GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love was present for Thursday’s joint practice against the Indianapolis Colts, but he was wearing a bucket hat and cast rather than a helmet.
Love suffered a ligament injury to his left thumb when he was sacked on his final snap of Saturday’s preseason game against the Jets. He practiced on Monday but had surgery on Tuesday.
“Surgery went well and he’s in great spirits. He’s here with us,” coach Matt LaFleur said before practice in Westfield, Ind. “Now it’s about just about putting in the work to get the thumb rehabbed.”
Love said it was a UCL injury, with that being an important ligament. If this were the regular season, Love said he would have played through the injury. But he opted to take advantage of the window before the season-opener against the Detroit Lions on Sept. 7.
“I think with the timeframe that we have right now, finishing up training camp and preseason and heading into the season with the choice to be going into the season 100 percent healthy was definitely the call I wanted to make,” Love told reporters after practice. “Dealing with injuries last year, I wanted to go into this thing feeling good.”
As LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst said this week, Love might only be out for a week.
“We anticipate there’ll be some sort of participation next week,” LaFleur said.
“We’ll start integrating back in next week and kind of just playing it by ear, seeing how it feels.”
LaFleur’s initial plan for training camp was for Love and the starters to practice against the Colts on Thursday but not play in the game on Saturday, but the following week they’d practice against the Seahawks on Thursday and play in the preseason finale at Lambeau Field on Saturday.
Following the injury, LaFleur in Green Bay on Tuesday said it would be “highly unlikely” for Love to play in the game against the Seahawks. However, getting some practice time would lessen the layoff between the preseason game against the Jets, which was played on Aug. 9, and the season-opening showdown against the Lions, which will be played on Sept. 7.
“We anticipate there’ll be some sort of participation next week,” LaFleur said.
Without Love – and most of the team’s top receivers – Malik Willis was tasked with leading what’s left of the No. 1 offense in Thursday’s practice.
As was the case in Green Bay on Tuesday, the Packers’ receiver corps limped into Indianapolis. Christian Watson (knee), Jayden Reed (foot), Donvayvion Wicks (calf), Romeo Doubs (back) and Savion Williams (unknown) are out of action. That left rookie first-round pick Matthew Golden as the last man standing in what is expected to be the Packers’ six-strong receiver corps once Watson is back from last year’s ACL injury.
Doubs was injured in a collision with safety Evan Williams on Tuesday. The injury is not serious, though; coach Matt LaFleur initially thought there was a chance Doubs would practice against the Colts.
“We’ll see how he feels,” he said. “We’ll try to loosen him up but, on the way over here, I got a text that said didn’t look like it.”
For Willis, he went against the Colts with Golden, Malik Heath, tight ends Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave, and a kiddie corps of receivers. After helping lead the Packers to three wins in place of Jordan Love last season – including against the Colts in Week 2 – he made a bunch of big plays but a couple big mistakes on Tuesday.
“I think he’s done a great job,” LaFleur said. “I think just the core fundamentals that we’ve talked about many times in terms of footwork and reading with your feet, I think he’s come a long way. I think his accuracy has shown throughout camp, as well. He’s made a lot of great throws. We’ll just continue to build on that each and every day.”
Here is the injury update from before the Packers-Colts joint practice.
New injuries: None.
Old injuries: WR Christian Watson (knee), QB Jordan Love (thumb), WR Jayden Reed (foot), WR Dontayvion Wicks (calf), CB Nate Hobbs (knee), S Xavier McKinnney (calf), S Zayne Anderson (knee), linebacker Collin Oliver (hamstring), offensive lineman John Williams (back), WR Savion Williams (unknown), WR Romeo Doubs (back).
Returning from injuries: RB Israel Abanikanda (hamstring).
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