End of the line for Clifton?
By Greg A. Bedard of the Journal Sentinel
Sept. 19, 2010 4:40 p.m.
Green Bay - Probably the biggest lingering question after the Packers' impressive 34-7 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday is what the Packers will do at left tackle going forward.
Veteran Chad Clifton was removed halfway through the second quarter in favor of first-round pick Bryan Bulaga. Officially, it was a coach's decision with an injury factor (Clifton had knee swelling all week). But there's little doubt Clifton struggled for the second-straight week and Bulaga appeared to do a solid job when he was inserted into the lineup.
"Chad Clifton, you know, did not practice twice this week," said coach Mike McCarthy. "He has an issue with his knee. It just didn't look like he was fully recovered so I thought it was important to get Bryan in there."
McCarthy didn't close the door when asked if the switch could be permanent.
"He didn't look good today so...He didn't look like he was healthy," McCarthy said. "He struggled last week through the Philadelphia game. We'll assess it in the morning and set our plan for next week."
McCarthy did praise Bulaga.
"From the production that we accomplished in the second half, I'd say he played pretty well," McCarthy said.
This is obviously a delicate situation for the Packers. Clifton, who is now in his 11th season, has a lot of skins on the wall. And the Packers are careful how they deal with veteran players. Clifton wasn't seen in the locker room in the portion open to the media.
Even offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, after being asked about Clifton, ducked back into the coaches' locker room, presumably to find out what the company line is on the situation.
"Nah, I was just checking what time we're coming in tomorrow after being here for five years," Philbin said with a bit of a laugh.
"I'm not really making a lot of individual evaluations up there (in the coaches' booth) unless they're blatantly obvious. It wasn't like I saw somebody run right by him and whack our quarterback. So that didn't happen. But what was communicated to me was his knee was bothering him a little bit.
"Yeah, we have to look at the tape closely and get a medical report on where everything is at and what the prognosis is and get our best five guys out there that give us our best chance to win."