Quarterback Brett Favre certainly doesn't want to spend the rest of the season getting sacked and knocked around like he was in last Saturday's preseason opener at San Diego.
But Favre isn't about to push the panic button with the Packers' young offensive line just yet.
Favre indicated in his press conference on Wednesday that the rest of the preseason will give him a better gauge of the line in front of him this year because each game gives rookie guards Jason Spitz, Tony Moll and Daryn Colledge a chance to learn from the previous one.
"I try to think back to my first go-round, and it probably wasn't too pretty either," said Favre, who had a 67.2 passer rating in the 1991 preseason as a rookie with Atlanta, which was lower than any regular-season rating he has posted in the 14 years since.
"They gave great effort. It's a new offense, not only for those guys but for all of us, and it showed.
"I hope it gets better, and it will. You expect, especially as young as we are, that there will be mistakes, you just don't want to see them over and over again. We'll see."
The line's first chance to make up for its shaky performance against San Diego is this Saturday against Atlanta. Favre said that's all he and the team can focus on right now, getting better for that next preseason game.
He reiterated that he can see the talent in the young players the Packers drafted, on the offensive line and elsewhere, but he will have to be patient for everything to fall into place.
"If we can gel together quickly, and we have to do that, there is potential there," Favre said.
The Packers changed the starting offensive line this week after the San Diego game, moving Spitz from right guard to left guard to replace Colledge, and moving Moll from the No. 2 right tackle to starting right guard.
Favre wasn't asked how quickly he'd like the lineup settled, but on Tuesday both Head Coach Mike McCarthy and General Manager Ted Thompson said they don't plan on making it an ongoing game of musical chairs.
"By no means am I looking to go into Week 4 of the preseason not knowing who my line is," McCarthy said. "We will not operate that way. I've been around that before and don't believe in that approach. We're going to gather the information this week and hopefully have a decision sometime next week."
That means a lot will hinge on the players' performance against Atlanta, and Favre said there's no better way to make the offense efficient than to get the running game going.
Favre wasn't surprised the ground game struggled against San Diego, considering the Chargers' well-renowned front seven and their 3-4 alignment, which the Packers had hardly studied.
"When you watch the film there were some potential holes and things like that," Favre said. "I think we'll be fine. We have to be better than we were the other day."
