In the week after the Green Bay Packers pulled Chad Clifton from their Week 4 game last year against Buffalo, coach Mike McCarthy was steadfast in public comments that Clifton’s chronically sore right knee would be fine and the left tackle would be back in the lineup the next week.

In an NFL where injury information is famously unreliable, McCarthy’s surety proved true.

Now with Clifton coming off a bad preseason performance Friday night against Indianapolis in which he gave up two sacks and had a holding penalty in one half of play, McCarthy was similarly adamant that the NFL’s oldest starting left tackle at age 35 is not finally hitting the proverbial wall and will be the Packers’ starter this year.

“I have all the confidence in the world in Chad Clifton,” McCarthy said Sunday after the first practice of the week. “Chad Clifton has played at a Pro Bowl level in my time here, and I expect him to play at that level this year. I don’t know what else to tell you. He had a handful of plays (last week) I’m sure he wished he had back.”

Going back to the early 2000s, the Packers have been working an increasingly difficult balancing act with Clifton’s arthritic knees. They need to ensure he gets adequate rest and rehabilitation to keep his knees feeling good, but they have to practice him enough that his play on game day is sharp.

This year in training camp they’ve gone to their greatest lengths in limiting Clifton’s work in 11-on-11 drills. Even with only one practice a day, there have been days when Clifton has taken no snaps in 11-on-11, and in practices he takes part, it’s usually only for a snap or two, whereas quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the rest of the starting offensive line take four or five straight plays.

packernews.com wrote:

I think they were trying to stress 1 on 1 situations, in a real game he would have gotten some help.

Originally Posted by: earthquake 

Not that this is a revelation, but after seeing his performance thus far in the preseason, teams are going to be targeting the hell out of Clifton this year.

Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel 

Where has Clifton struggled over the last couple of years..

On turf, against speed rushers that have a wide range of pass rush moves. Freeney has both is spades.. on we played him on "his" preferred surface.

It did not surprise me in the least that Clifton had his issues with Dwight.. not at all.

I guarantee that if this was anything more than a preseason game.. the protection packages would have set more help on that side. On one of the sacks.. Starks missed a chip before leaking out into the flat. Tough task to ask of a second year back.. but I think that was the point.. the staff wanted to see how he did.

There is little doubt in my mind that, if he can stay healthy, we will see a repeat year from Clifton this coming season.

Just as there was little doubt that Clifton may struggle with speed on turf.. speed with additional moves to be more correct.

So fret little.. Chad will be just fine on that blind corner.

BTW.. this is a recurring conversation after turf games with a dynamic pass rusher with speed. We will have it again at some point.

Originally Posted by: Pack93z