After missing Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari spoke to the media for the first time on Wednesday, putting to bed any notions that his absence was due to the artificial turf playing surface at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Even before this Week 2 game with Atlanta took place, Bakhtiari’s feelings about turf surfaces were well known–he’s not a fan, to put it mildly. This topic was then at the forefront of conversations last week, given that Bakhtiari’s close friend, Aaron Rodgers, suffered a season-ending Achilles injury on a turf field.
That conversation and the timing of it all, coupled with a tweet from David’s brother, Eric Bakhtiari, led to speculation that the reason Bakhtiari didn’t play was because of the Falcons’ turf surface.
“If I wasn’t going to play on turf, I’d probably make more of a ruckus,” said Bakhtiari on Wednesday. “My brother loves drama, and he told me he was going to do it, I’m like go right ahead, I don’t give a (expletive). I don’t care what you do. It’s your social media. No. That (the turf surface) was not the reason at all. If it was going to be, that would definitely be something different. But it’s not. I clearly have an injury that I’ve been dealing with.”
The speculation around Bakhtiari’s absence on Sunday ran rampant and began to take on a life of its own as a main talking point, something that he did not appreciate.
“That’s the part for me that kind of got me fired up. I’m like, that’s bull (expletive),” said Bakhtiari. “I’ll talk to them on Wednesday. But to have all that and then to put Matt in that bind, it’s about the game. So for me, we can walk through stuff after the game.
“How many injured people do you talk to after games? It’s about the football game. It’s about the Packers. I don’t give a (expletive) about me, it’s about them. Let’s focus on them. And then Monday, how many times do y’all catch me? Only when I’m walking in here and have to change. But on Wednesdays, I’m always going to be open and available, and at times when we have a lot of ‘Hey, we have to be smart for the week,’ I’m going to make sure to very limitedly come by, but I still like to respect you guys, and you have your guys’ job, and your time.
“So I don’t appreciate the assumptions and putting people into boxes and making people like Matt, for one, I feel for him because he’s the head coach. He’s got a football game. It’s about the Atlanta Falcons last week and it’s about the Saints this week. Y’all got a question with me, come talk to me. I like to think I’m pretty open. I’ll still shoot you straight. I’ll still tell you guys what it is. So that’s the part that I got a bone to pick, not with one person that I know of, but just the collective, that it was weighing on me about.”
Matt LaFleur said on Monday that Bakhtiari was dealing with swelling in his knee and that is what kept him sidelined. When asked, Bakhtiari couldn’t pinpoint a specific play against Chicago that created the issue.
“I think there’s just a certain amount of, I don’t know, when my knee hits its limit, it hits its limit, so to speak,” said Bakhtiari.
“I’m going to be honest,” he added, “I’ve broken things in the middle of a game that I don’t even know. Like a lot of guys usually feel terrible like Monday night, Tuesday. So you don’t really know what you did in the game until that point, unless obviously, there’s certain things that don’t feel right in the moment since it is a collision sport. I can’t say I recall much. Maybe a little bit of something, but nothing I can pinpoint to a play or movement or anything like that.”
When on the field, Bakhtiari is still playing at a very high level. He gave up no pressures against the Bears, according to PFF, and was the highest-graded pass blocker in Week 1 among all tackles.
When Bakhtiari was asked a hypothetical question in which his knee was good, and there was an upcoming game on turf, if he would play or not, he quickly replied with, “Absolutely.” At the end of the day, Bakhtiari just wants to be back on the football field.
“I signed up to play,” said Bakhtiari. “I plan on playing. When I can play, I’m going to play. Certainly, if I’m not playing, there is something going on. It’s not like it’s been a secret. It’s something I’ve been battling with, and it’s been shitty. It’s been weighing on me a lot.
“You think I don’t want to play? You think I want to be a great football player and then just disappear? (Expletive) no. I appreciate Gutey. We’ve had plenty of talks. He’s been amazing to me, and being even able to vent to him about it. It’s been extremely stressful. It’s the human side. I’ve just been sitting here quietly just like, ‘Whatever it is, is going to be it.’ And I just have to take it for what it is.”
As far as Bakhtiari’s availability for this Sunday in Green Bay’s home opener against New Orleans and beyond, he and the Packers are still taking it day by day.
“Doing better,” said Bakhtiari about how he feels this week compared to last,” but we are just going to take it one day at a time. I hate to say it, day to day. I know you guys hate hearing that. I would never rule that out (playing Sunday and then Thursday).
“When I really mean it’s day-to-day, whatever type of control you think you have in a day-to-day, it literally has mine too. This could be the only game I even miss. I don’t know. I’m just making sure that I check my boxes. I’m able and ready. And when it is, great, let’s go out and play.”