Adam Stenavich spent Tuesday trying to put a little air back in a Packers offensive line situation that already feels too tight for comfort.
The Green Bay offensive coordinator addressed the unit for the first time since the season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings, and he made clear he wasn’t ready to hit the panic button. “I’m not gonna freak out or overreact or anything like that.
This is the first game of a 17-game season.” That may be the official stance.
Around the fan base, the reaction is a little less measured.
The problems up front showed up fast in that loss, especially with the Packers putting Jordan Love in rough spots after turnovers and short fields turned the game into a mess. Stenavich pointed to communication as the core issue, saying the trouble came from “miscommunication upfront.
The backs and linemen not on the same page.” Green Bay had multiple weeks to get ready for Minnesota, which makes the breakdown sting even more, and now the schedule turns around quickly with the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football coming right after the New York Jets on Sunday.
There was also plenty of attention on how the Packers settled on Donovan Jennings at left guard once Aaron Banks was out with knee tendinitis. Jennings beat out a group that included Jager Burton, Anthony Belton, John Williams and Travis Glover, with some of those players either sitting on the bench on offense or being inactive for the game. Stenavich said the choice came down to practice work: “We felt like Donovan was doing a better job in practice.”
That tracks with what Matt LaFleur had already said. The head coach explained the team favored Jennings because of his “time on task.”
Jennings has very little NFL game experience to lean on - just six snaps against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 17 last year - but the Packers had been working Burton with the starting group at left guard through most of camp before shifting him more toward center in the final week. Burton played both spots in college, and Jennings moved into the left guard role from there.
Stenavich also left the door open for Belton to slide back to guard, where he played during the 2025 regular season. For now, Belton has spent both of his NFL training camps at tackle because the Packers have been thin there, but the idea of moving him inside full-time is still on the table for both of his regular seasons.
Then there was the fourth-and-one wrinkle. Stenavich said the ideal option would have been to have Tucker Kraft run the sneak, though the staff didn’t want to use him that way because he was coming off his ACL tear. That stands in contrast to LaFleur’s earlier explanation that Kraft’s injury was not a factor in the decision.
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