5 Big Things from the Green Bay Packers road win in Tampa Bay

David Bakhtiari makes his return to the field for the Green Bay Packers

It was a bit unconventional, but Matt LaFleur decided to rotate series between David Bakhtiari and Yosh Nijman. Following the game, LaFleur mentioned that the main reason for this was that they didn’t want Bakhtiari going from zero to 60 after missing so much time. LaFleur was also quick to compliment Nijman for his play during Bakhtiari’s absence.

In his return, Bakhtiari would hold his own against a Tampa Bay defense that entered the game leading the NFL in sacks. This is also a group that blitzes quite often as well. According to Ryan Wood of Packers News, Bakhtiari played 34 total snaps, while PFF credited him with allowing only one pressure.

Overall, I was quite pleased with the performance of the offensive line as a whole. As already mentioned, this was a very good Bucs’ front seven that they were up against.

Although they weren’t overly efficient running the football, Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon found enough success to keep the LaFleur sticking to it, and for the most part, Rodgers had the time in the pocket he needed. I also thought this unit picked up those blitzes quite well. Following the game, Rodgers told reporters that he thought the protection was “great” after taking just one sack and being hit only a few times.

Now we wait and see how Bakhtiari’s knee is holding up after playing on it, but afterwards, LaFleur seemed optimistic with where the All-Pro offensive lineman was at.