he arrived in below-zero weather with two bags: one filled with clothes and another filled with books containing information about his defenses.

“The next day we sat down for the interview and he had his original notes from when he installed the defense in Pittsburgh,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “I thought I used a lot of highlighters but it doesn’t even compare to Dom. He is truly the most detailed individual I have ever been around.”

After 25 years in the NFL, Capers isn’t going to become a computer whiz. “When you’ve done something a certain way for a long time, you know how you like to do it,” Capers said. “Let me put it into terms that I understand.”

LeBeau, a Hall of Fame cornerback, runs a system that has been in place for almost 20 years. The Steelers are adept at finding talent to fit the scheme, which isn’t easy for players to learn.

LeBeau, however, has a method for teaching it, and his players revere him.

“It’s a phenomenal thing to watch ‘man love’ take place in a manly sport,” secondary coach Ray Horton said. “He’s different. He’s well spoken. He can sit down and talk to kings and yet he doesn’t lose the common touch.”

Both Capers and LeBeau get credit for inventing the zone blitz, which has given offenses so much trouble for nearly three decades. The origins are traced back to the 1980s, and both coaches’ schemes have evolved over the years, adding more wrinkles with age.

“I’d like to say it worked immediately,” LeBeau said of the defensive philosophy, “but we went through a lot of blind alleys. We just kept sticking with it.”

While the Steelers and Packers share similarities on defense, they aren’t identical. Each plays to the strength of individual players. With Pittsburgh, that’s safety Troy Polamalu and linebacker James Harrison.

With the Packers, it’s linebacker Clay Matthews and cornerback Charles Woodson.

“The players make it come to life,” LeBeau said. “We give them parameters and let them create, and we’ve got some pretty good creators.”

Maybe it doesn’t take one to know one, but it helps.

DALLAS – Like many great innovations, the defensive concepts that will be employed in Super Bowl XLV were created in a basement by a handful of people looking for a better way.

Super Bowl XLV scouting report | Preparations

It was 1992, and Bill Cowher had just become head coach of the Steelers. Cowher favored the 4-3 defensive alignment. Then-defensive coordinator Dom Capers liked the 3-4. Secondary coach Dick LeBeau was a proponent of 3-4 that favored elaborate blitzes. All were looking for ways to combat passing offenses and to produce pressure on quarterbacks.

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” said LeBeau, now the Steelers’ defensive coordinator.

So the outline of the Steelers’ 3-4 was drawn up. Only Capers’ outline, hand-drawn by LeBeau, ran several hundred pages. The system underwent changes over the years as LeBeau and Capers took separate paths, including becoming head coaches, but the fundamentals remain the same.

The Packers, with Capers as defensive coordinator, look a lot like the Steelers. It wouldn’t take long for players from either team to feel at home in the huddle of the other.

And it’s no coincidence the Steelers led the NFL in 2010 with 48 sacks and the Packers were tied for second with 47. Or that the Steelers were second in total defense, and the Packers were fifth.

In some ways, LeBeau and Capers are alike. They roomed together when they were first with the Steelers, and they are both from small towns in Ohio.

But the two have dramatically different personalities. Cowher told the Dallas Morning News that LeBeau was a “loose cannon” when it came to dreaming up defensive schemes.

Capers was more meticulous and hasn’t changed. He uses a rainbow of highlighters in his notes. He writes everything down, relying on younger assistants to handle the technology end of the business. If he had to call a game based on computer printouts, he would be lost.

When Capers interviewed in Green Bay two years ago, he arrived in below-zero weather with two bags: one filled with clothes and another filled with books containing information about his defenses.

“The next day we sat down for the interview and he had his original notes from when he installed the defense in Pittsburgh,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “I thought I used a lot of highlighters but it doesn’t even compare to Dom. He is truly the most detailed individual I have ever been around.”

After 25 years in the NFL, Capers isn’t going to become a computer whiz. “When you’ve done something a certain way for a long time, you know how you like to do it,” Capers said. “Let me put it into terms that I understand.”

LeBeau, a Hall of Fame cornerback, runs a system that has been in place for almost 20 years. The Steelers are adept at finding talent to fit the scheme, which isn’t easy for players to learn.

LeBeau, however, has a method for teaching it, and his players revere him.

“It’s a phenomenal thing to watch ‘man love’ take place in a manly sport,” secondary coach Ray Horton said. “He’s different. He’s well spoken. He can sit down and talk to kings and yet he doesn’t lose the common touch.”

Both Capers and LeBeau get credit for inventing the zone blitz, which has given offenses so much trouble for nearly three decades. The origins are traced back to the 1980s, and both coaches’ schemes have evolved over the years, adding more wrinkles with age.

“I’d like to say it worked immediately,” LeBeau said of the defensive philosophy, “but we went through a lot of blind alleys. We just kept sticking with it.”

While the Steelers and Packers share similarities on defense, they aren’t identical. Each plays to the strength of individual players. With Pittsburgh, that’s safety Troy Polamalu and linebacker James Harrison.

With the Packers, it’s linebacker Clay Matthews and cornerback Charles Woodson.

“The players make it come to life,” LeBeau said. “We give them parameters and let them create, and we’ve got some pretty good creators.”

Maybe it doesn’t take one to know one, but it helps.