Packers Will Rotate Guards To Find Right Combination

After a terrible night running the football in the preseason opener against Houston, the Packers will go with a different guard tandem against the New York Jets.

Packers Will Rotate Guards To Find Right Combination

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jon Runyan and Lucas Patrick were the starting guards for the Green Bay Packers in Saturday’s preseason opener, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be the starters for the regular-season opener in 28 days.

“I just kind of wanted to see how they looked out there,” offensive line coach Adam Stenavich said on Sunday. “So far with those guys at the guard position, no one’s really stepped up and risen above the rest, so we just put them out there with the first group and see how they handle it.”

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The Packers have spent most of training camp rotating in three guard tandems with the No. 1 offense: Runyan at left guard and Patrick at right guard, Runyan at left guard and Ben Braden at right guard, and Braden at left guard and Patrick at right guard. While that rotation stopped at Thursday’s practice and Saturday’s game against the Houston Texans, that doesn’t mean the Packers have found their starting combo.

With a practice on Monday and joint practices on Wednesday and Thursday against the New York Jets, Stenavich said he’d probably give one of his other tandems a shot during Saturday’s preseason game against the Jets.

“Yeah, I think so,” Stenavich said. “We’ll kind of see how this week goes in practice versus the Jets and stuff, but I think we will.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Runyan and Patrick were on the field for 18 passing plays. It charged Runyan with two pressures and Patrick with one. On the third series, Patrick missed a stunt that led to Kylin Hill being dropped in the backfield for a loss of 4 yards.

Of the three, Braden probably had the better performance, but he also was playing lesser competition in the second half. So, Stenavich figures to level the playing field this week by elevating Braden into the stating lineup at one of the guard spots.

With All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, his replacement, Pro Bowl left guard Elgton Jenkins, and right tackle Billy Turner inactive, Green Bay’s offensive line struggled against Houston. The pass protection was mostly fine – Jordan Love was sacked once in the first half and Kurt Benkert once in the second half – but the run blocking left plenty to be desired. At one point, the Packers had 17 rushes for 17 yards.

“It was very bad,” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said bluntly.

“We just didn’t block very well,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “We couldn’t even get the runners going until late in that fourth quarter. It wasn’t necessarily mental assignments. It was the technique of our guys. That will certainly be stressed all week and it will be great to go against another opponent once we get into Wednesday and Thursday, just a different scheme, a different philosophy on this side of the ball.”

Those practices against the Jets will play a role in sorting out the starting five for Week 1 at New Orleans. With plenty at stake after a sputtering debut, Stenavich is expecting a better performance.

“I hope that will light a little fire under some guys,” he said. “I definitely thought we lacked intensity. I thought Houston did a good job. We’ve just got to come out there and do a better job executing, do a better job with our fundamentals and most of all just coming across the ball and getting after people.”