By Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press –
When the Green Bay Packers placed Bryan Bulaga on season-ending injured reserve Monday, it started a chain reaction on their offensive line that will reprise an old storyline this week.
Eastern Michigan alumnus T.J. Lang is expected to move from left guard to right tackle to replace Bulaga, and Evan Dietrich-Smith is expected to take Lang’s place in the starting lineup at left guard.
Dietrich-Smith, of course, was filling in at right guard last Thanksgiving when he was on the receiving end of a stomp by Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh that landed Suh a two-game suspension and permanent consideration among the game’s dirtiest players.
Although he denied that the stomp was intentional, Suh later called Dietrich-Smith to apologize.
The two played against each other without incident after the stomp last year, in the Packers’ Week 17 win at Lambeau Field. Dietrich-Smith played as a backup in that game, though he did allow a third-quarter sack of Matt Flynn to Suh, which Suh celebrated by mocking Aaron Rodgers’ discount double-check celebration.
Asked about this week’s reunion Monday, Dietrich-Smith told espnmilwaukee.com, “I don’t even think about it anymore. I think writers and stuff try to make more about it than it was, but it’s not really on my mind.”
Right guard Josh Sitton, who’ll draw the primary assignment against Suh and whose place Dietrich-Smith took in the lineup last year, said the incident isn’t a concern for him, either. Sort of.
“That’s something that’s in the past. We can’t really think about anything that’s gone on in the past,” Sitton told ESPN Milwaukee.
After a pause, Sitton added, “He just better not stomp me.”
