‘Whoa’: How Packers Adjusted to Bakhtiari’s Unexpected Absence
GREEN BAY, Wis. – On Saturday, before the Green Bay Packers hopped on an airplane for Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders, left tackle David Bakhtiari said his troublesome knee didn’t feel right.
Coach Matt LaFleur added him to the injury report as questionable but held out hope that the team’s best offensive lineman – one who had started the previous four games and took part in all six practices the past two weeks – would be fine by gametime.
On Sunday, when the Packers arrived at FedEx Field, Bakhtiari went through a pregame workout. Bakhtiari didn’t feel good enough to play. So, not long before inactives had to be reported 90 minutes before kickoff, rookie Zach Tom learned he’d be making his first NFL start.
“It was definitely pretty, ‘Woah,’” Tom said on Monday.
Same for LaFleur.
While every gameplan has contingencies built in, the team had practiced all week under the assumption that Bakhtiari would be one of the stabilizing pieces on the team’s shuffled offensive line.
Instead, LaFleur had to quickly adjust to a new, unplanned offensive reality.
“Let’s just say I was a little bit later getting out to the pregame warm-up than typical, shuffling some things around,” LaFleur said. “But it is what it is. In a game, that may happen and that’s even more chaotic. But at least you had some time to kind of re-organize some things. Obviously, it didn’t necessarily help us.”
When healthy and in his five-time All-Pro prime, Bakhtiari could be counted on to win basically every snap, regardless of the individual matchup. He was the gold standard of a premium position. The ACL tear sustained on New Year’s Eve 2020 changed the trajectory of his career.
Three surgeries later, he made his 2022 debut in Week 3 at Tampa Bay. With Bakhtiari rounding into form over a span of four consecutive starts, LaFleur could take more liberties with the plan and play-calling. Maybe Bakhtiari couldn’t go one-on-one on every snap, but he could on a lot of them.
With Bakhtiari out and Tom in, LaFleur had to scrap a chunk of his play sheet.
“There were some plays that definitely got ruled out,” LaFleur said. “I don't care who you’re putting over on that left side: Montez Sweat is a really good player. So, there was going to be some chips regardless of whether Dave was in there or not. But there were some plays that we made just kind of one-way plays to account for that. Certainly didn’t want to put Zach in a tough position. I commended him for his ability to go in there and play the way he did. I thought he did a nice job.”
Tom limited his critique to “all right.” LaFleur was probably more accurate. While Tom was given help, whether it was a bit of extra protection or a barrage of quick passes, he did not allow a pressure as the Packers threw the ball early and often. There were plenty of reasons why the Packers lost. Tom was not one of them.
That was quite an achievement. With Bakhtiari practicing all week, Tom said he got only a “few” snaps at left tackle and each of the other offensive line positions during the week. Obviously, that’s not a great way to prepare for a first professional start.
He said it was “huge” to line up next to Elgton Jenkins, who was back at left guard after starting at left tackle in place of Bakhtiari last year and the previous five games at right tackle this year.
“He obviously knows all five positions, so he knows the offense pretty well,” Tom said. “Just having him right there to be able to communicate with me, even tell me stuff during the game about any technical stuff that I can do better, just having that – and even Bakh being on the sideline, he was watching me, too, so having him there to give me tips and things that they see.”
This weekend’s turn of events was a harsh reminder of the impact the knee injury has had on Bakhtiari’s career. He might not be fully back this year. He might not be fully back ever. The Packers and Bakhtiari have to find that elusive sweet spot between practice reps and game availability. They thought they’d found it. They were wrong.
“It’s about balancing the workload,” LaFleur said. “It’s the total overall workload. He’s been limited [at practice] every day. It just kind of got to that situation where he wanted to practice and so, it’s unfortunate it went that way. But we’ve been doing that the last couple of weeks and he’s been able to play and play at a pretty good level. We’re a better offense with him, no doubt about it.”
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