Add Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the list of guys who are confident in the team’s tackles. Rodgers joins GM Ted Thompson in saying he isn’t worried about rookie David Bakhtiari, who’ll start at left tackle, and 2012 undrafted free agent Don Barclay, who will presumably start at right tackle.
During his Wednesday media session Rodgers was asked how high his confidence is in that group — a group that everyone else seems to have no confidence in.
“It’s very high, it’s very high. Don has played a lot for us, Marshall has obviously played a lot for us, and David is a very confident guy, who has a good set, and you just need to trust his fundamentals. He’s up against a Pro Bowl guy (Aldon Smith) who’s one of the best in the business, who is continuing to get better. You can see it on the film. He’s still as athletic as anybody, he’s playing the run really well and it’s a tough test, but that’s what you want. If you want to be considered an elite player at your position, like I know David does down the road. He’s a confident guy, then these are the kind of matchups you want.”
Well, I don’t know if that’s the matchup that we want.
Smith is coming off a season where he registered 19.5 sacks, so he’s going to be a load for Bakhtiari to handle. Barclay has the slightly easier task of facing Ahmad Brooks, who only had 6.5 sacks last season.
As Bakhtiari and Barclay go is probably how the Packers offense will go and make no doubt about it, these are two of the key matchups of Sunday’s game.
Rodgers was sacked an NFL-high 51 times last season.