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With Josh Sitton likely to miss a month because of a sprained left knee, Tony Moll could be starting at right guard for the Green Bay Packers several weeks into the regular season if he plays well enough, starting this week.
Sitton’s agent, Jack Reale, confirmed in an e-mail that Sitton has a sprained medial collateral ligament that will sideline him for about four weeks. The injury does not require surgery.
Moll replaced the rookie after the injury last week at Denver and has been working with the starters at right guard this week.
Moll got off to a poor start in training camp while playing mostly as a backup at both tackles, and for a while, looked like he might be at risk of getting cut. But he’s looked stronger and quicker over the past two weeks, and he’ll get another look at right guard with the starters in Thursday night’s preseason finale against Tennessee.
“I thought early in camp, too (he struggled),” said Joe Philbin, the Packers’ offensive coordinator. “Maybe some of that residual neck thing, he didn’t look the same to me as the guy we had even as a rookie. I’m starting to think maybe he’s feeling a little better, playing more physically. Early in camp, he wasn’t performing all that well, but he certainly is performing better.”
Moll had a neck injury last year in training camp that caused him to lose strength in his left arm and sidelined him for the preseason and first three games of the regular season. The injury was an issue on and off for the rest of the year, though he started three games at right guard because of injuries on the line.
“Since we’ve put on helmets in the spring, I haven’t had one incident affect me,” Moll said of his neck. “ One of the things I really tried to concentrate on was strengthening my neck, getting it to where something like that wouldn’t happen again.”
On guard
Daryn Colledge holds the edge for the starting left guard job, though Philbin insisted that his lead over late-charging second-year pro Allen Barbre is slim.
Barbre, who came into training camp as the favorite to start at left guard, has played his best over the past couple of weeks. There’s been no obvious difference between his performance and Colledge’s in camp. Both had their best games of the preseason against Denver last week.
Barbre was among the players who made the biggest strides on the team in offseason workouts and is one of the best pure athletes on the offensive line, but the Packers are sticking with Colledge, who has 28 NFL starts to Barbre’s none.
“One thing with Daryn, he’s very smart, he knows what he’s doing,” Philbin said. “We thought he hustled and got downfield (to block linebackers) extremely well in the Denver game, he was pretty productive. We see development with him, we think he’s getting better. Is he perfect? No, but none of our other guys are, either. But we thought he played pretty well. There were one or two times where we felt he could have done better, but it’s very close, a very close competition.”
Tough day
Rookie quarterbacks Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn had one of their toughest days of camp on Monday, though Brohm did have a solid 2-minute drill during which he led the offense to a touchdown.
Besides that, though, the two threw multiple interceptions in 11-on-11 drills, including when the Packers were running their offense against a scout team running Tennessee’s defensive scheme.
General Manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy continue to insist they’re strongly considering going with the two rookies as the backups to Aaron Rodgers, though that likely will depend in part on which quarterbacks are released by other NFL teams.
Among the quarterbacks who could be available are Miami’s Josh McCown or John Beck, and Tampa Bay’s Chris Simms.
“I am not disappointed at all with the path and the progress that these two young players have made,” McCarthy said. “It takes time, so if it’s not up to somebody else’s standards, I can’t control that. I am very happy with what I see. They’ll continue to get better, and that’s the most important thing. They need reps, they need to play in games, and that’s why we’ll try to get them as many opportunities as we possibly can this Thursday against Tennessee.”
Law and order
Defensive tackle Johnny Jolly said he will not miss Thursday night’s preseason game despite having a hearing scheduled for Wednesday in Houston.
Jolly was arrested earlier this summer for felony possession of at least 200 grams of codeine in the form of a cough syrup. He would not say whether he was flying to Houston to attend the hearing, though he confirmed he will play.
With Josh Sitton likely to miss a month because of a sprained left knee, Tony Moll could be starting at right guard for the Green Bay Packers several weeks into the regular season if he plays well enough, starting this week.
Sitton’s agent, Jack Reale, confirmed in an e-mail that Sitton has a sprained medial collateral ligament that will sideline him for about four weeks. The injury does not require surgery.
Moll replaced the rookie after the injury last week at Denver and has been working with the starters at right guard this week.
Moll got off to a poor start in training camp while playing mostly as a backup at both tackles, and for a while, looked like he might be at risk of getting cut. But he’s looked stronger and quicker over the past two weeks, and he’ll get another look at right guard with the starters in Thursday night’s preseason finale against Tennessee.
“I thought early in camp, too (he struggled),” said Joe Philbin, the Packers’ offensive coordinator. “Maybe some of that residual neck thing, he didn’t look the same to me as the guy we had even as a rookie. I’m starting to think maybe he’s feeling a little better, playing more physically. Early in camp, he wasn’t performing all that well, but he certainly is performing better.”
Moll had a neck injury last year in training camp that caused him to lose strength in his left arm and sidelined him for the preseason and first three games of the regular season. The injury was an issue on and off for the rest of the year, though he started three games at right guard because of injuries on the line.
“Since we’ve put on helmets in the spring, I haven’t had one incident affect me,” Moll said of his neck. “ One of the things I really tried to concentrate on was strengthening my neck, getting it to where something like that wouldn’t happen again.”
On guard
Daryn Colledge holds the edge for the starting left guard job, though Philbin insisted that his lead over late-charging second-year pro Allen Barbre is slim.
Barbre, who came into training camp as the favorite to start at left guard, has played his best over the past couple of weeks. There’s been no obvious difference between his performance and Colledge’s in camp. Both had their best games of the preseason against Denver last week.
Barbre was among the players who made the biggest strides on the team in offseason workouts and is one of the best pure athletes on the offensive line, but the Packers are sticking with Colledge, who has 28 NFL starts to Barbre’s none.
“One thing with Daryn, he’s very smart, he knows what he’s doing,” Philbin said. “We thought he hustled and got downfield (to block linebackers) extremely well in the Denver game, he was pretty productive. We see development with him, we think he’s getting better. Is he perfect? No, but none of our other guys are, either. But we thought he played pretty well. There were one or two times where we felt he could have done better, but it’s very close, a very close competition.”
Tough day
Rookie quarterbacks Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn had one of their toughest days of camp on Monday, though Brohm did have a solid 2-minute drill during which he led the offense to a touchdown.
Besides that, though, the two threw multiple interceptions in 11-on-11 drills, including when the Packers were running their offense against a scout team running Tennessee’s defensive scheme.
General Manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy continue to insist they’re strongly considering going with the two rookies as the backups to Aaron Rodgers, though that likely will depend in part on which quarterbacks are released by other NFL teams.
Among the quarterbacks who could be available are Miami’s Josh McCown or John Beck, and Tampa Bay’s Chris Simms.
“I am not disappointed at all with the path and the progress that these two young players have made,” McCarthy said. “It takes time, so if it’s not up to somebody else’s standards, I can’t control that. I am very happy with what I see. They’ll continue to get better, and that’s the most important thing. They need reps, they need to play in games, and that’s why we’ll try to get them as many opportunities as we possibly can this Thursday against Tennessee.”
Law and order
Defensive tackle Johnny Jolly said he will not miss Thursday night’s preseason game despite having a hearing scheduled for Wednesday in Houston.
Jolly was arrested earlier this summer for felony possession of at least 200 grams of codeine in the form of a cough syrup. He would not say whether he was flying to Houston to attend the hearing, though he confirmed he will play.
