Jamari Lattimore will be starting at inside linebacker for the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
He’ll take the place of Brad Jones, who injured his hamstring against Detroit. Coach Mike McCarthy said Jones has already been ruled out, though he shouldn’t be gone too long.
“I have to believe it’s not going to be too long, but Brad Jones will not be available this week,” McCarthy said.
Next man up, right? Well, Lattimore is actually the third man up.
When Jones went down on Sunday, the Packers brought in Robert Francois. And of course, he tore his Achilles during the game and is now on season-ending injured reserve.
So, Lattimore. He has 15 career tackles in three seasons. He was pretty impressive during the preseason though, which is something McCarthy pointed out.
“Jamari has played some really good football for us. It’s just a product of the guys in front of him,” McCarthy said. “If you look at the tape, he’s been really good in the preseason the past couple years. He’s made some plays for us on special teams.”
This situation is almost reminiscent of 2010, when the Packers saw two inside linebackers go down. They lost both Nick Barnett and Brandon Chillar.
Both of those guys ended up on injured reserve and that allowed Desmond Bishop to step in and flourish. Bishop recorded 103 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception that season.
Now, we’re not suggesting Lattimore is going to do that and he’ll probably only be in the starting lineup for a short time. However, it wouldn’t be unprecedented for the third guy on the depth chart to play well.
Think I have heard the its not going to be long line a few times before. Might as well at least double the missed games they tell us its gonna be
Ray Lewis is coming out of retirement.
Lattimore will help beat Baltimore,yo!
I hope they let Matthews heal — and not risk his long-term health, or that huge contract.
Keep him out as long as necessary.
How good would he be with a cast anyway?
Cutting Bishop seems like a mistake now, if they had been able to keep him for a reduced salary the Packers would still be in good shape at MLB.
they’ve been talking about this cat being good for a couple of years now. I guess we’re gonna find out, huh? He certainly has a great opportunity, so we’ll see if he takes advantage of it.
This may indeed be another case of serendipity, as hombre talked about.
Brad Jones was playing at a C+ clip at best. If Jamari comes in with something to prove and puts his A game out there, this might actually be an improvement.
The door’s open, just a crack… Kick that motherfucker in J-Latt!
BUP.
This fucker better be ready to stop the run when rice runs up the middle.