GREEN BAY – It's been a good news-bad news week for quarterback Jordan Love and the Packers' offense thus far.
On the plus side, the offensive line has seen an influx of veteran players in an effort to turn the unit's fortunes around, the latest being 15th-year guard Kevin Zeitler, who joins Monday additions Laken Tomlinson and Mekhi Becton Sr. as reinforcements up front.
The downer is the news that receiver Jayden Reed's season is over, as the slot weapon and locker room leader needs surgery on the neck injury he sustained in Week 2 against the Jets.
"Man, we will definitely be missing J-Reed," Love said after Wednesday's practice. "He is one of one. He is a big-time player … Everybody was devastated after the injury to him."
Love added that Reed is "walking around the building and doing OK," and everyone's thankful for that after the scary scene at MetLife Stadium that resulted in him being carted off the field on a backboard with his neck braced.
So while the offense will look to the likes of Skyy Moore and Bo Melton to produce in Reed's absence, the line is in the midst of a major revamp heading into Sunday's game at Tampa Bay.
Whether Zeitler, Tomlinson and/or Becton – all of whom play guard, with Becton currently on the practice squad – can be ready to start right away is an open question.
Zeitler and Becton were both without a team until this week, whereas Tomlinson was on the Cowboys' practice squad, so he'd be the most likely to provide immediate help at his customary left guard spot. That's where Aaron Banks has labored to stay healthy. Zeitler is a right guard, with Becton a converted tackle.
"I think it just calms down the O-line," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said of the elder infusion. "When you have veterans in there who have been through the war, certainly we've got young guys playing beside them, that can definitely settle things down. We're just trying to get these guys integrated, get them up to speed, ramp them up and see what they can do."
The Packers have struggled to run the ball and protect Love through the season's first three games. Injuries to veterans Zach Bako-Bewele, who's out for the year, and Banks, who remains on the injury report and didn't practice Wednesday, have led to shuffling the lineup and relying on youth that hasn't held up.
Among Zeitler (213), Tomlinson (162) and Becton (59), the Packers have added more than 400 regular-season starts up front as they look to get the offense back on track.
"In the NFL you can never beat experience," Love said. "Experience, banked reps, and just having gone through a lot of different things. We'll see. We'll see how these guys do when we get to practice, and get to games, and go from there. But obviously they played a lot of ball, they understand the game."
Improvement is sought across the board offensively, as the ground game hasn't provided any balance and Love has been hit way more than his eight sacks would suggest.
Love said he's physically fine, though of course he doesn't want to keep taking hits, and he acknowledged getting the run game going can assist in multiple ways.
"I think it will help a lot of things," he said. "We always talk about having a complementary offense. Being able to lean on the run game is going to take some of the pressure off the pass protection and not let the D-line just kinda know we're in pass situations. It's something that we've got to improve."
Love put some responsibility on himself, as well, to still complete passes via checkdowns or otherwise when plays break down. Getting consistent, positive yards will get the offense out of its boom-or-bust mode, where there's too much reliance on explosive plays that come and go.
Whatever the solutions, Love believes the only way for the offense to come out of this is collectively, which is why he arranged a get-together earlier this week after Tomlinson and Becton were signed so players could get to know their newest teammates, and vice versa.
"Especially in times like this, when adversity hits, like I said after the game, we've always got to lean in even more – staying together as a team, as a unit," Love said. "We're going to be the ones that fight the adversity and all these things together. It's one of those things that we've done before and we'll keep doing."
