No Longer Jolly

It looks like starting DT Johnny Jolly is going to miss the next two weeks. He was a rookie in 2006 and rarely played, came into training camp this season, flunked his physical, and wound up in Mike McCarthy's dog house, but managed to have a great preseason, win a starting job, and he's played well during the regular season. He's part of the reason why the Packers run defense is much better in 2007 (and part of the reason the run defense struggled last week against Carolina with him out of the lineup). Although he doesn't get to the quarterback, he has been adapt at tipping passes at the line of scrimmage. With rookie 1st round pick DT Justin Harrell healthy, it will be interesting to see if the Packers let Harrell start and take Jolly's role in the defensive tackle rotation on obvious rushing downs. It would be an interesting test for the rookie to go up against a poor rushing team (Detroit) and a very good rushing team (Dallas) over the next two weeks.