Whatever the Green Bay Packers called a practice on Tuesday, Aaron Rodgers was part of it.
Rodgers, who injured his calf on Sunday, took some snaps and did some throwing during what appeared to be a pretty light practice all around. Rodgers did not do anything terribly strenuous, from what we’ve gathered, but coach Mike McCarthy says his injury is improving.
“He’s getting better,” McCarthy said. “We didn’t do a whole lot today. It was more of a coming off a Monday night schedule. A lot of fundamental work. We got the scheme in the jog-throughs.”
With a showdown for the division with the Lions looming, Rodgers has already said he expects to play. He said that on Sunday and we have no doubt that will end up happening. The question is, how mobile will Rodgers be?
The Packers had to adjust their game plan against Tampa after the injury to keep Rodgers in the pocket. Detroit is not Tampa, though. They’re much better. We’re talking about the NFL’s second-ranked defense in Detroit, compared with the 26th-ranked in Tampa.
It should also be noted that this is an atypical practice week for the Packers because of the holiday. The team will have Thursday off, so they’re on a schedule similar to if they had played on Monday night. They’ll skip their traditional Wednesday practice, which is their full-pads practice, and go from a light Tuesday workload to the usual Thursday shells practice on Wednesday.
The lighter workload will probably be more beneficial to Rodgers than anyone.