The Green Bay Packers’ Struggling Offensive Line Faces Another Tough Test In Washington

Quinnen Williams, Sheldon Rankins and the rest of the New York Jets defensive line dominated the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line Sunday.

The Jets had four sacks, hit Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers nine times and rolled out of Lambeau Field with a 27-10 win.

Things don’t get any easier for the Packers’ much maligned offensive line this week.

Green Bay (3-3) travels to Washington (2-4) to face a underwhelming Commanders team. If there’s one area where Washington excels, though, it’s on the defensive line.

Defensive end Montez Sweat and tackles Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen were all first round draft picks. That trio has combined for 10 sacks this season and is a big reason the Commanders rank fourth in the league in sacks (19.0).

“It can give you nightmares if you let it,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of Washington’s defensive line. “If you watch the sack reel or just the pressure reel, their third down is, you’ve got to have a plan for it. And even when you have a plan for it, it still might not go the way you want it to go.

“They just wreck havoc on an offensive line and the teams they’ve played. Certainly a really talented group. I think they’re well coached, they give great effort. So it’s going to be a great test for us.”

Green Bay’s offensive line hasn’t passed enough of its tests this year.

The Packers have allowed 15 sacks, which is tied for 24^th in the NFL. Green Bay is on pace to allow 42.5 sacks, which would be its most since 2018 (53).

Against the Jets, right guard Royce Newman was benched for Jake Hanson. But after just five snaps, Hanson suffered a torn biceps and Newman re-entered the game.

Left guard Jon Runyan allowed four pressures and had his worst game of the year.

Right tackle Elgton Jenkins was penalized three times and had a rough game containing rushers off the edge. And left tackle David Bakhtiari allowed a sack when he failed to pick up a stunt.

“We’ve got to go back to the basics … that’s all we can do,” Bakhtiari said. “It goes back to just being consistent across the board. A guy here, a guy there, if five guys have one mess-up, that’s five bad pass-pro attempts.

“So … the film, we’ve got to go back, we’ve got to correct, we’ve got to be honest with ourselves, something that we talk about with the line. When you put that out there, that’s blood. When you talk about blood, that’s what the defense (or) sharks are going to look at. And until you fix that, they’re going to keep attacking that.”

The Jets used a number of stunts and twists, and Green Bay didn’t handle them well, leading to constant duress for Rodgers.

“We just weren’t ready for it,” Runyan said of the Jets’ pressure. “It’s a reality check. We know what we have to do now.”

One option the Packers have is shuffling their offensive line.

Tackle Yosh Nijman, who made eight starts at left tackle last season, could come off the bench and play right tackle. That would allow the Packers to slide Jenkins back inside, where he’s had his most success.

“I think everything’s on the table moving forward in terms of trying to get our best people out there to give us the best opportunity to move the football,” LaFleur said.

Time will be of the essence for Green Bay to fix what ails it.

Allen and Payne — a pair of game wrecking defensive tackles — share the team lead with 3.5 sacks. The 6-foot-6 Sweat, one of the taller defensive ends in football, had three sacks in his last three games.

And reserve defensive end Efe Obada has 3.0 sacks of his own.

Meanwhile, Green Bay ranks just 24^th in points per game (17.8), its lowest average since 1992 (17.3). The Packers are also a mediocre 15^th in the league in total offense (348.2) and have scored just 37 second half points in six games.

Rodgers has suggested “simplifying” the offense. Whether or not LaFleur agrees remains to be seen.

What the Packers must do, though, is play with greater passion starting Sunday in Washington.

“We’ve got to have urgency with everything we do,” LaFleur said.

He’s spot on.

Because if they don’t, it could be another rough Sunday for Green Bay’s offense.