By Gary D’Amato, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel –
GREEN BAY, Wis. — It’s not often that an NFL team limps into its bye week on a four-game winning streak.
That, however, describes the bruised and battered Green Bay Packers, who have fought through an absurd number of injuries this season with a “next man up” philosophy backed by a seemingly bottomless depth chart.
The Packers won another game Sunday.
They lost a couple more starters.
So goes the 2012 season.
Green Bay beat Arizona, 31-17, at Lambeau Field but finished the game without havoc-wreaking outside linebacker Clay Matthews, who exited in the third quarter with a hamstring injury, and right tackle Bryan Bulaga, who left in the second quarter with a hip injury.
Wide receiver Jordy Nelson’s return from a hamstring injury was short-lived, too. He went out in the first quarter, this time with an ankle injury.
“I felt today was a very demanding victory for us,” said Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who didn’t go into detail about the injuries in his postgame news conference. “I was very proud of the football team, the way we battled through a number of situations, dealing with injuries throughout the game.”
More will be known in the coming days about the severity of the latest injuries. But one thing is certain: The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time.
“This bye is very much needed,” guard Josh Sitton said. “We’ve got a lot of guys beat up right now.”
The list of starters who have missed at least two games includes running back Cedric Benson, receiver Greg Jennings, linebacker Desmond Bishop and his replacement D.J. Smith, defensive tackle B.J. Raji, linebacker Nick Perry, cornerback Sam Shields and safety Charles Woodson.
Raji is back in the lineup and Benson, Jennings, Perry, Shields and Woodson all are expected to return at some point in the second half. Bishop and Smith are out for the season.
It’s not known how much time Bulaga and Matthews will miss. Matthews has struggled with hamstring injuries in the past but has only missed one start because of injury in his career.
“Obviously, we need Clay and we want Clay, but injuries happen so you’ve got to be prepared and be ready to go out there,” said rookie Dezman Moses, a non-drafted free agent who replaced Matthews and contributed two tackles in addition to knocking down a pass.
“That’s just the way we work. This is the NFL. You’ve got to be able to do your job when called upon.”
McCarthy has refused to use injured players as an excuse — no matter who or how many. And the Packers have a good template to follow: two years ago they weathered a similar storm of injuries and won Super Bowl XLV.
“It’s always tough losing guys and we have lost a lot so far,” linebacker A.J. Hawk said. “But when you think about it, what are our options? We’re not going to mail it in. We’re not going to quit. You have to fight through it.
“So we have to roll with who we have in. And the guys we’ve had rotate in have done an amazing job so far.”
The Packers have gotten it done on defense with back up Erik Walden at outside linebacker, Brad Jones moving inside and a patchwork secondary picking up Woodson and Shields.
“We have guys who are really versatile,” Jones said. “Myself and a lot of other guys can step in and be put in different packages and still be successful.”
On offense, receivers Randall Cobb and James Jones have performed superbly with Jennings, and now Nelson, down.
Alex Green filled in for Benson and it appears that he and James Starks will share time at running back until Benson, on the injured reserve-designated for return list, is eligible to return from a foot injury in December.
When Bulaga went out, left guard T.J. Lang slid over to right tackle and Evan Dietrich-Smith took Lang’s place.
“That just shows you the depth of our team, that guys can step up, guys are clued in, they know what’s going on with the game plan,” safety Morgan Burnett said. “You never know when your number can be called, so you have to be prepared and ready to go.
“You can’t ever go into a game thinking, ‘I’m playing behind this guy, so I don’t have to be as tuned in and focused.’ You have to be focused at all times. Once your number is called, you have 10 other guys counting on you to know what you have to do.”
With the bye week , several of the injured players could heal sufficiently to get back on the field when the Packers play their next game, Nov. 18 at Detroit.
“That’s the goal right now, getting everybody back and everybody healthy,” Moses said. “A few of us are nicked up. This is an important week for us. We’ll definitely get a lot of treatment done.”
Said Hawk, “I feel like this year the bye has come at a good time for us. Hopefully, we can get some guys healthy, get some guys away from the facility for a couple days and come back ready to roll.”
