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During a normal game week with a Sunday contest, the Green Bay Packers would typically open up their practice schedule on Wednesday with a typical practice. Through two weeks, new head coach Matt LaFleur has returned the team to a traditional schedule of Wednesday-Thursday-Friday practices, with the “Thursday” practice (which took place on Monday of week one) being in pads the first two weeks.
In week three, the Packers do indeed play a normal Sunday game, hosting the Denver Broncos at Noon Central. However, instead of a normal full practice, the Packers will hold a lighter walkthrough instead. LaFleur confirmed that plan in his Wednesday morning press conference with the media.
The reason for the decision, as LaFleur put it, was to give the team a “mental day” due to the roster being “a little banged up.” The Packers had nine different players either miss a day of practice or show up as limited in at least one practice in week two, and another seven who were full participants all week but who still showed up on the injury report. That is in addition to a pair of safeties who suffered injuries against Minnesota: Raven Greene, who went on injured reserve with an ankle injury, and rookie Darnell Savage, who was wearing a walking boot earlier in the week.
In addition, the Packers have a short week in week four, as they host the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night. That compresses the team’s recovery and practice schedule, and LaFleur cited that as another reason for the lighter practice on Wednesday.
The Eagles, meanwhile, made the same decision to hold a walkthrough on Wednesday, largely for the same reasons. In fact, Philadelphia is in more dire straits than the Packers in terms of their injury situation, and they have the added complication of having to travel for the week four game at Lambeau Field.
Stay tuned to see if any notable updates come out of Green Bay on the injury front on Wednesday.