The versatility of the Green Bay Packers' young offensive linemen is proving to be valuable.
On Sunday night against Chicago, Jason Spitz took over for Scott Wells at center late in the third quarter after Wells was poked in the eye on a third-down running play. On Monday, Head Coach Mike McCarthy announced that Wells has a fractured orbital bone and will in all likelihood miss Sunday's game against Washington, forcing Spitz into his first start at center.
But the second-year pro, whose 14 NFL starts to this point have all come at guard, is up to the task. The four offensive series he played at center on Sunday constitute by far his most extensive experience at the position, but with Wells nursing a mild hamstring strain the past couple of weeks, Spitz has taken a significant share of the practice snaps at center and feels ready.
"I've got enough reps during the preseason and during the regular week to work on my snaps, so that's not an issue," said Spitz, a third-round draft choice in 2006 out of Louisville.
While the offense sputtered in the second half against the Bears, McCarthy said it was by no means because of the change at center. One area where the change may have affected the offense was in the 2-minute drill down the stretch, when it seemed to take longer than normal to snap the ball in the shotgun as precious seconds ticked away with the Packers needing a touchdown to tie the game.
"Our mechanics as far as the time for the snaps was not where it needed to be," McCarthy said. "The communication as far as the set-up, we actually did take a lot more time than you would have liked. I'd like to think we could have had another opportunity or two. We were not as crisp as we've been there."
Spitz said he feels the timing will get better with more practice in the hurry-up mode.
"I guess you can put that on me, maybe not having the rhythm down in the 2-minute drill," he said. "We'll need to speed that up a little bit."
Wells' injury is not considered too serious. McCarthy said he would probably be able to play after the bye week, so he may miss just the one game.
McCarthy has said often that Wells has been the most consistent of the team's offensive linemen to this point, and it will be paramount to avoid any significant dropoff in his absence.
"Jason Spitz I thought did a good job with the declaration and the calls," McCarthy said of his play Sunday night. "But I'm not naïve to the fact that the timing is probably not exactly the same and so forth."
Let's talk
McCarthy re-iterated on Monday that he would have a talk with Mike Pereira, the league's director of officiating, about the penalty on Corey Williams for lining head-up over the center on a Chicago field goal attempt.
McCarthy said Williams lined up the same way he has for all 21 games of McCarthy's tenure as head coach. The 5-yard penalty gave the Bears a first down, which they converted into a touchdown, a four-point difference in what became a seven-point game.
"I don't think we're all on the same page," McCarthy said. "We just need to get that clarified, because obviously that was a big play in the game."
One man free
In addition to the five turnovers and 12 penalties, one thing that bothered McCarthy and the coaching staff as they watched the film of Sunday's game was that Chicago linebacker Lance Briggs made a whopping 16 tackles.
McCarthy indicated it wasn't any single player's responsibility to block Briggs, but several depending on the play call. But he wasn't blocked nearly often enough.
{sportsad300}"When one linebacker has 16 tackles, there's a problem with that," McCarthy said. "The individual that had the opportunity to block him, whatever play it was, was not getting it done."
Eight of Briggs' 16 tackles came on pass receptions, but he made the bulk of his impact against the run in the second half, when the Packers gained just 19 yards on nine carries.
In the third quarter, Briggs stuffed DeShawn Wynn for a 3-yard loss on third-and-1 that forced a field goal. Two series later, he made three straight tackles on three consecutive runs by Wynn for a three-and-out. He also stopped Wynn for no gain and for a 1-yard gain on two first down plays in the fourth quarter.
"Obviously he's a fine football player, number one, but there were a number of opportunities on the backside where we felt like we didn't take the proper angle," offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "They create a problem with (defensive tackle) Tommie Harris. Sometimes you're so concerned about Tommie Harris that you want to hang onto that combination block, and that puts you at a disadvantage for a guy with (Briggs') kind of lateral mobility."
Especially frustrating was that the Bears weren't doing anything special for Briggs to make such a big impact, but the Packers couldn't limit his tackle production.
"The defense they played was a defense they put in in the first installation, and the runs that we ran were the ones we put in in our first installation," McCarthy said. "So that game was about execution, and they executed better than we did."
Jennings OK
Receiver Greg Jennings left Sunday night's game for X-rays on his shoulder, but they were negative so he returned. McCarthy said the shoulder sprain shouldn't keep Jennings out of action, though it's another reason (along with the previous hamstring problem) to limit his practice time during the week.
Dallas game televised locally
The Packers-Cowboys game slated for Thursday, Nov. 29, on NFL Network will be broadcast locally by WFRV-CBS 5 in the Green Bay area.
