Mike McCarthy openly admits it wasn’t an easy move to make, but one that needed to be made with two games left in the regular season.
After standing by 37-year-old center Jeff Saturday for the first 14 weeks of the season, McCarthy decided to move forward with 26-year-old Evan Dietrich-Smith at the spot during Sunday’s 55-7 win over the Tennessee Titans.
With Dietrich Smith playing the position he and the coaching staff feel he’s best suited for, the Packers’ offensive line went off without a hitch, especially considering the team was playing without starting running back Alex Green, who was out with a concussion.
In his first career start at center, Dietrich-Smith said he felt comfortable in his chemistry with quarterback Aaron Rodgers and it showed. He didn’t commit a penalty or muff any snaps in the rout.
Coupled with the fact the five-time Pro Bowler Saturday had been dealing with back and neck ailments that kept him out of practice two days last week, the Packers officially deferred to the younger, larger and quicker Dietrich-Smith on Friday.
Now, they don’t appear to be looking back.
“The center change definitely was (difficult), but any change is never easy,” McCarthy said. “Really in talking with Jeff and the number of things he’s been fighting through physically, it’s a bit of a stretch on my part. I just felt like if we were going to make this change that this was the time to do it to make sure Evan was ready for the playoffs.”