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Packers: Perfect protection
JESSE OSBORNE
September 25, 2006
DETROIT - As impressive as Brett Favre's statistical line was Sunday afternoon - the Green Bay Packers' quarterback was 25 of 36 passing for 340 yards and three touchdowns - a closer inspection of the passing game revealed an equally impressive line:
The Packers' offensive line.
Center Scott Wells, guards Daryn Colledge and Tony Moll and tackles Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher shut out the Detroit Lions' pass rush, yielding no sacks and no recorded quarterback hits in Green Bay's 31-24 victory at Ford Field.
"Anytime you can keep (Favre) clean and let him do his job, he's going to do something positive for you," Colledge said. "We know that it's our goal to just make sure he stays off the ground. If he stays off the ground, we have a chance to win."
Neither had happened during the first two games of the season - a pair of losses in which Favre was sacked a total of five times and pressured throughout.
This time, though, a mostly FieldTurf-free Favre was able to turn in his most efficient passing day (127.1 quarterback rating) since a 52-3 victory over New Orleans in the fifth game of last season.
"The protection was outstanding," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "The protection unit, I think they did a really good job helping one another and being in tune with the stress of the protection based on the way they were defending us."
The Packers' line, though, did receive help on occasion.
Green Bay utilized maximum protection schemes a handful of times, with a tight end and/or running back helping the cause. And Favre made several quick throws to further negate a Lions rush that is sackless for two straight games.
Still, the play of the inexperienced interior trio of Wells, who was making his 15th career start, and rookies Colledge and Moll, who were making their second and third starts, respectively, was encouraging.
That group primarily held Lions All-Pro defensive tackle Shaun Rogers at bay for all but a couple of instances.
Rogers, who lined up across from either Colledge or Moll on most plays but regularly was double-teamed, finished with four tackles and only got close to Favre twice.
"We just knew we had to have great technique and we had to just lean on him as much as we could," said Colledge, who started in place of the injured Jason Spitz (thigh) for the second straight week. "If we could get a double team on him, we were going to take it. If we could get an extra shot on him, we were going to take it."
That trio, Colledge said, took "a medium step" forward in its development, but all three acknowledged there is still work to be done.
"No sacks (allowed) is obviously a big deal," Wells said. "Getting a win is another big deal.
"We made a lot of improvements from the last two weeks. We're not where we need to be yet, but we're going in the right direction."
JESSE OSBORNE
September 25, 2006
DETROIT - As impressive as Brett Favre's statistical line was Sunday afternoon - the Green Bay Packers' quarterback was 25 of 36 passing for 340 yards and three touchdowns - a closer inspection of the passing game revealed an equally impressive line:
The Packers' offensive line.
Center Scott Wells, guards Daryn Colledge and Tony Moll and tackles Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher shut out the Detroit Lions' pass rush, yielding no sacks and no recorded quarterback hits in Green Bay's 31-24 victory at Ford Field.
"Anytime you can keep (Favre) clean and let him do his job, he's going to do something positive for you," Colledge said. "We know that it's our goal to just make sure he stays off the ground. If he stays off the ground, we have a chance to win."
Neither had happened during the first two games of the season - a pair of losses in which Favre was sacked a total of five times and pressured throughout.
This time, though, a mostly FieldTurf-free Favre was able to turn in his most efficient passing day (127.1 quarterback rating) since a 52-3 victory over New Orleans in the fifth game of last season.
"The protection was outstanding," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "The protection unit, I think they did a really good job helping one another and being in tune with the stress of the protection based on the way they were defending us."
The Packers' line, though, did receive help on occasion.
Green Bay utilized maximum protection schemes a handful of times, with a tight end and/or running back helping the cause. And Favre made several quick throws to further negate a Lions rush that is sackless for two straight games.
Still, the play of the inexperienced interior trio of Wells, who was making his 15th career start, and rookies Colledge and Moll, who were making their second and third starts, respectively, was encouraging.
That group primarily held Lions All-Pro defensive tackle Shaun Rogers at bay for all but a couple of instances.
Rogers, who lined up across from either Colledge or Moll on most plays but regularly was double-teamed, finished with four tackles and only got close to Favre twice.
"We just knew we had to have great technique and we had to just lean on him as much as we could," said Colledge, who started in place of the injured Jason Spitz (thigh) for the second straight week. "If we could get a double team on him, we were going to take it. If we could get an extra shot on him, we were going to take it."
That trio, Colledge said, took "a medium step" forward in its development, but all three acknowledged there is still work to be done.
"No sacks (allowed) is obviously a big deal," Wells said. "Getting a win is another big deal.
"We made a lot of improvements from the last two weeks. We're not where we need to be yet, but we're going in the right direction."