Packers keep repeating an obvious mistake, and latest loss to the Lions was just another painful reminder of it
Right guard Travis Glover started again in Detroit while veteran Kevin Zeitler sat inactive, and the pressure numbers from the past three weeks are telling.
The Green Bay Packers keep making a choice at right guard that is getting harder to explain. Against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Green Bay started Travis Glover once again and made veteran guard Kevin Zeitler inactive. The Packers signed Zeitler less than a month ago to a one-year, $4 million contract to stabilize the interior of the offensive line.
Early on in the season, Glover was an upgrade over Jacob Monk at right guard, and he helped calm the situation for a stretch. However, his past few games have been rough, and the loss to the Lions was the worst of them.
A rough afternoon in Detroit
Glover led all Packers’ offensive linemen with six pressures allowed against Detroit. Nobody else on the line gave up more than four. According to PFF’s grades, Glover posted a 40.6 pass-blocking grade, second-lowest on the team ahead of John Williams who had to step up as the third-string center.
It’s not as if Green Bay lacks an alternative. After the game, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur walked through the roster math behind Zeitler’s status:
“Getting [Aaron] Banks back was part of that, and you need guys who can come in and snap the ball and play center,” LaFleur explained. “We were down to our third center [on Sunday], so I can’t say enough about the job John Williams did coming in in a hostile environment and handling the operation and communication. Losing two centers that quickly in the game was a little terrifying, but I thought he did a really good job.”
The Packers went with Williams, Monk, and Banks as the backup offensive linemen, which left no room for Zeitler on the gameday roster. From a positional standpoint, that part is understandable. Green Bay needed bodies who could snap the ball, and Zeitler can’t play center at this point.
The real question is at right guard
Whether Zeitler is active or not is not the main issue. The bigger problem is that the Packers have no clear reason to keep Glover in the starting lineup over the veteran. Still, quarterback Jordan Love tried to protect his teammate after the game:
“We’ll see. I think Travis has been doing a good job and I have a lot of faith that the coaches will put the best guys out there,” Love said. “Trav has been doing a great job. If Kevin gets an opportunity, we’ll roll with that. We’ll take it week by week and go from there.”
Over the past three weeks, which included wins over the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys and the loss to the Lions, Glover allowed 11 pressures. No other Packers player has allowed more than eight in that span. There is plenty to clean up on Glover’s side, and Love has absorbed much of the damage.
Options beyond Glover
Enough time has passed for any ramp-up period with Zeitler. Green Bay should either play the veteran or offer a reasonable explanation for why it won’t.
Of course, if Glover isn’t the answer, Zeitler might not be either. In that case, the Packers could get creative with Banks and Laken Tomlinson. Both are primarily left guards, but Green Bay could move one of them to the right side. Tomlinson is the more natural candidate since he already played on the right side early in his career.
The Packers face the Carolina Panthers on Thursday, so any change might wait until the mini-bye that follows. Still, after a few games where Glover was passable, he has reached a point where he isn’t anymore, and the offense can’t keep paying for it.
