Zach Heilprin

Packers: G Lucas Patrick, S Darnell Savage listed as questionable for Monday night

Green Bay should be relatively healthy when it hosts Detroit on Monday night at Lambeau Field.

The Packers released the final injury report Saturday and had four players with designations. Starting left guard Lucas Patrick and starting safety Darnell Savage are listed as questionable, tight end Josiah Deguara is doubtful and safety Vernon Scott has been ruled out.

Patrick remains in the concussion protocol but he had progressed enough to return to practice on a limited basis Saturday. Coach Matt LaFleur said he liked where Patrick was in his progress but would see how he responded after practice. If he can't go, Jon Ruynan Jr. would likely get the start.

Savage practiced all week on a limited basis with a shoulder injury and it seems likely he will be available after he was knocked out of last week's loss to New Orleans.

Deguara is making his way through the concussion protocol, while Scott did practice this week but is out for a second straight game with a hamstring injury.

As for Detroit, the Lions will be without starting wide receiver Tyrell Williams and defensive lineman Kevin Strong. Four other players are questionable.

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by Zach Heilprin

Packers to put OLB Za'Darius Smith on IR with back injury

Green Bay will be without one of its top defensive players for at least three weeks.

Coach Matt LaFleur announced Friday that linebacker Za'Darius Smith would go on injured reserve due to a back injury.

"We're going to have to shut him down for a while," LaFleur said. "It's a matter of do you keep him in a limited role, or do you shut him down for a while, try to get him healthy and then get him up to the snap count that we we'd like him to be, like he's been in the past because he's such an impact player. It's the route that we thought was best long term."

Smith missed most of training camp due to the back injury. He was listed as questionable for last week's season opener against New Orleans but ended up playing. The Packers used him mostly in third-down situations and he was on the field for 18 snaps.

"No, I think we're comfortable with the decisions," LaFleur said when asked if he regretted playing Smith last week. "It's just one of those deals where you want him more readily available, and we feel like this is the best way to allow that to happen. He's going to have to rehab hard, and hopefully over time, it's just one of those injuries where you just never quite know."

A free agent addition prior to the 2019 season, Smith led the team in sacks in each of the last two years, racking up a total of 26.

"He's a disruptive force. He's a he's a game wrecker," LaFleur said when asked what they'll miss without him. "Certainly, I think he's a guy that the the offense has to account for on every play, where he's at, where he is aligned, how are you going to protect against a guy like that. Because if you give him those one-on-one matchups, he can make you pay. He's certainly proven his worth over the last couple of years. And even prior to coming here, just how dominant and such a force he can be."

Without him, there will be more expected out of fellow outside linebackers Preston Smith, Rashan Gary, Jonathan Garvin and Chauncey Rivers. The club is also adding Ladarius Hamilton from Tampa Bay's practice squad to bolster the position, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tom Silverstein.

by Zach Heilprin

Packers, Rodgers not freaking out after Week 1 loss

Aaron Rodgers' demeanor never changed this week.

Not late in the fourth quarter of Sunday's embarrassing 38-3 loss to New Orleans, not when he addressed reporters about a 1/2 hour after the game and not when he made his regular Tuesday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. While much of the football world was freaking out about the egg the Green Bay Packers laid in the opener, the quarterback gave off a ho-hum-shrug-your-shoulders vibe when speaking about what was the most-lopsided loss of his starting career.

Rodgers acknowledged the team did not play well and he played bad, but he was not going to make any sweeping statements about what the season would hold after 60 minutes of football, even if it was as ugly as what happened in Jacksonville. This is the man, after all, that made "R-E-L-A-X" and "Run the Table" famous among Packers fans.

Though he did not offer up any kind of sayings that will be remembered a decade from now when he met with the local media Thursday in advance of the team's game against the Detroit Lions, Rodgers made clear that he does not see what all the fuss is about.

"I'm not going to make it bigger than it was. I'll let you guys in the outside world do that," Rodgers said. "But we've won a lot of games around here. We've lost a few but you move on. It doesn't matter if you play incredible and put up fifty or you get blown out, you move on to the next opponent. There shouldn't be some big drastic change and alteration the way that we do things, the way we practice, the way we prepare. If it's good enough to get you to this point, then it's good enough from this point forward. I haven't changed any stuff that I've been doing. Obviously, we got to play better. But if we're starting to freak out after one week, we're in big trouble."

Rodgers admitted that when he takes the podium to speak to the media, much of what he says is also directed at those in the locker room. His sayings from 2014 (Relax) and 2016 (Run the table) were meant to give fans hope but also the guys within the organization that look at him as a leader. The same goes for his post-game attitude.

"I was trying to put the loss in the context where it deserves to be put, and that is it's not acceptable, but it's just one game," Rodgers said. "We're not going to be held prisoner mentally by that poor performance. And like I said, we're not going to change a ton of things. I don't think there needs to be wholesale preparation changes, schematic changes. We had to clunker, and we got to play better. I expect that we will on both sides of the ball."

Under coach Matt LaFleur, the Packers have not lost back-to-back games in a single season. Rodgers was asked the reason for it and pointed to the obvious fact that they have been a good team the last two years and have not lost a lot of games overall. LaFleur, though, said it is a mentality.

"If you're looking back and kind of smiling on your past accomplishments, you're going to get hit in the mouth," the third-year coach said. "So, you can never do that, not for one second. It is whether you win or lose, it's on to the next game period. There's a period of time there where right after the game that you can either reflect on both wins and losses. But as soon as that next day comes, it's how do we get better for this week. And that, I think, is the mindset our guys have taken."

Rodgers has been especially good at putting a loss or a poor game behind him. Last season, on his way to earning his third NFL MVP award, Rodgers threw four touchdowns and zero interceptions in the three games after losses. That included against Houston the week after he posted a 35.4 passer rating in a humbling 38-10 loss to Tampa Bay, which is just slightly worse than his 36.8 rating he put up against the Saints last week.

"(I've) been pretty damn good for a while," Rodgers said when asked why he plays so well after a poor performance. "So, you have a shitty game like that, usually bounce back to average things out."

by Zach Heilprin

Packers expecting fired up Jamaal Williams in his return to Lambeau Field

When the Green Bay Packers decided to re-sign running back Aaron Jones to a lucrative contract just before the start of free agency last spring, it officially marked the end of Jamaal Williams' time in Green Bay. A favorite inside the team's locker room and among the fanbase, Williams moved on to Detroit this offseason, signing a two-year contract with the Lions.

The early returns on the signing were very positive after Week 1. He caught a career-high tying eight passes for 56 yards, and added nine carries for 54 yards and a touchdown. Now, he'll return to Lambeau Field to face his former team on Monday night.

"It's the same old Jamal that you saw when he was playing for us," coach Matt LaFleur said. "You can see it in the game Sunday versus San Francisco, just competing to the best of his ability and getting tough yards and bringing a lot of energy and juice. I'm sure he will be fired up to come in here and play."

Williams was a fourth-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft and averaged more than 700 yards from scrimmage in all four of his seasons. But after the Packers re-signed Jones and had drafted AJ Dillon in 2020, Williams was expendable. He was asked by Detroit reporters this week whether it was difficult to leave Green Bay.

"(Shoot), it ain't hard for them to say bye," Williams said, according to Justin Rogers of the Detroit News. "Y'all act like I left on my own, golly. I didn't do it. Shoot, if I could have stayed, I would've stayed.

"They didn't want me, like that ex-girlfriend. Glad that I got a rebound, it was the Lions and they treat me good. You know what I mean? Now they're feeding me good, taking me to dinners. Another man's trash is another man's treasure."

Williams is definitely not considered trash by those he left behind in Green Bay, especially quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He talked throughout Williams' time with the Packers about the impact he made on the field, the energy he brought and his unique personality. Rodgers spoke about his former teammate again Thursday.

"I have a lot of love and affection for Jamaal," Rodgers said. "He's such a special, special guy, adds so much to the locker room, so much energy to game day. He's one of those guys (where) there's a gaping hole in certain areas when you lose a guy like that. You can't just fill it up with one person."

LaFleur says Rodgers' sentiments on Williams ring true up and down the roster.

"He's a guy that I got a lot of respect for, a lot of love for," LaFleur said. "I think if you ask everybody in that locker room, everybody respects him. But you know, he's the opponent on Monday night, so there's not going to be a lot of love during the game."

by Zach Heilprin

Packers: S Darnell Savage practices, OLB Za'Darius Smith does not

Green Bay was back on the practice field Thursday to continue its preparation for facing Detroit on Monday night at Lambeau Field. It gave reporters their first look at the Packers and their injury situation.

Safety Darnell Savage took the first step towards playing against the Lions, as he took part in practice on a limited basis. Savage injured his shoulder against New Orleans on an interception that got called back on a penalty.

"He's progressing through, we'll give him the week to see how he feels," coach Matt LaFleur said. "But he's been getting better, I would say every day. Certainly he's a guy that we want available, because he's a guy that can cover a lot of ground out there, he's got great experience and explosiveness, and he's a key member of this football team."

Linebacker Za'Darius Smith was not at practice. He played through a back injury against the Saints that forced him to miss much of training camp, but was limited mostly to third downs.

"We're not going to play him as much as we'd like to until we know that he's healthy enough to do that," LaFleur said. "And so until he can practice on a daily basis, it's it's hard to say that he's 100%."

Tight end Josiah Deguara and starting left guard Lucas Patrick are both in the concussion protocol, but they did at least attend practice, which is normally a good sign.

Safety Vernon Scott, who missed last Sunday with a hamstring injury, returned to practice.

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by Zach Heilprin