People overlook that pressure and coverage are a two way street. Last year Matthews and Perry were getting pressure, but the quick passing from broken coverage made it irrelevant. Quarterbacks could have a hot read presnap with an athletic matchup. Perry, Matthews, and Peppers couldn't keep Julio Jones from torching LaDarius Gunter in the NFCCG.
On the other hand Gilbert's biggest plays of the preseason came from tight coverage keeping the ball in the quarterback's hands.
I think blitzing will be more effective this year as well. Not only were Capers' blitzes predictable, but they brought pressure to force turnovers. Pettine's blitzes are better disguised, and designed to get sacks. That and he will play more 4-3 than Capers did, and the DE depth looks really good.
I'm not too worried about pass rush.

Yeah, it's cluster injuries in one position group, or a really key injury (like D.Adams or A.Rodgers or D.Bakhtiari) that do the worst derailing damage to Packers hopes this season.

So far, the Packers have been realtively healthy (barring Jake Ryan).......the next three weeks are key, as in the past those nasty injuries often happen very early in the season.

David, you are right, the O-line and pass rush from the OLBs are two of the biggest factors to a successful season (outside of Rodgers staying healthy).

Unfortunately, these are the only positions on the team that weren't upgraded during the off season (and safety) through the draft or free agency. I blame this on TT as he left to many holes for BG to fill in one off season.

It all comes down to health and the development of Gilbert at this point . 'IF' the Starting O-line, Perry and Matthews stay relatively healthy all year, we'll be ok. We will be good this year and will make the playoffs....possibly a deep playoff run. If we stay overly healthy this year and other NFC teams are hit with the injury bug, we could be in the SB this February.

Next year BG will upgrade these positions through the draft and FA. Next year we will be a power team and will have a great chance to be in the SB.

Here's to a healthy 2018 !

Lare, I agree with your post (although I think you meant to say "dramatically" vs "drastically"; drastically is what we had last year, lol). With all the changes I remain positive that the Packers are going to be better than the pre-Rodgers injury team of last year, especially on defense.

I think Gute will make a move.

If Arod goes down, no argument but also nothing we can do about it.

As far as the O line goes, I am fairly comfortable in the interior based on looking at pre season play (if we lose more than a couple of interior players, we and most teams would be in deep trouble).

As far as tackle goes, I really don’t know about Light, but actually, I thought Spriggs really came on. I think he is currently a better than average back up. Most teams don’t start out with two genuinely good tackles.

I believe we are better off than we think because we can’t get over the trauma of the initial preseason (and nearly all PS or street lines later).

Pankey on the PS also seemed to show signs of being an acceptable backup at right tackle.

Losing a star receiver will hurt anyone, but in that instance we have to make use of the rookies in roles (not full route tree) and of our 4 TEs. Honestly, we are better placed to overcome that than almost any team without even considering Monty.

Where I do agree is that we must have pass rush. Seems like that may be coming from multiple positions, not merely OLB. That is more Pettine’s style. I will hold judgment on our resources till I see more of how Pettine uses players.

Ultimately, luck with respect to injuries may be the most important determinant. It can make a competitive team dominating by late season (Vikings and Eagles last year) and reduce a good opening roster to also rans (critical loss—us last year, or simple attrition).

If you're going to make this argument, you should at least mention the Salary Cap. Rodgers had a Cap Hit of $20.3M (12.2%) in 2017 from what OTC says. How many teams could survive that kind of cap hit and sustain their success? And not only that, we lost our QB, which is the most difficult position to replace. If a team is going to have a player like Rodgers, they are also going to have a lack of talent elsewhere compared to other teams who don't have an Aaron Rodgers.

Side note: Unfortunately, the cap hit of Rodgers in terms of percentage is going up the next two years. Rodgers can talk about his desire to win all he wants, but his actions speak louder than words, and certainly didn't give the Packers any sort of discount. He is about the money, and that's why Tom Brady will end with more Super Bowl victories than he does. I'm not criticizing him, this is his choice, just pointing out the facts.

I don’t disagree that we are on a path that stretches into future seasons. Gutekunst has changed the roster significantly but can’t do everything at once.

Where I differ is that, due to changes in the roster and at coordinator, for once I really don’t know what we have. On paper I think we are better, certainly faster, but on game day? That I don’t know.

One thing I do predict is that it will take several games for the team to reach its potential in the new systems with the new personnel and roles. It will be interesting.