Green Bay Packers: Bryan Bulaga’s return to enable deeper throws?

By Keegan Matheson | Oct 10, 2015

The Green Bay Packers are expected to return right tackle Bryan Bulaga to the lineup on Sunday against the St. Louis Rams, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers should be breathing a huge sigh of relief. Replacement Don Barclay has done what he can across from David Bakhtiari, but the two have left Rodgers to cover up for dozens of errors over the past few weeks.

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St. Louis will test the Green Bay Packers offensive line even with their top personnel in place, with Chris Long pressuring from the edge and Aaron Donald making a mess of the middle. “It’s a big challenge with their defensive line, especially the matchup with particularly [Rams defensive end Chris] Long. That’s why you take the full week and make sure he’s ready,” coach Mike McCarthy told ESPN’s Rob Demovsky.

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Despite a 4-0 record to start the season led by all-world efficiency of Rodgers, the Packers offense continues to lack a dimension that it has in recent seasons. The deep passing game has taken a hit with the loss of Jordy Nelson, and improving in that area will prevent opposing coordinators from effectively game-planning against their current offensive structure.

Bryan Bulaga’s ability to find Rodgers an extra half-second on a handful of plays may be just enough to kickstart this. The running game has been serviceable, by all means, and the receivers have produced some pleasant surprises. Green Bay just needs a fraction more time to experiment downfield.

Rodgers has seen his yards-per-completion drop to 11.2 this season, down from a career average of 12.5 and a career high of 13.5 in his historic 2011. Randall Cobb, who produced a surprising amount of splash plays alongside Nelson last season, has seen his yards-per-reception from 14.1 in 2014 to 11.6 through four games in 2015.

Jeff Janis was the dark horse to overtake the situational deep role, and he still may, but we haven’t seen the in-game potential just yet. An injury to Davante Adams has also limited the flexibility at wide receiver, while James Jones, despite his miraculous start, is not a downfield threat. Perhaps the play-action game could be the key to unlocking this area of the offense once again, and again, that circles us back to the impact of Bulaga.

Eddie Lacy is a notoriously slow starter, but most of that is a coaching decision made to keep him fresh for the playoff run. He’s matched his 2014 yards-per-carry of 4.6 through 50 carries this season, and as he ramps up production with temperatures dropping, safeties will be forced to lean closer towards the line of scrimmage. I see this as the strongest bet to establishing a deeper passing game, but even the potential of one may be enough.

Even some of Rodgers’ current production to the wide receiving corps has been forced to take a different look. His week three performance against the Kansas City Chiefs put three touchdown passes in the hands of Randall Cobb, but it was Cobb who took those well-placed passes and turned them upfield. If this shorter passing game persists all season, will Green Bay run into a defensive coordinator with the right strategy?

Obviously, this is nitpicking. Green Bay’s defensive resurgence is already beginning to profile them as a more playoff-ready team, but if the return of balance to the offensive line can help Rodgers to push the football vertically, this offense can reach its maximum potential.

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