Green Bay Packers right tackle Bryan Bulaga overcame a knee injury and produced a “clutch performance” against the New York Giants on Sunday, according to his coach.
“I thought he did a really good job,” Matt LaFleur said after Sunday’s win. “What a clutch performance in terms of being able to battle back through a pretty significant injury. Really happy for him. I think it speaks a lot about who he is as a man, as a player. He is really important to this football team.”
Bulaga left last week’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers and didn’t return, opening up the possibility of the veteran right tackle missing one or more games with what was eventually reported to be an MCL sprain.
Instead, Bulaga returned to practice on Thursday, practiced again on Friday and played all but three snaps against the Giants. Despite iffy weather conditions, he allowed nothing more than a single pressure over 64 snaps.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was appreciative of Bulaga’s performance. Not just the quality of the play, but the leadership aspect of playing through an injury.
“I told him how proud I am of him after the game,” Rodgers said Sunday. “It sets a great example about the difference between being hurt and being injured. For Bryan to push through the pain and to play, that’s why he’s a leader of our football team and has the respect of the guys. He’s just stubborn enough to want to get back out there every week.”
Rodgers wasn’t sacked and took just two quarterback hits despite dropping back to pass 36 times.
“Protection was great all day. I told the guys, that was a nice, fairly clean day,” Rodgers said. “It felt very comfortable at times.”
