All eyes may have been on heir-to-the-throne Aaron Rodgers during the Green Bay Packers' recent minicamp, but one other thing was noticeably different about the defending NFC North champions.

On play after play after play, the Packers' defense was blitzing.

Whether it was linebackers, safeties or cornerbacks, they kept sending extra people after the quarterback. Much to the delight of the players, who love to blitz, the Packers were rushing with an aggressiveness seldom seen in Green Bay.

"We're working on some things," linebacker Nick Barnett said. "I don't want to give away too much about the new packages that we've been working on, but I'm really excited."

Coach Mike McCarthy is less circumspect about the Packers' intentions. He favors an attacking defense, though so far that has shown up mostly in bump-and-run coverage by the cornerbacks. Now McCarthy wants to extend the aggressive approach to pass rushing.

"The most important thing is to put pressure on the quarterback," he said. "Whether it comes with four-man, five-man, six-man rushes or pressures, it's irrelevant. The bottom line is to get it done. If you go outside, we're a bump-and-run team. We challenge the receivers as soon as they get off the bus, and that's the mind-set that I wanted since the day I was hired."

This is McCarthy's third season, one reason he feels comfortable adding more blitzes. Most of the players are well-versed in the defense and can handle the extra responsibilities.

But some of McCarthy's emphasis springs from necessity, too. Though the Packers line has generally provided a good pass rush, McCarthy surely noticed that the pass rush dried up after end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila was hurt on Thanksgiving Day. With KGB inactive or operating at less than 100 percent, the Packers had no sacks in four of their last five regular-season games.

But while McCarthy is putting more emphasis on blitzing, will he maintain that emphasis once the season starts?

At this time of year, it's easy for coaches to say they're going to blitz more. When their defense starts giving up big plays, however, coaches tend to back off and play more conservatively.

Packers fans saw that first-hand in 2004. New defensive coordinator Bob Slowik spent the offseason designing exotic blitzes, but backed off quickly when the defense started hemorrhaging big plays right from the start. That indecision led to one of the defense's worst seasons ever.

"If you pressure and you get burnt, you still have to continue to pressure if you need to," McCarthy said. "The bottom line is, pressure doesn't just come through blitzes. We've done a very good job in segments of our season of getting after the quarterback with just a four-man rush. If we can continue to do that, great. If we need five, we'll blitz five. The point is to get that quarterback on his heel, throwing off his back foot, and disrupting the timing of the passing game."

That sounds like a strong commitment, though no one will know until September if it stays that way.

"I can't wait," Barnett said, "to see what we're going to do."

Neither can the rest of us.