Ex-Packers Lineman Explains Challenges Injuries Are Creating

“Imagine your Coach LaFleur calling plays, and suddenly your best player is down, and Myles Garrett is lining up on your young tackle. The play sheet starts getting a little blurry; can you count on a rookie to capture the edge or hold up in pass pro against a real star player? How many resources do you have to commit to helping that position. And, in the case of Green Bay, how are you going to account for the other new players along the line that are also green and playing against superior opponents?”

The answer for LaFleur was to drastically alter his approach from the first two games.

According to Pro Football Focus, Love’s average depth of target in the first two games was 13.1 yards, a whopping 2.3 yards more than any other quarterback. His average depth of target on Sunday was 1.7 yards, a staggering 2.2 yards less than any other quarterback.

Of the eight offensive linemen who were put on the field, they either did not play long enough or did not play well enough for the offense to function.

Morgan, Walker, Rhyan and Jenkins all allowed three pressures, according to PFF. Jenkins was charged with two sacks, and Morgan, Walker and Rhyan were blamed for one apiece. Banks, who only played in the first half, allowed one pressure (a sack).

Tom played only one snap. Darian Kinnard, who was the last lineman on the bench when Walker left to get his helmet repaired, played four snaps.

Of those performances, Morgan might have been the most disappointing. Not only did he give up one sack and three pressures, he was one of the men responsible for the blocked kick on the potential game-winning field goal. Plus, he was penalized twice.

Having spent training camp at left tackle when Walker was injured, at left guard when Banks was injured and at right guard to compete against Rhyan, and then having to play right tackle on Sunday – that’s the position he was playing when he allowed the sack – perhaps Morgan is being spread too thin.

Morgan has made it clear he feels most comfortable at left tackle. That’s where he played at Arizona and where he competed with Walker for a big part of training camp.

“I can (play guard),” Morgan told Packers News during the offseason. “But, at the same time, I’m a left tackle and they know that. It’s just going to be a matter of who does better that week, who’s the sharpest and who’s the most focused.”

For now, Morgan has not gotten his wish. He’s played all three games, but not at left tackle. He’s played 108 snaps at left guard (for Banks), 30 snaps at right tackle (for Tom) and 15 snaps at right guard (in a rotation with Rhyan).

As a first-round pick last year, he missed most of his rookie training camp with a shoulder injury. He played in six games before being placed on injured reserve following shoulder surgery. Sunday’s game was the ninth of his career.

The Packers have prided themselves on cross training their offensive linemen, which has helped add to the depth. But are they putting too much on the young Morgan this early in his career?

LaFleur seemed to think so.

“I think there’s some merit to that, for sure, especially when you look at just yesterday playing multiple spots in one game,” he said on Monday. “I don’t think that’s easy on anybody, especially a guy who’s still a relatively young player. That’s something we’ve got to look at.”

Morgan is not the only one. Offensive linemen almost always talk about how important it is to know who is next to them.

“Any one position as a sum of its parts is very difficult to master,” Wahle said. “Players entering the league have to refine or change their techniques, adjust to a new system with new language requirements and levels of complexity, and deal with the fact that every rep, every movement is going to be dissected like never before on the national stage.

“That’s tough sledding these days, not to mention the name of the game is winning our 1v1 matchups; putting together a game plan against two, three guys at one position is hard enough.”

The key point is that offensive lines are units as opposed to five individuals.

The 2014 group is the perfect example. Of the 90 potential starts, their No. 1 unit played 89 together. 

The 2025 group has not had the same starting five in back-to-back games this season and probably won’t on Sunday in Dallas.

That doesn’t even account for the fact Banks is a new player breaking in at left guard and Jenkins is a full-time center for the first time in his NFL career.

That lack of continuity could have been a big reason for the amount of pressure Cleveland was able to generate on interior stunts, which Banks, Jenkins and Rhyan struggled passing along.

Those are technical issues that can be fixed with more reps, but those have not been available as the Packers have had to play musical chairs.

“This (playing a lot of players) compounds the problem particularly with the younger guys who are not only learning the system but figuring out how to execute their techniques,” Wahle said.

“That’s why Jenkins has been such a valuable player for this team; from early on he could play multiple positions in a pinch and maintain a high level of performance. The casual observer might think switching stances is not a big deal. It’s not quite the same as playing basketball with your off-hand, but the automation of your technique is not the same as your dominant side.

“It takes thousands of reps to get automatic with one specific technique on one side. With cross training, young players have a chance to take those thousands of reps in multiple scenarios ... but it takes a lot of extra time to master. That time usually occurs outside of practice.”

Practice time has not been there due to injuries to Banks and Tom. Morgan has been asked to play a multitude of techniques out of necessity. Rookie second-round pick Anthony Belton has played left tackle and right tackle. Kinnard was acquired in a trade just before roster cuts.

The results have been devastating. According to PFF, Love has been pressured on 40.9 percent of his dropbacks in the first three games. That’s the sixth-highest rate in the league.

How does that get fixed?

LaFleur already gave one solution, suggesting they let Morgan focus on one or two positions. The other hope is the starting linemen get healthy and stay healthy to get some of the kinks worked out that have plagued them early in the season.

That will help the offense in both phases, especially the run game, which has struggled mightily through three games.