How the Packers Offensive Line Will Improve This Season
Lane Taylor stepped in after the Packers surprisingly released Josh Sitton and stabilized the offensive line.
As the season goes on, I think the interior offensive line play will get better for two reasons.
Offensive line will benefit from cohesiveness
More time together is never a bad thing, especially on the offensive line. The more that these five starters play together – David Bahktiari, Lane Taylor, Corey Linsley, Justin McCray and Bryan Bulaga – the better they will play together.
By and large, outside of the start of a couple games, the offensive line has been okay.
Offensive line needs more experience
Then, you’ve got the issue of experience. Justin McCray is in his first full season as a starting right guard. He is figuring out what it takes to be a starter by playing there – something that never hurts.
Look back to Lane Taylor in 2016. Prior to that, Taylor was an adventure at best and a disaster at worst. Think back to how he played on the road against the Saints in 2015 when he came in for his first extended play. He got housed; it was really bad.
At the start of 2016, Taylor gets the starting left guard job after the Packers cut Josh Sitton for reasons that are still not entirely clear. The net result was that Lane Taylor started, and he’s been as good as Sitton has been since leaving Green Bay or close enough to get by.
Prior to when Taylor started playing, he wasn’t very good. Once Taylor started playing consistently, he got better and better. By the end of the 2016 season, Taylor was playing about as well as you could ever ask him to play.
The longer Justin McCray is out there, and he is the least experienced member of the Packers offensive line, the better he will get.
So, it is concerning early on. Hot and cold is a good way to put it, but I think it’s a good way to discuss it going forward.
