E-mail
Print
Offensive line must be settled
Constant shifting damages cohesion
By Ken Ryan
Whatever the combination is, the Packers must settle with five and stick with them. Even late into last season the line would shuffle from week to week.
Perhaps the most important position in pro football to just not mess with is the offensive line. Games are won and lost up front, and playing musical chairs with the five men up front can cause harm to the group’s chemistry.
And, unlike other position groups, the sum is far more important than the individual parts.
Fortunately, the Green Bay Packers are more than set at the tackle position. Nine-year veteran Chad Clifton is still on his game as indicated by his dominant showing in the season opener against the well-decorated Jared Allen, Minnesota’s major offseason acquisition that was brought in to apparently “put his helmet in the spine of Aaron Rodgers.” Allen never stepped close to Rodgers and did not have a single tackle.
Fellow nine-year veteran Mark Tauscher is still as tough as they make them on the right side, and he has no major indications of slowing down.
Between Clifton and Tauscher a bit of uncertainty remains. (That damn Ted Thompson. He never gets anything right, as indicated by the Packers’ 19-3 record in their last 22 games!)
Jason Spitz is widely rated the Packers’ top guard, but has been lined up at center while usual starter Scott Wells has been sidelined with an injury. Spitz has stepped in and performed admirably, but the Packers prefer him at guard.
Wells has been a two-year starter at center but missed the first two games of this year with a trunk injury, an ailment the Packers thought they had solved but which flared up at the end of camp. While he’s making his comeback, there is a decent shot that the injury may reoccur because of the pounding that linemen take.
While coach Mike McCarthy is likely anxious to get Wells back in the lineup, keeping Spitz at center and leaving Wells on the sideline is something he may be considering.
McCarthy has several options to fill the remaining guard slots. Daryn Colledge, now in his third year, has appeared to make strides from the mediocre play that was his first two years in Green Bay. Colledge has earned the left guard job over the course of the season.
Before getting hurt in the middle of training camp, rookie Josh Sitton appeared to be on his way to winning the right guard position. Sitton should be back this week or next but will he have a job waiting for him? Tony Moll, another third-year player, has done more than just keep the seat warm in his absence.
Second-year pro Allen Barbre, who rotated with the first-unit in camp but could not win a job, played eight snaps in the Detroit game off the bench but appears to not be a starting option at this point yet.
Whatever the combination is, the Packers must settle with five and stick with them. Even late into last season the line would shuffle from week to week.
At the end of the day it probably should be Clifton, Colledge, Wells, Spitz and Tauscher, and hope Wells stays healthy. Whatever the group, the Packers will be a better team if it stays the same all year long, even if the most individually talented players are on the bench.
> Comments