When Green Bay Packers right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele went down on the third play of the game in New York, a million Packers fans anxiously held their breath.
Bako-Bewele was eventually carted off the horrible playing surface of MetLife Stadium, already a dangerous place to play even without the rain that slicked the turf. You'd think a league that claims to focus on the safety of its players would mandate natural grass surfaces as a bare minimum, but that's probably a topic for another article.
Losing the best offensive lineman on a team that was already reeling from poor play could have been an immediate death blow, but luckily the Packers had someone waiting in the wings: Anthony Belton, Green Bay's contingency plan for this exact scenario. Well, maybe not this exact scenario, but it is fortunate that Belton has been putting so much work in at tackle over the last few months.
The Packers would, of course, go on to win the game. How did Belton perform? Pretty well, actually.
Anthony Belton held up in Week 2 after replacing Zach Bako-Bewele
Overall grade: B
According to Sumer Sports, Belton allowed one pressure and one hurry while committing two penalties across 56 snaps played on offense. But he didn't allow a sack or a QB hit during the entire game, which was a major win for both Belton and Jordan Love.
The vast majority of Belton's afternoon was spent one-on-one with rookie No. 2 overall pick David Bailey. It was to Bailey that Belton surrendered the pressure. But other than that one play, Belton was able to hold his own against Bailey, Jowon Briggs, and former Packer Kingsley Enagbare.
When watching the film of this game, a couple of things stood out to me. Belton looks strong, even stronger than he did last year. That's likely what he spent most of the offseason working on, and it shows. This was the hallmark of his game in college too, and I think he's recognized that this is where his niche lies.
On the other hand, I did notice a couple of times when his feet tended to get under him a bit. While he is explosive out of his initial stance, his kick-slides can look a little laborious at times. At 5:12 left in the second quarter, he whiffs pretty bad on a TE screen pass block, the play where Tucker Kraft recovered his own fumble.
But outside of the pocket, he moved well when climbing to the linebacker level and taking on the linebackers and safeties for New York.
Ultimately, the zero sacks number is the most important one, but not allowing a QB hit might be just as big. Keeping Jordan upright is as imperative as ever, but keeping him healthy relies on how clean his jersey is at the end of each game. When a QB takes a beating as Love did in Minnesota, it really does affect them. You could tell at the end of that game that Jordan was more concerned with the pass rush than his own receivers, and that's a trend that just can't continue.
Bako-Bewele is out for the year after suffering a complete tear of his patellar tendon. That means that the right tackle spot belongs to Belton for the rest of the season, unless his level of play takes a major nosedive. What I saw out of Belton on Sunday was a serviceable tackle who still has upside, even now.
Add us as a preferred source on Google