What Is Hurting The Packers

     Article written by Dustin Krueger.          

 It was a very beautiful day out in Washington October 10, 2010. The Green Bay Packers went there to play the Washington Redskins. The Packers are down a few players already; on defense they are missing their starting safety Morgan Burnett who had 14 tackles and 1 interception. Also out are two of their defensive linebackers are Nick Barnett who is a lifelong Packer player and Brandon Chiller, they have a combined 35 tackles on the year and one interception.  Mark Tauscher tackle for of the offense is out and was a key blocker in the Packers running and passing game. But probably the most influenced Packer injury was when starting running back Ryan Grant went out for the year with an ankle injury.

                During the first quarter of the game verse the Redskins the Packers lost Jermichael Finley with a knee injury and he may be out for the rest of the year, he is one of the best tight ends in the NFL this year, with 21 catches for 301 yards and one touchdown. They also lost their second tight end Donald Lee with a shoulder injury. Defensive end Ryan Pickett fell to an ankle injury and later on in the game lost Clay Matthews linebacker to a hamstring and on special teams Derrick Martin to a knee injury. Clay Matthews is one of the NFL’s top linebackers this year, he was drafted by the Packers last year this is his second year in the NFL and he has 21 tackles, 8.5 sacks and one forced fumble on the year. Clay Matthews was a major turning point in the game when he went out of the game, Matthews was the man that was in McNabb’s face the whole game. When he left McNabb was able to throw some deep passes that lead them to the win. And to top of the injuries Aaron Rodgers was injured in the last drive in overtime for the Packers. He sustained a concussion when he was hit with a defenders helmet to his helmet. Rodgers may be out for the next game depending on if the doctors ok him to practice and play. There is a protocol when it comes to players getting concussions in the NFL and must pass all the tests.

Photo provided by Megan Marquart, the Viking Playing

 the Packers back in 2007.

                As quoted by John Lindstrom “the Packers are going to strain on showing how much depth they have in their team.” The team is going to show what they got for backup just looking at Brandon Jackson yes he is an ok running back for a third down man not a full game guy like Ryan Grant would have bee.

Also John said that “they are going to have to have a conservative game plan involving a lot of running to set up the play actions for the passing game.”If Aaron Rogers can’t start the Packers second string Matt Flynn who has only played 22 games in his career only thrown for 17 passes with nine of them being completed.

The Packers have 3 wins and 2 losses second in their division behind the Bears and the Vikings and Lions tied for last. “With the glut of injuries in the team, and the Bears on their hot strut, the Vikings are always a tough team to play against for the Packers, and the Lions playing really good this year so far. It’s going to be really tough for the Packers to compete with these teams if they keep losing team members,” as Jeremy Walizer put it.