Matt LaFleur acknowledges mistake that could be costly for the Packers over the next few weeks
Zach Tom wasn’t fully healthy.
If you looked throughout the week at how Zach Tom was moving, you could clearly see that the right tackle wasn’t fully healthy.
However, the Green Bay Packers thought before the Cleveland Browns game it was enough for the starting offensive lineman to give it a shot. Well, the shot was no longer than one play. Tom couldn’t actually play through his oblique injury, and the frustration after the 13-10 loss to the Browns was inevitable.
“Obviously, yeah, I would say if a guy plays one play, we’ve got to have some discussions about not allowing that to happen,” head coach Matt LaFleur said after the game. “It’s disappointing when he plays one play.”
At least, LaFleur said on Monday that Tom didn’t further injured the muscle, which means he will keep making progress to return as soon as possible.
That decision, though, put the Packers in a difficult situation. Jordan Morgan, who had never played games at right tackle, stepped in. But throughout the game, left guard Aaron Banks suffered another injury as well, forcing Morgan to move inside. Rookie Anthony Belton was the right tackle from that point on.
Banks, who had also missed the Washington Commanders game in Week 2, was a different situation, though, and LaFleur is more comfortable with the approach to play him.
“Banks, I don’t think that was the case,” LaFleur explained. “He had a different injury. It is what it is. It happens.”
Offensive line performance
With Morgan at left guard and Anthony Belton at right tackle, the Packers once again had to handle an extreme situation. At one point, left tackle Rasheed Walker had to be out for a few seconds due to a problem on his helmet, so Belton moved to the left side, with Darian Kinnard in at right tackle.
That means the eight active offensive linemen had at least one snap in the game. The decision to play Zach Tom meant the Packers didn’t activate Donovan Jennings to play against the Browns, so there was no offensive lineman left on the bench.
With 40% of the starting offensive line missing most of the game, results weren’t pretty.
“Number one, I think early on they were getting to the quarterback,” LaFleur analyzed. “A lot of those longer-developing routes, if you’re going to play man coverage, you have to be able to protect better. From my perspective, [Jordan Love] was under duress for the majority of the game.”
Obviously, the Browns offer a uniquely difficult challenge with their strong defensive front, which includes Myles Garrett, but LaFleur is focused on creating better plans to mitigate issues.
“We have to look at some of the things we’re asking our guys to do in terms of protection schemes,” LaFleur mentioned. “We have to do it better and come up with better stuff to put them in better positions to go out there and compete.”
Now, Zach Tom will possibly miss the Dallas Cowboys’ game on ‘Sunday Night Football’ next week. After that, the team has a bye before playing the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 6. At that point, Green Bay has the option to activate interior offensive lineman Jacob Monk from injured reserve.
It’s still unclear when Tom and Banks will be back, but LaFleur will have to find ways to protect their depth pieces—and the decision to anticipate the right tackle’s return didn’t help the mid-term outlook.
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