GREEN BAY, Wis. – Moving from right tackle to left tackle, like Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Billy Turner did the past three games, isn’t as easy as riding a bike or falling out of bed.

“How I refer to this is something that I heard Packers legend Josh Sitton say a few years ago in Miami, and that is, ‘It’s like wiping your ass with your opposite hand.’ And if you’ve ever tried that, I’m sure you know,” Turner said on Thursday.

Turner is one of the unsung heroes of the Packers’ 6-2 start. After an underwhelming first season in Green Bay as the starting right guard, Turner was shifted out to right tackle to replace longtime starter Bryan Bulaga. He was excellent at a position that is practically as important as the left tackle in terms of taming top pass rushers.

When four-time All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari suffered a chest injury at Tampa Bay, Turner started the last three games at left tackle. At least he had the practice week to prepare. Last week at San Francisco, after fill-in right tackle Rick Wagner aggravated a knee injury, Turner had the 12-minute halftime to get ready for his move back to right tackle.

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Sports Illustrated wrote:

Almost like maybe Bakhtiari is a luxury. Could we get by without his cap hit?

Originally Posted by: nerdmann 

Almost like maybe Bakhtiari is a luxury. Could we get by without his cap hit?

Originally Posted by: nerdmann 

I was listening to a Packers podcast a few days ago that spoke about this. While Turner has done fairly well he really hasn't faced any DE/Edge who would be considered remotely elite. Do you want Turner or Bak facing the big boys like Mack, the Bosa brothers or Donaldson? I take Bak every time.

Originally Posted by: wpr 

Pay a guy $22 million a year to get steamrolled by Mack, Bosa brothers or Donaldson or pay someone $5 million a year. Spend wisely. 🧐

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

Bak did not get steamrolled by anyone.

According to PFF Bak is 89. (90 is elite.) with 0 sacks allowed.
Last year 79.5 with 2 sacks.
In 2018 he was 88.9 4 sacks
2017 87.7 1 sack. It shows his penalties but they too are very few. QB pressures are behind the paywall.

Turner- 65.8/2
2019- 64.8/6
2018- 64.4/3
2017- 41.5/1

When I first saw how well Turner was doing my reaction was let Bak walk. When I realized Turner was facing lesser competition, I decided I would like to see he working against the better players before I anoint him heir to the LT position.

Originally Posted by: wpr 

Do those grades exclude when the OL gets ran backwards into the QB or RB causing a play to crumble? Maybe they missed both 49ers games and the Chargers game? PFF? I say, pfft.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

Do those grades exclude when the OL gets ran backwards into the QB or RB causing a play to crumble? Maybe they missed both 49ers games and the Chargers game? PFF? I say, pfft.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

You will have to discuss with PFF how they come up with their grades. I am sure the poor play that occasionally occurs to Bak is taken into consideration otherwise he would have a 100 or at least a 99.9 obviously he doesn't so he is not prefect but pretty damn near.

As for RB errors, that's on him. Some sacks are attributed to Aaron. Some to the line or a TE, WR or RB. The same holds true for incomplete passes. Some of the time is the QB and other times the WR. Still there are times when it's nobody's fault because the defender made a great play.

Look I don't buy into everything that PFF says but it is a starting point for a discussion. If you have access to a better metric bring it on.

Originally Posted by: wpr