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When it comes to the long-term health of starting offensive lineman Billy Turner, the Green Bay Packers are running “a marathon, not a sprint.”
Turner was active and available to play during Week 2’s home game against the Detroit Lions after he had missed the season opener with a knee injury, but the Packers still erred on the side of caution and kept their valuable starter on the sidelines for the duration of their 42-21 win while other offensive linemen held strong in his absence.
“I don’t think that was anything that we anticipated,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said in Sunday’s postgame of his decision to sit Turner. “We had Billy Turner take a lot of reps throughout the week at practice, and it was just one of those long-term decisions that we felt was best, although he was suited up, to rest him and try to get him even healthier for the rest of the season. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and I’ve said that many times.”
Turner injured his knee on Aug. 30 during the Packers’ scrimmage and missed the majority of practice leading up to Week 1’s game in Minnesota, which resulted in him being ruled inactive against the Vikings. He seemed to have a better shot at playing in Week 2 and participated in every practice before the Packers opted to play it safe.
On the positive side, Turner was once again practicing for the Packers on Wednesday to begin Week 3, but his status for Sunday night’s road game against the New Orleans Saints could come down to another game-day decision. Some more clarity will come Friday afternoon when the Packers release their final injury report for the week.
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Will Turner Play Guard or Tackle Upon Return?
The Packers seemed set on starting the season with Turner as their right tackle, but his injury has complicated the picture enough that it is now unclear where he will play — at guard or at tackle — once he returns to the lineup.
Turner had emerged as a preferred option to free-agent addition Rick Wagner for the tackle spot during training camp, leaving veteran Lane Taylor to step into his former role as the Packers’ starting right guard. It spoke worse of Wagner that when Turner was unable to go in Week 1, the Packers decided to move Elgton Jenkins, their All-Rookie left guard, over to right tackle as a starter.
But Wagner’s moment finally arrived in Week 2 when he was given the starting nod against the Lions and turned in one of the finer performances of his veteran career, playing on all 73 of the Packers’ offensive snaps. According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, he has also produced a 100% win rate as a pass-blocker through two games.
Now, a successful Wagner certainly buys the Packers some time to nurse Turner back to health as proved on Sunday, but consistently strong play from him could make it illogical for the Packers to replace him with Turner once he returns. The other option would be re-insert Turner at right guard and demoting Lucas Patrick, who has done nothing to deserve it but was always meant to be an interior backup.
“We’re going to try to put our five best out there and if it’s with Billy at guard, then that’s the route we’ll go,” LaFleur said Wednesday. “Thankfully he’s got a lot of experience at both guard and tackle, so we feel pretty good about him no matter where we put him. Hopefully, he’ll be ready to roll.”
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