Packers Daily Links: Overcoming Injury

Injuries to Ryan Grant and Justin Harrell and how the Packers are dealing with those injuries highlight today's spin around the world of Green Bay football...

It's official. Justin Harrell tore the ACL in his left knee and will be placed on season-ending injured reserve. Kevin Seifert, ESPN.com's NFC North blogger, thinks his career in Green Bay could be over. "A general rule of thumb is that players who have a hard time staying on the field in college will repeat that pattern in the NFL, and that has certainly been the case for Harrell," writes Seifert. "He has played in 14 games over four seasons, and Sunday's might have been his last with the Packers after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Complicating the analysis is that most of the injuries were unrelated. For whatever reason, Harrell could never keep himself out of the trainer's room." I would say it's time to part ways with Harrell after this season.

Jarius Wynn will return to Green Bay to take Harrell's spot on the roster according to Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "Wynn never could overcome a slow start to training camp this summer," writes Demovsky. "After he was released, he had a workout last week for the Seattle Seahawks. Because he appeared in 11 games last season as a rookie, he wasn’t practice-squad eligible." I would expect Wynn to be behind C.J. Wilson in the defensive line pecking order, however. Until another injury occurs on the defensive line, Wynn could be a game day inactive.

The Packers reportedly considered using an offensive lineman on the defensive line in Sunday's game. "Had the Eagles decided to go to a three-tight end formation in short yardage or goal-line, Capers' only recourse would have been to enlist offensive linemen to fill his ranks," writes Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "At the top of the list was 6-foot-3, 318-pound starting guard Josh Sitton." Of course, this has more to do with the Packers keeping only four defensive lineman on the game day active roster than it does Sitton's ability.

Running back Ryan Grant has been ruled out of this week's game against the Buffalo Bills by head coach Mike McCarthy who characerized Grant's injury as "significant." According to Jason Wilde of ESPNWisconsin, "McCarthy couldn’t say whether Grant’s injury might require surgery after a brief conversation with trainer Pepper Burruss and team physician Pat McKenzie." Grant very well could be out a couple weeks.

Brandon Jackson, who's set to take over for Grant for the time being, is featured in an article by Demovsky. Perhaps most noteworthy may be this news: "At this point, it appears the Packers are prepared to stand pat with the backs they have. They kept only two halfbacks (and three fullbacks) when making their final cuts, but fullback John Kuhn has also worked at halfback and likely will be the No. 2 halfback on Sunday." It will be interesting to see how long the Packers can continue to proceed with such little depth at running back.

Inside linebackers coach and assistant head coach Winston Moss rationalized the decision not to play A.J. Hawk on defense on Sunday. “I wanted to see how the game was flowing. … As the game was going, it didn’t happen," Moss is quoted as saying by Kareem Copeland of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "But there are no red flags. He was still involved in a few packages we had set up. We never got around to it. (Hawk) was aware we were going into the game with a certain plan. He was still set to play. I made the decision once the game developed to stick with the guys that were in there. From how the way the game flowed and how the way Nick Barnett and Chillar were playing, I decided to keep that same rhythm going.” This was a tough choice to make from a coaching perspective, but good for the coaches for doing it. You have to wonder how much the Packers will play in subpackages going forward.

Andy Hayes at packergeeks continues to beat the Marshawn Lynch and Steve Slaton drum and suggests trading Hawk to get one of them. "Not sure the Texans or Bills would consider this fair anymore considering Hawk’s obvious loss of value to the Packers," writes Hayes. "If they don’t go for it – I suggest throwing something more at them (including a draft pick if needed). But neither team has a great defense and at the least I figure they could use some LB depth. And neither team seems to value having these guys on the roster. With Grant out, I’d like another option out there in case Grant’s injury ends up being really serious and/or Jackson somehow gets hurt." First of all, I don't want Lynch on this Packers team, although I do like Slaton. But on top of that, Hawk still has value. He's still going to play in the base defense and on special teams, so it's not like he's totally out of the Packers' plans.

The preliminary list of Hall of Fame nominees has gone public and former Packers safety LeRoy Butler and current Packers linebackers coach Kevin Greene make the cut. "Also nominated is Clay Matthews, the father of Packers outside linebacker Clay Matthews III," writes Bill Huber of Packer Report. "Sterling Sharpe is no longer nominated." Former general manager Ron Wolf is considered too.

The Green Bay Press-Gazette enlisted the help of Cliff Christl and Eric Baranczyk for a film review of the Packers game. Apparently they're going to be doing this every week. On the tight end play, they write, "A lot of people questioned why the Packers kept Donald Lee. Well, it was obvious in this game. He’s a blocker. He took on defensive end Juqua Parker on an outside zone and neutralized him. It’s questionable whether any of their other tight ends could have made that block, even Tom Crabtree." Good point.

Packers.com has the game ball report from Sunday. Korey Hall on offense, Clay Matthews on defense, Jordy Nelson on special teams. Desmond Bishop got the "Big Hit" award.

The Wisconsin Radio Network has audio from McCarthy's Monday press conference.

The Packer Ranter has an epic fail.

Endorsed video: The Packer Fence Painter's fence...

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Comments (10)

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lebowski's picture

September 14, 2010 at 07:27 am

I mentioned during the live blog that there's no way in hell I want Marshawn Lynch on this team. He's a bad character. But I do agree that if Hawk is going to be relegated to spot duty and special teams, and with the likelihood we're losing him next year anyway due to huge salary, may as well try and get something for him and running back or d-line is now a big concern.

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CSS's picture

September 14, 2010 at 07:33 am

If you intend on getting rid of Hawk you're basically going to play nickle and nothing but sub-packages for the next 15 games. There is no depth at the inside position after Bishop if you jettison Hawk. Making that trade for a running back means you must make another trade for LB depth.

How else do you intend to run your base?

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dilligaff's picture

September 14, 2010 at 07:39 am

I think it is in the best interest for the Packers long term out look to trade Hawk now if there is interest.

I believe the Packers defensive coordinator's idea to not disrupt the flow of the game will prevail as the season goes on, leaving Hawk the odd man out because Chillar is good in the passing game and serviceable in the run.

IMO switching players in and out all the time breaks their rhythm and tells the offense what you are doing.

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jeremy's picture

September 14, 2010 at 09:11 am

I really hope this is the end of the Justin Harrell saga. It's unfortunate but he's too unreliable. We can only wonder how much time the coaching and medical staff has spent with him and how that time and effort could have payed off with a different guy who could stay on the field.

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dilligaff's picture

September 14, 2010 at 09:24 am

I know this is off topic, but did anybody get to watch Jacksonville play to see how Kampman was doing?

I watched about 7 minutes of the game and wittiness Kampman making a nice tackle at the line of scrimmage.

I think he had 1.5 sacks in that game and about 3 tackles.

He definitely look better in the 4-3.

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FITZCORE1252's picture

September 14, 2010 at 10:34 am

Justin... God bless you man. I don't think there was a lack of effort/desire, some people just can't catch a break. Good luck to you. On the plus side though, you're in your early 20's and are a multi-millionaire for not doing a god-damn thing... could be worse. Just sayin'...

GBP 4 LIFE

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WoodyG's picture

September 14, 2010 at 11:28 am

Harrell's torn ACL is not even remotely related to his previous injuries ..... I'd agree with the sendiment that his career may be over in GB if his back had flared up again but ...... It's possible with good rehab that 2011 you'll see him competing for a roster spot again in GB ........ Who's the competition? ...... J. Wynn, CJ Wilson & probably another low-round 2011 drafted DE ..... He may still be a better option than most options ..... If Jolly can make the switch from 'purple drank' to Leines, he could also be in the picture.

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WoodyG's picture

September 14, 2010 at 12:03 pm

Ref Ryan Grant ...... MM has got to be 'very' nervous about a more defined health prognosis on Grant due sometime today ...... If Grant is down for an extended amount of time, the real concern, IMO, is the future health of Brandon Jackson ...... Jackson has never been known to play alot & stay healthy ...... Kuhn is still only a stop-gap RB ..... James Johnson is a cast-off used to fill out the PS ......

The whole RB situation could turn into a major issue in a very short period of time ....... A major trade may be neccessary .........

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Packergeek's picture

September 14, 2010 at 02:37 pm

guys - I've been all for seeking a trade for a legit RB now for a while in part because I've been worried about this exact situation playing out. I proposed Hawk mostly because his value to this team continues to decline. I'm not worried re Hawk's role in the base - I think he's the 4th best middle LB option in the base defense anyway (behind Barnett, Chillar and Bishop). At this particular moment, I think it's more important to enhance a more critical skill position (RB) with quality than to have back-up depth at LB.

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Asshalo's picture

September 14, 2010 at 04:31 pm

I'm half-surprised more players from the super bowl era didn't make it on Ballots in recent years. Now that the automatics (Rice, Smith, etc.), have made it you would think Butler has a much better shot. He did make it on the all 90s team.

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