Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy discussed two minor injuries to one important player (DE Mike Neal) and one of the franchise's cornerstones (LB Clay Matthews). From JS Online:
Contrary to what he said Wednesday, coach Mike McCarthy confirmed Thursday that defensive end Mike Neal did indeed undergo a MRI scan on his injured knee. He added that Neal remains in the "day to day category," though history suggests knee sprains typically take about two weeks to recover from.
Meanwhile, linebacker Clay Matthews has soreness and tightness in his hamstrings, McCarthy said. Matthews' tight hamstring hit last night and this morning, according to the coach. His number of snaps have been monitored.
"I’ll say this, this is better than the last two years," McCarthy said. "Injuries go in cycles. I can’t predict the future. He's definitely aware of it. He’s very conscientious about his training. We’re always going to play the high side of caution because of his history."
He also mentioned RB James Starks is still day-to-day due to an ankle injury, which is keeping him out but doesn't sound too severe.
Neal talked about his injury on Tuesday and said it was no big deal. I don't think having an MRI is a sign that it's any worse. The Packers usually show extra precaution with players and injuries during the preseason.
Which is a similar situation with Matthews, who's developing the reputation of a player who misses the preseason due to a nagging injury, and opens the regular season with 3 sacks anyway. Maybe he's got problematic hamstrings (which might be what McCarthy was talking about with "He's very conscientious about his training") and this is annual injury that we will watch every preseason. And he'll just play through if it reoccurs during the regular season. I'd expect that he could play if he had to, and this too is a precaution.