Billy Turner has brought toughness, creativity to Packers’ locker room

[Cheesehead]

GREEN BAY – With Corey Linsley and Bryan Bulaga both out with injuries, Lucas Patrick gazed down the Packers’ sideline in the second half of the regular-season finale against the Detroit Lions and surveyed who could be the next man up should another injury arise on the offensive line.


Then, it dawned on the third-year lineman there was no one else left.


With backups Alex Light and John Leglue both inactive, it meant Patrick (in for Linsley at center), Jared Veldheer (in for Bulaga at right tackle), Elgton Jenkins, David Bakhtiari, and Billy Turner had to go the distance on the offensive line.


That’s what made Turner gutting through a second-half ankle injury against the Lions that much more impressive to Head Coach Matt LaFleur, who praised the right guard for his toughness in the aftermath of the Packers’ 23-20 road win over the Lions.


“(At first), I was like, ‘Man, I wonder if Al will come in, and then it’s like, ‘Wait, it is just us,’” Patrick recalled thinking. “When you’re going and we’re calling plays and we’re rolling, these are the five we got and we’re going.”


Turner, lauded for his durability when the Packers signed him back in March, stayed on the field from beginning to end in playing all 88 offensive snaps against the Lions. A starter in all 16 games, Turner led the offense with 1,076 snaps played in 2019.


The only snaps Turner missed all season came on a pair of kneel-downs against Washington in Week 14. And he wasn’t going to let a tweaked ankle in a critical road game change that.


“To be honest with you, that’s really never anything that slips into my mind,” Turner said. “Unless I physically am not able to walk off that field, I’m going to be out there finishing pretty much every game.


“That’s how I am as a person. That’s how I am as a player. That’s how I was raised and how I’ve been throughout the course of my career.”


The Packers earned a bye week with the victory, giving Turner, Bulaga, Linsley and the rest of the Packers’ roster extra time to rest and recover prior to this Sunday’s NFC Divisional playoff game against Seattle at Lambeau Field.


Turner sat out the two practices the conducted last week but returned on Monday. Asked if his ankle was “Yeet” – a popular locker-room catchphrase Turner was wearing on his shirt at the time – the sixth-year veteran agreed, before adding “I’m good to go.”