Packers Injury Update: Nick Perry and B.J. Raji "advancing faster than expected"

The Green Bay Packers were hit hard by injuries in their week five game against the St. Louis Rams, as three key players dropped out with injuries at different times throughout the contest. Nick Perry, B.J. Raji, and T.J. Lang all were pulled out of the game and did not return. Those players added to an already lengthy injury list which included fellow starters Davante Adams and Morgan Burnett, who had sat out the past few weeks as well.

However, over the past 24 hours or so the Packers have received some good news on all five players, with head coach Mike McCarthy's Thursday press conference shedding a bit of light on the statuses of some of these players.

On Wednesday, the Packers got good news with Lang, Adams, and Burnett all practicing, albeit on a limited basis. As of Wednesday evening, there seemed to be the most optimism about Lang returning this week.

Thursday morning came, however, and with it was more good news, this time from McCarthy himself. Here are a couple of comments from the head coach that are worth discussing:

Mike McCarthy: Report this morning is that Nick Perry (shoulder) is advancing better than expected. So is B.J. (groin).

— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) October 15, 2015

First up are these promising tidbits on the two recently-injured Packers defenders. Perry has been expected to be out for at least the Chargers game, but if he is ahead of schedule then he may indeed be able to return in time for the Broncos game in week eight. For Raji, a best-case scenario would be a return to the field this Sunday, and although he did not practice on Wednesday, that does not seem out of the question in light of these comments.

Next up are the two nagging injuries:

McCarthy: "Davante (Adams) and Morgan (Burnett) are scheduled to do more today." Both were very limited yesterday.

— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) October 15, 2015

This is also a good sign. After both players were held out of practice entirely over the past two weeks, the fact that they should be able to do more on Thursday than they did on Wednesday indicates that neither had a setback in their recoveries this week.

We'll keep a close eye on each player's status through Sunday morning as their availability for the week six game against the Chargers draws nearer. For now, though, there seem to be reasons for some optimism that at least some of these critical players will be able to give it a go.