GREEN BAY - Tom
Lang won't be at Lambeau Field on Christmas night to watch his son
play against the Chicago Bears. In his weakened condition, he
won't miss the crowds or the cold. Watching the game on TV,
sharing a front-row seat with grandson John Joseph Lang, suits him
just fine.
"Being cold
and sitting outside with a bunch of rowdy Packers fans probably
wouldn't be in his best interest," said T.J. Lang, Green
Bay's third-year offensive lineman and J.J's dad. "I think
it's more important that we're all together in the same house for
the holidays."
That's because
his 55-year-old father was diagnosed with a life-threatening
illness in mid-November.
Lang is shifting
from his usual left guard spot to right tackle against the Bears,
doing his part on a patchwork offensive line that will try to
protect MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers better than it did against
Kansas City last week, when he was sacked four times in the team's
first loss of the season.
Depending on what
the San Francisco 49ers do against the Seattle Seahawks on
Saturday, the Packers could still need a victory over the Bears to
clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC and ensure home-field advantage
throughout the playoffs.
Lang hadn't taken
a snap at right tackle all season after winning the left guard job
in training camp, but was forced to switch to right tackle against
the Chiefs after the Packers lost starting right tackle Bryan
Bulaga to a kneecap injury and rookie first-round pick Derek
Sherrod to a gruesome broken leg during the second half.
With veteran left
tackle Chad Clifton sidelined since Oct. 9 with hamstring and back
injuries, the Packers had no choice but to move Lang outside and
bring Evan Dietrich-Smith off the bench to play left guard. With
Clifton, Bulaga and Sherrod all out Sunday, the Packers will keep
Herb Taylor, a tackle who was signed Tuesday and hasn't played in
an NFL regular-season game since 2008, active as the emergency
third tackle.
The Packers are
confident Lang and Dietrich-Smith will make the adjustments to
improve on their performance against the Chiefs.
"I don't
think it'll be too big of a challenge," offensive line coach
James Campen said of Lang's switch. "It probably was in the
game a little bit, to go over there and get in a right-handed
stance and start vertical setting and doing those things that he
hadn't done in a long time. But I think he adjusts just fine (this
week)."
Lang has been
adjusting all season. He's been doing it on the field, where's he
a full-time starter for the first time after two years as a
backup, and off the field, where he became a first-time father in
August and has been trying to stay focused since his father's
diagnosis. Lang declined to identify the illness out of respect
for his father's privacy.
Lang learned of
his father's illness the morning of the Packers' Nov. 14 Monday
Night Football game against the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau
Field, but he played well before leaving the next morning for his
father's home in suburban Detroit, where he spent a couple of days
before returning to Green Bay.
Tom Lang could
not attend the game when the Packers played the Lions at Ford
Field on Thanksgiving, but his son stayed behind to spend the
weekend after the team returned to Green Bay. This will be the
first time Tom Lang has been strong enough to make the eight-hour
drive to Green Bay. He, T.J.'s sister Megan and their mother, who
is divorced from Tom but remains close, arrived in Green Bay on
Thursday.
"He's had
some good days, he has some tough days. It's hard on the whole
family, really," T.J. Lang said. "Every day I talk to
him, he's talking about little J.J. I know he's excited to be up
here, and when we were home for Thanksgiving, you could tell his
face really lit up when his grandson was sitting on his lap.
That's going to be great for him."
It also wouldn't
hurt if Lang, who started two games at left tackle and one at
right tackle as a rookie in 2009, does a good job protecting
Rodgers from Chicago defensive ends Julius Peppers and Israel
Idonije.
"He knows
what he's doing," coach Mike McCarthy said. "It's really
the cross training in the early years — this is the product of
it. You get in these types of situations, you have players that
can make that transition. Having a full week of practice preparing
on the right side will definitely (help). I feel confident T.J.
will be ready to go."
The Packers are
counting on it.
