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NFL Weekly Sports Picks Green Bay Packers Injury Report Piling Up

A funny thing happened on the way to the Green Bay Packers being one popular top sports picks to win it all this NFL season. The realities of playing a collision sport have been plainly felt in Titletown, U.S.A., leaving a team that was an early season favorite to make a Super Bowl run now wondering how they can survive their next four-game stretch.

NFL  WEEKLY INJURY REPORT

 The injury problem actually began in Week One. Starting running back Ryan Grant left the season-opener against the Philadelphia Eagles with an ankle injury. The team got grim news the next day when Grant needed season-ending surgery. 

But he wouldn’t be the last key starter to see his 2010 season come to a premature close. 

Two weeks ago, the Pack lost starting safety Morgan Burnett for the year with a torn ACL while linebacker Nick Barnett suffered a wrist injury needing season-ending surgery. But that was just foreshadowing of what may still be to come.

On Sunday in their eventual overtime loss to the Washington Redskins, the trainer’s table may have been the busiest spot on the Green Bay sideline. Starting tight end Jermichael Finley was carted off the field during the team’s opening series with a knee injury. Moments later, backup tight end Donald Lee left the game with a shoulder injury. Linebacker Clay Matthews, in the midst of a Pro Bowl season, sat most of the second half because of a hamstring problem. Then to add insult (or probably just more injury) to injury, quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a concussion late in the game. 

In the short term, it means long lines at the MRI machine in Green Bay. Long term, it could have a definite impact on the Packers’ championship dreams. There are already early reports that Finley could sit out next week’s showdown with the Miami Dolphins. Rodgers will have to go through a series of tests before the team decides if he’s available next week. 

Green Bay is hoping that its injury issues get settled very soon since the road doesn’t get any easier after Miami. Before they get to their bye in Week Ten, the Packers still have to deal with the Vikings, Jets and Cowboys – all playoff contenders. Considering Green Bay has lost two of its last three, thanks in part to a sputtering offense, getting through this next four-game stretch with a .500 record should keep the Pack in the thick of the playoff chase and back to being one of the top NFL Weekly picks.