When it comes to the offensive line, there is one major thing that you want to be able to see, and that is consistency. You want to be able to see your top guys do well, and stay healthy, because the communication between tackles and guards, and guards and centers is incredibly important. So when the front side of Aaron Rodgers is in danger on Sunday, it will mainly be because Bryan Bulaga is missing game time due to a knee injury suffered in practice on Thursday.
Bulaga has been on the right side of the Green Bay Packers offensive line for a long time. He was selected by the Packers in the 2010 NFL draft in the first round. He started his career on the right side of the line, then was going to be shuffled to the left side with Josh Sitton during the 2013 off-season to better protect Rodgers, but ended up tearing his ACL that season. That's when the Packers put David Bakhtiari on the left side at tackle and Bulaga ended up playing with T.J. Lang on the right side. Last year is when Corey Linsley came into the league playing center and that's when the whole gang got together.
There was a game during the 2014 season where Bulaga was not able to play due to the MCL issue. But he only missed one game as he was hurt in the season opener, against the Seattle Seahawks, and returned during week three. Don Barclay will fill in during his absence this year, as he was unavailable last year due to tearing his ACL in the preseason and that left Marshall Newhouse as the backup swing tackle for the Packers last season. It is quite safe to say, that Barclay is an upgrade over Newhouse.
All the Packers fans out there are definitely wishing Bulaga a quick recovery, but with the midweek injury it would be a surprise to see him back too quickly. Since he had been hurt on a Thursday and was back after missing the week two game, this writer would project he will miss Sunday's game against the Seahawks, and then a week three Monday night game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Those two teams both have a great pass rush, so Bulaga will be missed. Bulaga will probably return against the San Francisco 49ers at the earliest.
