ALLGBP Casualty Report: Week 17 vs. Detroit Lions

New Injuries

Hey check that out, no new injuries.  Statistics finally smiles on the Packers as they regress to the mean and have a less injury filled season.

Continuing Injuries

Clay Matthews: Matthews suffered a biceps injury against the Bills and was a limited participant during last weeks practice.  It didn’t seem to matter all that much as Matthews played 45 out of 49 defensive snaps and logged 2.5 sacks (good for 10 this year) and generally grading out well in all facets.  Matthews has a long history of injuries, especially of the nagging variety and it’s likely that this injury is similar, expect to see Matthews practice sparingly up to the game against the Lions but he will be active as the Packers try to secure the 2nd seed.

Davon House: While House managed to finish the game after getting swapped with Sam Shields late in the 4th quarter of the Falcons game, apparently all is not well as House has not practiced in two weeks and was ruled out of the Bills game very early on in the week.  House is the lone player to not participate in practice this week and probably has the least likely chance to play.  However news coming out of Lambeau has been pretty good and there’s a chance that he’s close to coming back.  If House isn’t able to play, expect to see more of Casey Hayward or Micah Hyde as the teams 3rd/4th cornerback.

Josh Sitton & TJ Lang: Lang suffered an ankle injury during the first series of the 1st quarter against the Saints while Sitton’s suffered a torn ligament in his left big toe in the same game.  Sitton and Lang both appear to be dealing with injuries fairly well, both grading out well despite their injuries.  Both have worked in “recovery” practice schedule of not participating on Wednesday and then practicing in a limited fashion on Thursday before their recovery day on Friday.  In a positive note, Lang and Sitton both practiced in a limited fashion on Wednesday, which is an upgrade from earlier where both did not participate during the beginning of the week.  Expect both to be active and in integral part of the offense; it should also be noted that TJ Lang has been reinserted into the field goal unit, an indication that some of the Packers current special teams woes might be personnel related.

Recovered Injuries

Nick Perry: Nick Perry appeared to re-aggravate a shoulder injury that he sustained against the Eagles against the Bills and did not return.  Perry has been one of the pleasant surprises this season, but still seems to be plagued with injuries, and the team and fans might just have to accept that Perry is indeed injury prone.  Perry played 15 snaps on defense, which is pretty much in line what the number of snaps he’s been receiving of late.  While Perry isn’t a starter he is a valuable part of the linebacker rotation and expect to see Perry play against the Lions.

Bryan Bulaga: Bulaga (not Beluga, David Diehl) suffered a concussion during a Aaron Rodgers interception against the Bills when he was blind sided by a defender.  Unfortunately these hits are still legal and often times its rumored defensive players will make an effort to throw a harder hit on offensive players, who typically are protected by the rules and sometimes have been getting the better of the matchup.  Bulaga was immediately taken out of the game and headed into the locker room where he was ruled out for the rest of the game.  Bulaga was able to pass his concussion testing in a week and started against the Bills, playing all 75 offensive snaps.  Expect Bulaga to be all systems go against the Lions, which is a god send considering the caliber of the Lions defensive line and the caliber of the Packers backup offensive tackles, which is to say 0 since backup interior linemen JC Tretter is the first man up at all offensive line positions at this point.

 

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Thomas Hobbes is a staff writer for Jersey Al’s AllGreenBayPackers.com.

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