GREEN BAY, Wis. — It's the soothing mantra recited weekly by virtually every NFL defensive coordinator: Stop the run. Stop the run. Stop the run.

But as the Green Bay Packers showed in their loss at Minnesota earlier this month, stopping the run is only a starting point for a defense facing a good passing game led by a motivated, familiar opponent.

If the Packers don't get more pressure on Brett Favre in Sunday's mega-matchup at Lambeau Field, there's every reason to believe their former quarterback will simply carve them up again.

"We did a pretty good job of containing and shutting down Adrian Peterson, but we didn't pressure the quarterback as much as we needed to," Aaron Kampman said. "I think that was obvious. So we've got to do like we did the first (game): Stop Adrian Peterson, but we've got to do a better job of getting pressure on Brett."

The Packers held Peterson to 55 yards on 25 carries in their Oct. 5 game at the Metrodome, and rookie linebacker Clay Matthews III wrestled the ball out of his hands and ran it back for a score in the second quarter.

But the Packers barely got any pressure on Favre, who was 24 of 31 for 271 yards and three touchdowns. He didn't throw an interception, wasn't sacked and barely even was touched. The Vikings won 30-23.

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers acknowledges that the Packers have to put more pressure on Favre this time around.

But while it might be unwise to take an NFL coach at his word a few days before a big game, Capers seems to favor a conservative philosophy for Sunday's rematch.

Capers warns that overcompensating for the Packers' lack of pressure in the first Vikings game and going with an all-out blitz strategy could lead to even worse results against a veteran quarterback such as Favre.

"We could go out and blitz every down and probably hit Brett Favre a few times," Capers said. "But our chance of winning the game, I think, goes down."

It's not that the Packers didn't bring pressure against Favre in the Metrodome — they just didn't get to Favre before he read the pressure and got rid of the ball, one of his biggest strengths as a quarterback.

Even when the Packers had unblocked defenders rushing directly at Favre, Capers said it didn't matter.

"When we ran pressure against them, that ball was out right now," Capers said. "So the pressure never really had a chance to develop. Even if you had a guy free, it was kind of irrelevant because the ball was out so quick."

Sell out to blitz Favre, and Capers says the Packers could end up watching big plays go the wrong way.