When Aaron Rodgers went down with an injury just before halftime of the Green Bay Packers’ Week 17 game against the Detroit Lions, he didn’t think he would be coming back for the second half.
In fact, he thought he would be out for the entirety of the playoffs.
“My initial thought was I popped my Achilles,” Rodgers said Tuesday on his ESPN Milwaukee radio show, via ESPN.com. “That’s why I kind of stayed down. It was a very painful sensation.”
Luckily for Rodgers, he only reinjured his left calf muscle, which he had pulled the week before against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, this time it was in a different spot, and the star quarterback still is unsure if he’ll be at full strength for the Packers’ NFC divisional playoff game.
“I don’t think it’s a good thing,” Rodgers said. “The fact that the inside (of the calf) was real weak because that was the initial point of strain in the Tampa game, the outside just kind of gave out on the scramble and the throw to (Packers wide receiver) Randall (Cobb). Fortunate that we have two weeks here because I feel confident that I’ll be in a better spot than I was going into the Lions game with an extra week of rest.”
It certainly will help Rodgers that Green Bay has a first-round bye. Packers coach Mike McCarthy also gave his team three days off from practice and is allowing Rodgers to go at his own pace.
“Mike is going to give me as much time off as I need working up to it,” Rodgers said, per ESPN. “But I’m going to want to get some on-the-field reps starting next week when we get into our preparation when we figure out who our opponent is.”
Green Bay will take on the higher-seeded team among the Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers on Jan. 11 at 1:05 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via Benny Sieu/USA TODAY Sports Images
