Reports Suggest Sam Shields and Tramon Williams Avoided Major Injury

In the span of a few plays on Sunday afternoon, the depth in the Green Bay Packers secondary suddenly went from a nice luxury to a critical piece of the puzzle. First, starting cornerback Sam Shields' knee buckled as the Packers' defense was setting up for a play, Then two plays later, the other starter, Tramon Williams, got rolled up on by Brad Jones while making a tackle, appearing to suffer an ankle injury. Both players sat out the rest of the game as the Packers would go on to win 27-24.

However, we have some promising news the day after the game. Early reports indicate that neither player has suffered a major injury, and both should be able to rejoin the team at some point this season.

First up is the most recent report, on Williams, which comes to us thanks to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Tyler Dunne:

CB Tramon Williams has "no major damage" to his ankle, source says. Only "some swelling." Not sure on timetable yet. #packers

— Tyler Dunne (@TyDunne) October 13, 2014

Swelling, especially when the words "no major damage" are included, suggests an ankle sprain rather than a broken bone or torn Achilles, either of which could very feasibly end Williams' season. For the sake of comparison, Datone Jones sprained his ankle in the Thursday game against the Vikings and was a game-time decision to play ten days later. From this report, it seems likely that Williams will sit out next week's game against Carolina, but there appears to be some possibility that he could return as early as two weeks from now against the Saints.

As for Shields, the report on his injured knee comes from the player himself. Following the game, Shields was quoted as saying that he "felt a pinch" and "it hurts" but that he was also told by the training staff that nothing appeared to be torn in his knee. Obviously there will be no plan for his rehab until the team doctors know more about the extent of the injury, but if there are indeed no torn ligaments, it is logical to think that Shields should be able to return this season as well.

In the meantime, Davon House and Casey Hayward will man the starting corner positions, and each has flashed moments of brilliance while splitting time as the third cornerback this season. They have an interception apiece on the young season, and each has held quarterbacks to a passer rating of less than 55 when throwing into their coverage (according to Pro Football Focus).

We should learn more in the coming hours and days about just how severe these injuries are, but at least for the time being there is reason for optimism about the Packers' injured corners.