Even with Wells out again with a ‘trunk’ injury (what the hell does that even mean?) Allen Barbre can’t lock down a guard spot, having once again split time with Daryn “Alphonso Boone Is My Daddy” Colledge at this mornings practice.

This is getting ridiculous. Barbre was touted by McCarthy all offseason as someone who the organization thought was going to make a big jump this year, someone they thought so highly of there was no need to navigate ‘the dangerous waters’ of free agency, even armed with a stupid amount of cap room and the mother of all catches available for the landing in Alan Faneca.

But instead of naming Barbre the starter, they have fooled around with his splitting time with Colledge, who has pretty much proven that he will be adequate right up until he gets his quarterback killed on one of his horrible, once-per-game lapses in pass protection. Now, they have become overly enamored with a rookie on the right side, but have declared that former right side starter Spitz is too good to be on the bench. So Barbre, even though he has played well throughout camp, and absolutely pummeled people during the Bengals game, sits on the bench while Spitz is doing his best Daryn Colledge impression.

Start Barbre. Let Spitz and Sitton battle it out when Wells comes back. Enough of this.

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… Alan Barbre competing for the left guard spot? I mean, I understand wanting to get your rookie Sitton on the field and all, and the fact that Campen and McCarthy have repeatedly stated that Jason Spitz is their best guard regardless of side (wonder how they feel about THAT statement after watching the tape from Saturday night) but how in the hell does Barbre go from looking good in OTAs, then lining up with the starters on the second day of training camp, to barely being able to sniff the starting lineup?

McCarthy and Campen need to get this fixed and stop screwing around. If Sitton is that good, fine, but Spitz has shown that he can be bullrushed regardless of which side he is on (or even if he’s in the middle - anyone remember his stint at center against the Bears last year? Not pretty) Let Barbe at least get a look in. As Vic Carucci notes over at NFL.com, Barbre looked good against the Bengals. ‘Good’ is not a word that leaps to minds when assessing Spitz’ performance.

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Lost amongst the Favre brew ha-ha, (and really, what football info hasn’t been?) is the fact that starting center Scott Wells has been out with an injured ‘trunk’. (Don’t ask) While no one thinks it’s serious, he’s been out a good couple days now and it is definitely something to watch.

The good news is that Wells absence has allowed rookie Josh Sitton a chance to shine with Jason Spitz moving over to center while Wells is out. (Remember, Spitz was drafted as a center) Watching Sitton during Family Night, I can tell you the kid has the one thing the Packers’ offensive line has lacked since McCarthy installed his zone-blocking scheme. To put it simply, Sitton’s got a bit of nasty to him. The guy keeps blocking up until (and possibly just after) the whistle blows. And for a team that was the worst in the league on third and short, he’s a welcome addition.

Now word comes that McCarthty has indicated that Sitton is being given a chance to win the right guard spot, indicating that Spitz could move to left guard if Sitton was inserted on the right after Wells’ return. Anything that sends Colledge to the bench is fine with me…

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Here I thought that the idea was to infuse the offensive guard position with talent, both through the draft and by letting the talent on the roster mature, and then let the contenders battle it out through the summer and the two players that performed the best would be named the starters for 2008 before the Monday night game against the Vikings.

How old fashioned of me.

Seems the Packers are looking at continuing the philosophy of ‘riding the hot hand’ along the interior of the offensive line. (Though I would posit that what they did last year was go with the healthiest, least bad option…) Via Pro Football Weekly’s “The Way We Hear It” we learn that as many as five players could be shuttled in and out at the guard position, presumably depending on what situation/down & distance the offense finds itself in.

I can not express enough how much I hate this idea.

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And now, Nolan Nawrocki has jumped on the Sam Baker bandwagon.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Thompson grabbing Baker. The kid has a bit of nasty in him, which is something that is sorely missing from the offensive line, and he could easily start from Day One for Colledge. The guard play last year was probably the weakest area on the entire team, even more-so than the play at the nickel corner spot. Granted, Thompson, as we know, won’t draft for need, but with most positions relatively even in talent (ie young and with potential) it frees up Thompson to actually bend a bit towards his teams needs when drafting. Of course, this means he will end up taking another defensive lineman and confounding us all…

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Pound it into submission.

The Giants biggest strength is their defensive line. That line is a big reason the Giants led the league in sacks this season. You can bet McCarthy and his staff are working on more of the power game they unveiled last week against Seattle. The best thing the Packers can do is let guys like Colledge and Spitz beat on guys like Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora from the first snap. Let them dictate the game. Line up Hall and Kuhn and blast them into the line. Like a prizefighter, softening up the body with jabs. Then, send the roundhouse that is Favre to Jennings. Favre to Driver. Favre to Lee. It will all be there for the taking. The Packers just need to establish the line early, especially if Wells is less than 100%, as is being reported today.  If he can’t go, it would be a nightmare scenario for the Packers, having Spitz play center and having Moll start at right guard. Then it would be doubly important to pound the football so that Moll and Spitz can get up to game speed without the threat of getting Favre killed.

Either way, look for the Packers to continue the power game they started last week. It’s their best bet for handling the excellent line presented by the Giants.

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The Packers offensive line had it’s most complete game of the season against the Seahawks last Saturday, and people are noticing. The latest observer to put pixel to screen about the dominating performance of Clifton/Colledge/Wells/Spitz/Tauscher is Michael David Smith over at FootballOutsiders. He does a great job looking at various aspects of the Packers running game and showing the importance of not only the o-line, but the improved play of the tight ends and fullbacks in the running game.

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Packergeeks have done us all a favor and posted a You Tube of the Favre-stumbling-underhanded-flip-to-Donald-Lee-Oh-My-God-He’s-Brilliant play. And it is, indeed, brilliant.

However, what I find more instructive than Favre’s brilliance is the fact that Daryn Colledge has some major problems on the play picking up a pretty standard defensive line stunt. In fact, if Colledge picks up his man correctly, Favre doesn’t get hit at all and all the drama of the stumble and the toss is unnecessary. It’s not a revelation, but Colledge has got to be a major worry for McCarthy going against a pretty impressive defensive line for the Giants.

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