Linsley centre of Green Bay’s attention ahead of NFL season opener

Injury to regular starter leaves rookie facing rough welcome to NFL regular season against Seattle

Ohio State offensive lineman Corey Linsley runs a drill at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis on February 22, 2014. Michael Conroy / AP Photo

Mike McCarthy’s scouting report was brief. In fact, it was not really a scouting report at all. It was just a statement.

"Corey Linsley is our starting centre," the Green Bay Packers coach said. "So, obviously, we feel good about where he is."

That McCarthy did not feel the need to give his rookie fifth-round pick a public vote of confidence before his NFL regular-season debut was telling, given what Linsley is up against.

He is starting in place of the injured JC Tretter without having had a single snap with quarterback Aaron Rodgers in pre-season play.

He will be playing in the loudest stadium in the NFL, CenturyLink Field; he is facing the defending Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks, who had the NFL's best defence a season ago; and he will do it on national television in the NFL kick off game on Thursday.

But given his quiet, do-the-job approach, the feeling among Linsley’s teammates is that he will not be fazed by any of it.

Matt Flynn, Green Bay’s No 2 quarterback, who worked closely with Linsley in pre-season, said: “He doesn’t seem to get rattled. Mentally, he’s sharp. He’s not a real fired-up guy, he’s not a real hyper guy. He’s just kind of a calm, collected guy. Nothing seems to really get to him. That’s been impressive, the way he’s been able to just jump in.

“[The coaches told him], ‘All right, you’re the starter,’ so he just quietly walked up there and started taking reps. He’s been impressive. JC was a big loss. We all felt comfortable with him. But Corey has done a great job.”

Linsley is so cool about his new role that he was even able to crack a well-delivered joke around his locker this week.

As he faced a series of questions about the oft-discussed noise in Seattle, he named Nebraska and Wisconsin as the two places where the crowds were the most challenging during his college career at Ohio State. Then, he zinged the school’s biggest rival.

“Michigan is quiet, really quiet. Probably the quietest stadium in the Big Ten,” he said to laughter.

It will not be quiet tonight and it will be Linsley’s job to get to the line of scrimmage quickly and make the initial declarations based on what he sees from the Seattle defence.

“It’s all about the preparation and the week leading up to it. It’s week-by-week no matter what level of football you’re in,” Linsley said. “You can’t go back and say, ‘That’s what we did against Wisconsin last year’. It isn’t going to work at Green Bay. So it’s all about the preparation.

“[The primary job is] just getting everybody on the same page as quickly as possible. If everybody knows where the starting point is and they don’t like the starting point, they can adjust it from there.”

The Packers plan to use their no-huddle offence extensively against Seattle, having spent the off-season and training camp working on it.

But during the pre-season finale against the Kansas City Chiefs with Linsley at centre, they ran, by unofficial count, only three snaps of no-huddle with Linsley on the field.

Not only will Rodgers not have had a single in-game snap with Linsley before, but they will never have operated in the no-huddle together, either.

“Corey’s a smart guy. He’s played a lot of centre in his time and he’s going to be expected to play well,” Rodgers said.

“So we expect him to be able to keep up.

“I’ve said it a lot, but he’s got two incredible guards on both sides of him who are going to help him out with the calls and make sure that he’s ready.

“But Corey is going to study hard, he’s very well coached and he’s going to be ready to go.”

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