GREEN BAY, Wis. -- They helped Eddie Lacy rush for more than 1,100 yards. They kept Aaron Rodgers upright. And, as is typically the case for offensive linemen, they were the most underappreciated part of the NFL's highest-scoring offense.

Yes, the Green Bay Packers' offensive line lived up to Mike McCarthy's prophecy last summer that it could be the best line he's had in his tenure as head coach.

And yet here the Packers are in the middle of their June minicamp and they're talking about how they can be even better this season.

"Barring injury, this will be the second year that we're all together," All-Pro left guard Josh Sitton said in a recent interview. "With time, you can always get better. One thing you can't get day in and day out in practice is experience. That's one thing you just get with game time. The longer we play together, the better we're going to be, just to learn each other and mold the entire offense just based on how we're rolling. We can do some pretty special things."

General manager Ted Thompson's decision to re-sign right tackle Bryan Bulaga to a five-year, $33.75 million contract in March ensured the offensive linemen who started together for 17 of the 18 games, including playoffs, would return intact. Bulaga, who sat out the Week 2 game against the New York Jets because of a knee injury, was the only lineman who missed a start last season.

That doesn't mean there weren't other issues. Both Sitton and right guard T.J. Lang barely practiced in the second half of last season because of toe and ankle injuries, respectively. And the starting center, rookie fifth-round pick Corey Linsley, didn't take over the job until JC Tretter sustained a knee injury in the penultimate preseason game. Before the regular-season opener in Seattle, Linsley had not snapped one ball to Rodgers in a game setting.

Nevertheless, Rodgers was sacked just 28 times -- the fewest in his career as a starter other than the 2013 season, when he missed seven games because of a broken collarbone -- and the Packers ranked in the top 10 in both rushing average and passing yards per game. They led the league in scoring (30.4 points per game).

"It's about keeping those guys together and healthy," Rodgers said. "The times where we've had a really dominant offensive line is when those guys have been able to jell together and to play multiple games together. We were able to have some good fortune with the health of our offensive line last year."

So what more can they do?

For one, they can start faster. Halfway through last season, the Packers ranked just 24th in rushing yards per game.

"I think this group has done a great job with not being complacent, not accepting the fact that things were pretty good from midseason on," offensive line coach James Campen said. "I think everybody's goal is to start out faster, and they want to start out faster."

Campen also expects Linsley, who by all accounts played well -- and not just for a rookie who didn't know he was going to start until the final week of the preseason -- to make the same kind of improvement that right tackle David Bakhtiari did last year after a solid first year in 2013, when he became a starter in training camp after Bulaga blew out his knee and missed the entire season.

"Corey's from the same mold as David," Campen said. "He's worked his butt off and he needs to take another step, and he will do that. So will David. David had a good year for a second-year player, and David will take another step. Both very headstrong, accountable players that will do that."

Perhaps the best part is the long-term prospects for this line. All five starters are under contract through at least 2016 -- when Bakhtiari, Lang and Sitton have expiring deals. And if there are injuries, Tretter and Don Barclay (who has 18 starts combined in 2012 and 2013) can fill in at multiple positions.

"Hopefully we can stay together for the next few years," Sitton said. "Obviously, I'm getting up there in age but I plan on playing at a high level for a while yet, so realistically I think we can stay together for three or four or five years, hopefully. That's the plan, anyway."