Seahawk's Bruce Irvin: Packers rookie center Corey Linsley is in for "a long night" tonight

[gettlemanjack]

rookie Corey Linsley will start at center for the Green Bay Packers tonight in Seattle, without having had a single snap with quarterback Aaron Rodgers in preseason play. The Packers' starter at center, JC Tretter, sustained a fracture to his left knee during an Aug. 22 preseason game against the Oakland Raiders and was played on short-term injured reserve Wednesday.

Linsley, a 2014 5th R pick out of Ohio State, will be tasked with trying to stop veteran Brandon "Bane" Mebane (6-1/311), one of the best nose tackles in the NFL, who anchors the defensive line for the defending Super Bowl champions.

Seahawks OLB Bruce Irvin (2012 1st R pick) can't help but feel sorry for him:

"I'm going to pray for him," Irvin told reporters Tuesday. "It's going to be a long night, man. We've got to just take advantage of it."

"All the weaknesses that [Linsley] shows us, we've got to expose it," Irvin told reporters. "Hopefully, Bane going to do what I know he's going to do to him."

Aaron Rodgers said Tuesday: "I've said it a lot, but [Linsley]'s got two incredible guards on both sides of him who are going to help him out ... he's very well-coached, and he's going to be ready to go.''

Mebane

#63 Corey Linsley

[gettlemanjack]

Packers blog:

"Bruce Irvin and his prayers – he may want to add a Hail Mary on behalf of his teammate and rookie tackle Justin Britt. Cory Linsley may have his hands full with Brandon Mebane, but Britt, a late second round pick from Missouri, will have Clay Matthews III and Julius Peppers in his grill all night long.

I wouldn’t forget about Mike Neal either.

This is a matchup that has Packers Nation counting their blessings. It will be interesting to see how Dom Capers uses Matthews and Peppers to set up the other

...

Going into this game Corey Linsley making his first start as a rookie seems to grab more headlines than Seattle starting a rookie tackle....But Justin Britt may be the one making headlines for being a swinging door to Russell Wilson."

#68 Justin Britt

[gettlemanjack]

Britt:

"You can’t really think about what could go wrong or anything. You just have to go out there and play."

Britt will face veteran pass rushers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers — two of the league’s best. The Packers may also look to test the rookie to avoid trying to break through All-Pro left tackle Russell Okung’s side more than needed. Peppers’ threat in rushing the passer will also make it difficult for the Seahawks to double-team Matthews.

“I think they will (go after Britt) until he shows that he can handle it,” Seattle offensive line coach Tom Cable said. “Once it’s on tape, I think people will try to game him and pressure him. He knows that, we’ve talked about it. It’s up to us to prepare him and for him to be able to handle it and adjust as the game goes.”

[gettlemanjack]

couple interesting things they said about the rookie Packers center from Ohio St:

-he grew up a huge Packers fan, even went dressed as Brett Favre as a kid for Halloween

-he said Seattle's stadium was small-time compared to playing at Ohio St

-he is from Youngstown, Ohio - home of Jim Tressel, the Stoops brothers (Oklahoma coach Bob, Oklahoma DC and former Arizona head coach Mike, Kentucky coach Mark), the Pelini brothers (Nebraska coach Bo, last season's Florida Atlantic coach Carl), Ron Jaworski, former Notre Dame coach and ESPN analyst Bob Davie, current Bears QB coach Matt Cavanaugh, Maurice Clarett, etc