After High-Level Pain, Packers’ Best Lineman Must Continue High-Level Play

GREEN BAY, Wis. – After suffering an oblique injury in the second half of the Green Bay Packers’ Week 1 victory over Detroit, premier right tackle Zach Tom was inactive for Week 2, played one snap in Week 3 and was inactive again in Week 4.

After the Week 5 bye, Tom was back in the lineup for the victory against Cincinnati. Tom played great but “didn’t feel great” afterward. In fact, he felt terrible.

“I ain’t answering that. No way,” he said when asked to put his pain on a 1-to-10 scale.

Tom played every snap in that game, and he’s played every meaningful snap since that game. He’s played such high-level football that it’s easy to forget he hasn’t had a full-participation practice since before Week 1.

“I think we’re doing some things that are helping me manage it – managing it throughout the week so, come gameday, I pretty much feel 100 percent,” Tom said on Thursday, three days before Sunday’s showdown at the Denver Broncos. “Yeah, just got to keep doing that, attacking the treatment and all that, so we can keep it up.”

According to Pro Football Focus, 59 offensive tackles have played at least 300 pass-protecting snaps. Tom is one of four who have not allowed a sack.

That’s a credit to Tom’s talent and his tenacity, though he said he takes no additional pride in playing well while injured.

“If I’m out there, the expectation is that I’m going to perform,” he said. “I still think I can play better. Obviously, health is never an excuse once you’re out on the field. I always hold myself to a high standard. I just want to go out there and perform. Everybody’s dealing with something so it’s never an excuse.”

Play better? Yes, Tom said. He said he sometimes looks “slow on film,” so he wants to crank up his urgency at the snap. And he can always play with better mechanics.

While that may be true, he has fought through the injury to deliver another elite season. Coming off a superb 2024 season in which he finished third in All-Pro voting among right tackles behind Penei Sewell and Lane Johnson, Tom signed a contract extension at the start of training camp. In regular-season play, he hasn’t allowed a sack in almost a full calendar year and, despite lacking ideal bulk, is one of the top run-blocking tackles in the league, as well.

“He’s always been a really consistent player,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “And guys like him, who just are really intelligent and really just aware of their technique and all that stuff, as they get older, they just keep getting better, and they just keep really honing in on their technique and craft and all that stuff.

“So, this is exactly what I expect from Zach. He’s having a great year, battling through some stuff, but like out there, just being a reliable player on the right side for us.”

Tom will face a big challenge against the Broncos on Sunday. Denver doesn’t just lead the NFL in sacks. It’s on pace to tie the NFL single-season record for sacks. Mostly, he’ll go up against Jonathon Cooper, who had 10.5 sacks last season and has 7.5 sacks this season, though he’ll get some snaps against the Broncos’ best pass rusher, Nik Bonitto, who’s tied with Micah Parsons for third in the league with 12.5 sacks.

“They’ve got two good edge rushers,” Tom said. “Well, really, three or four because they’ve got a lot of depth. The main thing, especially playing on the road, is focusing on the snap count and getting off the ball on time because they do like to jump the count. Just go out there, focus on that and just battle, because they’re a good team.

“It’s not going to be perfect, you might have a bad play here or there, but you’ve got to move on and fight.”

That’s the message for the entire offensive line. The Broncos have arguably the best defense in the NFL. There are elite players at every level of the defense, and especially on the line with Bonitto and Cooper on the edges and Zach Allen at defensive tackle, who leads the NFL in quarterback hits – even ahead of Cleveland’s Myles Garrett.

Green Bay’s offensive line is playing better during the four-game winning streak. The running game has gotten going the past few weeks, with Emanuel Wilson rushing for 107 yards against the Vikings and Josh Jacobs having consistently productive games against the Lions and Bears, and the Packers are seventh in sack percentage allowed.

That’s nice, Tom said. But the only thing that matters is Sunday.

“Yeah, we’re just taking it week to week,” he said. “I don’t really follow the trends or any of that. I’m just focused on the next game. Yeah, we’ve had a little bit of success of late, but it doesn’t matter. The only thing people care about is the next game. We’ve still got to go out and perform on Sunday, no matter what.”

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER

More Green Bay Packers News