File this under “To The Surprise Of No One.”
The Green Bay Packers and guard T.J. Lang didn’t exactly part on good terms. As we found out earlier this week, Lang was insulted by the way the team handled him during free agency.
Now Lang is a member of his hometown Detroit Lions, one of the Packers’ NFC North rivals and the team they beat for the division title in 2016.
All of this sets up for the obvious.
The Lions face the Packers twice a season, the former Packers player has no allegiance to his former team because of the way they treated him and, being that he played eight seasons there, he knows all about their inner workings.
“I was talking to a defensive line coach actually just yesterday. He was asking me, ‘I kind of felt like you guys knew what we were doing.’ I just gave him some tips,” Lang said. I mean, we kind of studied film. It was a great conversation because he’s like, ‘We need to do a great job of switching it up.’ I bring a little bit of knowledge to obviously some keys and tips of what I’ve seen throughout the years…
“But yeah, like I said, I’m kind of excited to share that information with those guys, and also on the flip side, learn something from them, too. How they used to attack same and what they think about going against offensive linemen. Yeah, it’s going to be pretty positive and it’s only going to make us better.”
Obviously, this is bound to happen when you let one of your veteran players sign with a division rival.
It’s also bound to happen when you anger or disrespect a veteran player before they do so. Lang won’t be the first former Packer to offer advice to the Lions on how to beat Green Bay.
Remember, Brett Favre once did the same thing and he didn’t even play for the Lions.
TT (and perhaps Russ Ball) is/are douchebag(s) with NO foresight. Losing Lang was a huge mistake. We beat Detroit by 1 td each time that we played them. The schemes and info that Lang is now providing, plus the loss of him on the O line will more than cover those 7 points. Not good for the Packers on this one.
Agreed
MMTTDCSUCK, we signed Evans today. Guards are easily replaced. Like for example, everyone though Aaron was going to run for his life when we released Sitton. How did that turn out, Taylor played fine.
We signed Evans to replace Lang, so guard isn’t a concern anymore.
Time will tell. TT is usually out to lunch with Free Agency. This year he has a pulse. So what? NE, Seattle and a few others made huge splashes again. This team whiffed on defensive help (unless you count House). Not impressed with the defense that TT did NOT address AGAIN. Sometimes you must be aggressive in Free Agency. I still believe that losing Lang and getting rid of Sitton were not good for this team. Stop gap signings are great, but not healthy fixes. Jeff Saturday comes to mind. CB, ILB, and D Lineman were particularly glaring needs . . . THEY STILL ARE.
He did signed Ricky. He is good. I do agree tho the Patcheaters made big splashes. I agree we need a CB and OLB. This year’s class is deep at corner and the guy I want is Awuzie for corner and TJ Watt.
Lang is sitting out because he’s injured right now. I’d be surprised if he plays every game this year. Lions tied up a bunch of money and we get a draft pick. Can’t wait to see how how it all works out.
I wonder how Sitton feels about Lang playing with those “scumbags” in Detroit. His words, not mine.
Who cares? We have 6 time pro bowler Jahri Evans!
This was a no brainer in my book. Lang was never, ever a dominant guard and you just don’t pay big money for guards. I always thought Sitton and Lang were over rated. Yhey seemed to be OK pass blockers but not so great run blocking. During their tenure we could hardly ever pick up third or fourth down in short yardage situations. It will turn out to be another bad move for the Lions paying that kind of money for an injured over 30 guard.
He made the Pro Bowl last year and he played through injuries. But I agree that was a no brainer considering we signed Evans.