Packers Daily Links: Jennings Slow to Progress from Groin Injury

Wide receiver Greg Jennings did not practice on Thursday. That and more in today's Daily Links...

Despite warming up with the team this past Tuesday during practice, wide receiver Greg Jennings sat out of practice entirely on Thursday and his status for playing in the upcoming Monday Night Football game is up in the air. "Maybe we were a little too optimistic and he's not quite where we hoped he'd be by now," head coach Mike McCarthy is quoted as saying by Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "He wants to go, but we're just being smart." There's still three days to go until Monday evening, so there's still time for Jennings to get healthy. But it's too early to tell whether he'll play or not.

More on Greg Jennings and the injury report comes from Fox Sports Wisconsin, Packer Report, Green Bay Press-Gazette, PackersNews.com and JSOnline.

Tight end Jermichael Finley, quarterback Aaron Rodgers and coach Mike McCarthy all commented on the by now well-publicized opinion of Finley's agent, Blake Baratz that Rodgers is not a good leader. Rob Demovsky of the Press-Gazette sums up their sentiments:

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers called it “silly.”

Coach Mike McCarthy called it “ignorant.”

And tight end Jermichael Finley said he had nothing to do with it.

Now that all the pertinent stakeholders for the Packers have commented on the issue, this story should start to die down. Perhaps it may not go away completely, but anything is better than the attention it received over the past week.

More on the lingering Blake Baratz and leadership issue comes from Packer Report, Fox Sports Wisconsin, twice, JSOnline, twice, Fox 11 and the Press-Gazette in a column.

Noticing a decrease in playing time for defensive lineman B.J. Raji is Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel. "For the first time since he arrived in '09, the Packers go deeper than three or four defensive linemen and that has allowed Raji to back off when he needs to," writes Silverstein. "Against the bruising 49ers, Raji played 79% of the snaps, which turned out to be a reasonable 52 plays. Four days later against the Bears, he played 44 snaps, 73%." So far, it's been the rookies––Jerel Worthy and Mike Daniels––that have allowed Raji to rest, which has been beneficial to Raji and his effectiveness.

The Packers signed cornerback James Nixon to their practice squad on Thursday to fill the spot vacated by Brandian Ross. "The 6-foot, 180-pound Nixon finished his college career at California (Pa.) University last season after spending three years at Temple, where in addition to playing cornerback he also played on offense as a hybrid receiver-running back and returned kickoffs," writes Rob Demovsky. "He averaged 25.8 yards on 41 kickoff returns, had 42 carries for 322 yards (a 7.7-yard average) and 13 receptions for 373 yards (a 28.7-yard average) for Temple." Nixon reportedly ran a 4.31 40-yard dash at his pro day. Perhaps there's hope he can be a Sam Shields type of player who has an offensive background and is fast.

More on James Nixon comes from AllGreenBayPackers.com and the Packers official website.

Linebacker Erik Walden is featured in an article by Tyler Dunne of the Journal Sentinel detailing how he's moved on from last year's arrest that landed him in county jail.

Why is Clay Matthews having so much success? For one, he's healthy this year, writes Pete Dougherty of the Press-Gazette.

The Packers will face a talented Seahawks defense, according to Packerpedia.

The Packers offense hasn't found its rhythm yet. That's the word from Fox Sports Wisconsin.

Packer Report has a pair of articles on Nick Perry and tackling Marshawn Lynch.

Aaron Rodgers is focused on the Seahawks says the Packers official website.

The JSOnline crew takes a look ahead to the Seahawks game in a video.

Video: From Fox 11 in Green Bay, the Packers put on a youth football camp locally...

Brian Carriveau is the author of "It's Just a Game: Big League Drama in Small Town America," a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and an editor at Cheesehead TV. To contact Brian, email [email protected].

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Comments (4)

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CSS's picture

September 21, 2012 at 09:17 am

Thank god for the Aaron Rodgers show with Wilde, because Bill Johnson on Green & Gold stopped filtering what little thought he's capable of generating.

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Chad Toporski's picture

September 21, 2012 at 10:16 am

I'm absolutely sick of all the media time this stupid controversy is getting. Can we PLEASE just talk football??

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CSS's picture

September 21, 2012 at 10:21 am

If you're expecting Bill Johnson to coherently talk about football you would still be tuning into the wrong program.

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dat der Packer backer's picture

September 21, 2012 at 03:45 pm

I agree, Chad. It's really just the drama queens that, like 24-hour news channels, have to fill the time with something and make something out of nothing, with 15 different experts commenting on it. Look at the Cutler thing. What do you think, CB? This and that. Cutler, did you hear what he said? What do you say to that? Etc., etc.

The yelling at Jones thing is another I'm sick of. How can you break something so simple down so much? Pathetic how the sports media conducts themselves, but, like everything else, people watch anyways and they continue to give the viewers "what they want."

Go Pack.

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