The Green Bay Packers felt the pressure on Sunday evening, as the Minnesota Vikings defense sacked Aaron Rodgers five times in a 17-14 Packers loss.
Green Bay’s offensive line may not have performed up to snuff, and guard T.J. Lang was the first to admit the group needed to do a better job blocking. Lang also described the difficulty of protecting Aaron Rodgers, who’s known to hold onto the ball for long stretches.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Lang told Packers News. “I’m not trying to blame someone else. We definitely have to be better up front, but it felt like there were a couple plays there where it starts getting to five, six, seven seconds, and it can be a little frustrating at times. We know we’ve got to block as long as Aaron is holding the ball, because that’s when he can make some of the big plays when he extends it. But, yeah, it’s a team game.
It’s a small, truthful dig at Rodgers. The 32-year-old is a brilliant, game-changing quarterback, but he does leave the offensive line in danger with his unpredictable scrambling nature.
Lang admitted its “a little frustrating” to see Rodgers get sacked late during plays.
“If we’re not getting anybody open, and he’s scrambling around and he gets sacked, it’s on the whole offense. Everybody’s got to do their job. But, yeah, I don’t want to point fingers at anybody else. First and foremost, we’ve got to be better up front, but when it comes to you see some of those hits and sacks kind of late in the play, it gets a little frustrating.”
Lang is frustrated. His job is to protect the quarterback and his line gets the brunt of criticism after games like Sundays. Rodgers leaves himself more vulnerable than most quarterbacks, so Lang’s job is even harder than most. But, that’s life playing with Rodgers.
