1. A controller device, comprising: an instruction execution processor having an input to receive instructions associated with maintaining a queue for storing packet identifiers (IDs) corresponding to packets being processed by a network device, the instruction execution processor comprising a first hardware pipeline having a first stage and a last stage; a memory coupled to the instruction execution processor, the memory for storing instructions received at the input of the instruction execution processor and not executed by the instruction execution processor; and an instruction feedback processor including a second hardware pipeline having a first stage and a last stage, wherein the first stage of the second hardware pipeline is coupled to the last stage of the first hardware pipeline so that the last stage of the first hardware pipeline feeds the first stage of the second hardware pipeline, and wherein the last stage of the second hardware pipeline is coupled to the first stage of the first hardware pipeline so that the last stage of the second hardware pipeline feeds the first stage of the first hardware pipeline, the instruction feedback processor configured to, in response to receiving an output from the instruction execution processor, identify one or more instructions, stored in the memory, that correspond to a new packet ID at the head of the queue, and feed back, to the input of the instruction execution processor, the one or more identified instructions.