Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers may not be available to practice this week but that doesn’t mean he won’t suit up against the Minnesota Vikings this Sunday. On Wednesday, Rodgers called his knee injury a “sprain” but chose not to go into further detail. When asked if he could play against the Vikings without practicing, Rodgers and head coach Mike McCarthy gave the affirmative. In the meantime, Rodgers has been working in the rehab group trying to do a little more each day.
If Rodgers played he would likely be limited to shotgun and pistol formations to ensure less movement. However, that’s ok because he’s done it before in 2014 and 2016 and Green Bay’s offense remained effective. What the Packers really want to avoid is sending backup DeShone Kizer out to play the defending NFC North champs.
Kizer only played two series against the Chicago Bears in week one but both resulted in turnovers. First, Bears linebacker Khalil Mack stripped him inside the 10-yard line and then he picked Kizer off and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown.
The Packers remain optimistic Rodgers will be available this week even if it’s in a limited capacity. On Thursday outside linebacker Clay Matthews told media “it sounds like he’s going to play.”
Rodgers is obviously motivated to exact revenge on the team that knocked him out for most of the 2017 season. Though most of the news surrounding his injury is relatively positive, McCarthy said Thursday it’s “not a layup.”
Green Bay is approaching his workload on a day by day basis but if Rodgers doesn’t suffer any setbacks he should face Minnesota on Sunday.
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Brandon Carwile was a Cheesehead at birth. His dad grew up attending games at Lambeau and passed on the legacy. He has covered the Packers for over five years and currently works with packerstalk.com. Find him on twitter at @PackerScribe.
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1 response to “Signs Point Toward Rodgers Playing This Week”
Well, it’d be nice if we had a good enough backup quarterback that we could let Aaron The Great get healed. It’s a long season. 15 more regular season and a couple of playoff games….
But of course, we don’t. So we’ll put his injured leg out there again.
I argued all offseason that we should get one of the top QBs in the draft. I’m way happy with Alexander, of course, but I’d sure rather have a talented QB in back of Rodgers for the next couple of years.