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Packers by position: Offensive line in the zone
By Pete Dougherty
pdougher@greenbaypressgazette.com
It's not like Alex Gibbs' peculiar zone-blocking scheme is the only one that works in the NFL.
After all, Mike Sherman's Packers twice finished in the top 10 in rushing in his six seasons as coach, including No. 3 in 2003.
But Gibbs' system has a history of sustained success in Denver and Atlanta, and new coach Mike McCarthy, who worked with Gibbs in Kansas City for two years in the early 1990s, hired Jeff Jagodzinski from Atlanta as his offensive coordinator expressly to run Gibbs' system.
That system will face a severe test with the Packers' bedraggled running game, which finished 30th in the NFL in rushing yards last season because of injuries at halfback and serious shortcomings on the offensive line.
This year, General Manager Ted Thompson and McCarthy not only are making the risky projection that at least one of their top two running backs will bounce back from serious injury, but that the backs will have room to run behind an offensive line that might start rookies at both guards.
"(The zone scheme) is something that we believe in," Jagodzinski said. "What you emphasize is what you're going to get. Everybody does some form of it. We're just putting a lot of emphasis on it. I think we're going to be good at it."
The Gibbs-taught system has had a tremendous run since Denver first fully implemented it in 1995. How much of its success is due to outstanding personnel and how much is due to Gibbs' unique way of teaching and integrating it into the offense are open to debate, though.
The Broncos continue to run Gibbs' system, and in the 11 seasons they've used it, they've finished in the top five of the NFL in rushing nine times, plus 10th another. They have had excellent running backs during that time — Terrell Davis was their rushing leader five of those seasons, and Clinton Portis for two. But they twice finished in the top five in the league in rushing with Mike Anderson as the top rusher, and once with Reuben Droughns as their featured back.
Atlanta has used Gibbs' system the last two years and led the NFL in rushing in both seasons. But they've had the premier running quarterback perhaps of all time in Michael Vick, who not only inflates rushing statistics because of his own runs but also occupies defenses because of the threat of the bootleg.
Getting the Packers back into the top 10 in rushing will take some doing, though, because it will require more than having Ahman Green and Najeh Davenport recovering well from season-ending injuries last year, which is by no means a given.
It also will take the quick rebuilding of an offensive line that was a liability in 2005 after Thompson failed to find adequate replacements for departed guards Mike Wahle and Marco Rivera.
The Packers face the scary possibility of opening the season with two rookies as their guards: second-round pick Daryn Colledge and third-round pick Jason Spitz. The two finished organized-team activities in June as the starters, though second-year pro Junius Coston will get a hard look at right guard as well.
"We're going to put a bunch of young kids in position to win jobs, and we'll see how it works out," Thompson said. "But it's going to be up to them to win the job."
Even if both Colledge and Spitz end up being good players down the road, there could be costly growing pains in the immediate future. Jagodzinski points to the 2000 season, when he was the Packers' tight ends coach and rookies Chad Clifton (a second-round pick) and Mark Tauscher (a seventh-rounder) were the starting tackles for the final 10 games. The Packers finished the season 7-3 in those last 10 games.
"You talk about scary," Jagodzinski said. "We had a second-rounder (Clifton) and a seventh-rounder (Tauscher). I'm not saying both those guys (Colledge and Spitz) are going to start, I don't know. But it's been done, and it's been done here with a second and seventh. We'll see how they develop in camp. I'm looking forward to competition at some of these spots."
Thompson drafted both Colledge and Spitz because they fit into the quickness-oriented zone-blocking scheme and projected Colledge as an immediate starter. Though Colledge played left tackle at Boise State, he's been the left guard with the Packers' No. 1 offense since his first minicamp practice.
Spitz, who played mostly center at Louisville, began working with the No. 1 unit during the OTAs in June after Coston showed some inconsistency. Coston still will get his chance, and he also should fit the new scheme — Jagodzinski had targeted him as a possible late-round prospect for Atlanta in last year's draft.
"(Coston) is exactly what they're supposed to look like," Jagodzinski said. "Now we've got to get him to play exactly what they're supposed to play like."
If Jagodzinski is right about Spitz's mentality, though, the rookie's play should only be helped when the pads go on in training camp. Jagodzinski described Spitz as having a tough, combative temperament similar to former Packers center Frank Winters, plus an NFL-ready ability to use his hands.
"I'm not exaggerating this, he's got the best hand placement of any young guy I've been around, the best," Jagodzinski said. "He gets his hands in there so tight and fast, it's uncanny. You coach the hell out of that, and he came in here doing that."
The Packers drafted and groomed Scott Wells to replace Mike Flanagan at center eventually, and this is the season for the third-year pro after Flanagan signed with Houston in free agency.
The line sustained a loss in depth at tackle in the offseason when Kevin Barry's torn quadriceps tendon ended his season. Adrian Klemm probably will be the top backup at both tackles, with Will Whitticker, fifth-round project Tony Moll and perhaps rookie free agent Josh Bourke contending for the other tackle roster spot.
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