In a brutal late-season blow, the Packers are not expected to have their left tackle for their Super Bowl push. David Bakhtiari is believed to have suffered a torn ACL in practice Thursday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
Recently given an offensive line-record contract, Bakhtiari has anchored Green Bay’s front for several seasons. He made his third Pro Bowl this year and is a first-team All-Pro candidate.
Pro Football Focus ranks the 29-year-old left tackle as its No. 2 overall tackle this season. He has certainly boosted Aaron Rodgers‘ chances of winning a third MVP award. The favorites to secure the NFC’s No. 1 seed, the Packers will be hard-pressed to replace the eighth-year standout.
A 2013 fourth-round pick, Bakhtiari did miss time earlier this season. He suffered a chest injury during the Packers’ blowout loss in Tampa. But he returned after a three-game absence. The Colorado alum became an instant starter in Green Bay as a rookie and has never missed more than four games in a season.
Green Bay has deployed a top-tier offensive line this season, with guard Elgton Jenkins joining Bakhtiari as a Pro Bowl honoree and center Corey Linsley rating as PFF’s runaway top center. The Packers lead the NFL in points (474) and rank third in yardage in Matt LaFleur‘s second season. They will face a more difficult road to the Super Bowl as a result of this crushing New Year’s Eve news.
King of false starts and holdings!!
If he was so terrible that he was the king of giving opponents free yards with penalties… wouldn’t that make it more likely for your Vikings to have a winning record when facing him?
Vikings fans talk a lot of smack for being the biggest choke artist of a franchise there is. They hate the Packers more than they love their team. It’s all they have.
Yeah because their trophy case is empty
And will remain empty for eternity.
Can’t talk smack if you’re not in the playoffs
That video is pretty funny.
Coming from the “Kings of losing Super Bowls” that’s pretty fitting. Enjoy January at home!
They always do…it’s all they know. But that Fabre throw vs New Orleans could always be shown on loop.
You spelled “King of beating the Vikings” wrong
Yeah cry me a river Vikings fan. He actually leaves at snap of ball because he watches the ball. How many Super Bowls do you guys have?
Whining Vikings fans. Bunch of sore losers.
Good, now I can see that narcissist Rodgers get the crap beat out him.
You seem nice.
Bears fan here, never want to see injuries and hoping for a speedy recovery for him. Hate to see it happen especially before a crucial rivalry game, but Karma can be a b*tch.
?
Talking smack before the matchup. Just play the game.
So he answered a question… What’s he supposed to say. Nah, boring game, hope we lose..
Christ people are too freakijg sensitive nowadays
you can say that you hope you play well and win, but “beat the piss” out of a team is a bit of a stretch.
Must have been a slow day for the karma hander outer.
I’m a Colts fan y’all can tear me up but your Quarterbacks are Foles and Mitch I mean Mitch has been decent as of late but it’s still Mitch and Foles is well just isn’t good. LT or not the Bears biggest disadvantage is themselves
Big loss. I think we still have enough horses on the line to get it done but losing your top OL and left tackle is brutal.
Next man up the packers will be fine
concussions are not the biggest injury issue the NFL faces – its these sorts of tears.
I’m surprised someone with your smarts would say that. Muscle tears heal in a relatively short span of time but a damaged brain stays with you for life.
+ 1,000
ACL tears ALWAYS take a year to recover from, unlike concussions, which certainly acn have effects, but not always. and yes, its a bigger quality of life issue, but we know the real concern is over lawsuits. muscle tears have a vastly greater effect on production on the field, and are perhaps more avoidable then concussions in a heavy contact sport.
crosseyedlemon needs to walk back his claim that you have smarts.
I meant for an Eagles fan.
It’ll take a dominant RDE to exploit that loss- how many NFC teams have one?
If I know there’s a gap there, I’m pressuring that side. Every time. And it won’t be with just one rusher, either.
Bigger picture, though, is that the Packers will now have to slide protection that way or deploy either a back to block on most downs or have a tight end help/chip. Even if pressure does not get home, they no longer have the luxury of leaving their left tackle on an island without help every game. It will affect their playcalls. Green Bay is already getting the ball out quickly as is, but they may have to rely even more on the rumor or quick timing routes to help protect whomever takes over at LT.
The Saints have a pair of dynamic pass-rushers in Cam Jordan and Marcus Davenport. With Brees’ arm strength diminishing, the Saints have become increasingly reliant on dominating the trenches on both ends. We already saw Kamara benefit from the standout blocking last week against Minnesota (albeit against one of the least formidable defensive lines league wide)
You’re about the 100th person who has completely omitted Trey Hendrickson from the conversation of the Saints pass-rush success this season. Davenport has done little to shed his “bust” status while Trey has put up 12.5 sacks and been a monster all season. Nobody wants to give this dude any respect or seemingly even wants to acknowledge his existence.
No, you’re right. I’m usually more careful about overlooking players, but he must have completely slipped my mind. However, Davenport isn’t what I would call a “bust.” He plays his role well and serves as excellent depth. I’m curious why you think so lowly of him
I should’ve said “potential bust.” I like Davenport and want him to succeed and become this 1B to Jordan cos he has the size and speed that you covet. But he seems destined to be an every-other-year kind of player. He misses a lot of time, as well. If the Saints are resigned to him being the #3 DE on that team, then that seems like a good spot for him. I don’t see the raw potential superstar Payton envisioned when he drafted him.
Yeah, it perplexed me a bit when he traded up to 15 in the draft when Davenport probably would have fallen to them anyway. I would consider him more of a “disappointment” relative to his potential
Easy there buddy. I’m sure he didn’t mean to. No harm done. I actually have really liked Hendrickson since last year-the reason that he’s “breaking out” this year is because he’s finally getting well deserved play time.
You could in limited snaps last year his motor and quickness, and the guy just seems to have an uncanny knowledge of where his other pass rushers are going to be and works his pursuit based off that. That’s impressive to me. It reminds me a bit of Shaq Barrett when he was in Denver, for this reason: you could see, in limited snaps, that both guys’ production as a rotational or backup rusher were all high quality plays. Even when they didn’t reach the QB, they seemed to often get push on a lineman or beat their blocker.
If I could see it as a fan, Dennis Allen did in practice. I’m not high on Allen’s ability to maximize talent on his defense, so I’m not totally surprised that it took missed games by other players for him to finally allow Hendrickson more snaps, but he should done that last season. Barrett eventually left to become a starter. If the Saints do not give Hendrickson a starting role and good contract, he will as well.
You’re right. My biggest concern about the Saints’ offseason is that they’ll blunder it with Hendrickson and he’ll sign with another team.
For the Saints, Kamara just tested positive for COVID-19.
Supposed to say “run” in the last sentence above, not “rumor”. No f-ing idea why autocorrect changes so many of my real words to other ones.
And I just had to edit this post to say “run” because it changed it to “Rubin”. Apparently autocorrect is more scared of the word “run” than the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Anyone who uses “addendum” in their posts probably doesn’t need the services of autocorrect.
Haha you’d think, right? I don’t get why it feels the need to change real words for random ones, but I’m just a lowly peasant. Sell me more $1200 phones, glorious overlords…
I was worried that Rodgers wouldn’t have an excuse for his upcoming annual playoff failure. Now I can relax.
25 mil a year and will never be above average again
I suppose you believe Yelich will never be good again either. He broke his kneecap and THEN got a mega contract.
Bears fan here…
That’s a tough loss heading into the playoffs. Sorry to hear about that. You never want to see a guy get hurt.
Good luck going forward