National Football League

Packers shake off sluggish start, monitor Bishop

Published Aug. 10, 2012 6:29 p.m. ET

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The Green Bay Packers probably won't need long to shake off an ugly start to the preseason.

A long-term injury to linebacker Desmond Bishop would be a more significant setback.

Bishop hurt his right leg in the first quarter of the Packers' 21-13 loss at San Diego in Thursday night's preseason opener. Speaking to reporters after the game, Packers coach Mike McCarthy characterized Bishop's injury as a knee sprain, with potential damage to his hamstring.

''Desmond's injury didn't look very good,'' McCarthy said. ''Hopefully we'll get some good news as further testing goes on. But it's up in the air, talking to Dr. (Pat) McKenzie.''

Bishop was hurt when a group of players fell on his right leg. He stayed down for several minutes and was unable to put any weight on it as he was helped to the sideline, then was carted to the locker room.

Bishop, a sixth-year player out of Cal, started 13 games for the Packers last season - missing three with a calf injury - and had five sacks. If Bishop misses a significant amount of time, promising second-year player D.J. Smith will likely get an opportunity.

Cornerback Devon House also hurt his shoulder in Thursday's game, saying afterward that he was hopeful it wasn't a long-term injury.

''Hopefully, I'm not out longer than a week,'' House said. ''But I've never had a shoulder injury, so they haven't given me a time line. They just told me we'll see what happens tomorrow morning when we get X-rays.''

House posted on his Twitter account that he was going in for tests Friday afternoon. Packers players and coaches were not available to the media Friday.

The Packers already had injury issues going into Thursday's game, ruling several players out - including wide receiver Greg Jennings and starting left tackle Marshall Newhouse, who are recovering from concussions.

Beyond the injuries, the Packers looked sloppy.

''We have a lot of work to do,'' McCarthy said. ''That's evident.''

Aaron Rodgers played three series, completing 2 of 8 passes for 16 yards with an interception and a fumble. He spent much of that time under pressure as backup left tackle Herb Taylor struggled to contain Chargers pass rusher Melvin Ingram.

''Whether you play real well or you struggle, it's preseason,'' Rodgers said. ''You're going to be working on things. We'll be fine. We'll just watch the film, and get a nice tongue lashing, come back on Saturday and get ready for next week.''

There were some positives for the Packers, including the pass-rush ability of first-round draft pick Nick Perry.

But turnovers stood out the most to McCarthy.

''There's some things that you're very happy to see and there's definitely some things you're not very happy with,'' McCarthy said. ''I think it's an excellent illustration of the progression you make from the practice field to a scrimmage and then to a real game. Fundamentally, we can go through it in more detail once we watch the tape. Obviously, the way we handled the football to start the game, (I) was not particularly happy about that. We had the ball on the ground way too much, the turnovers. On the flip side of it, I thought our defense did an excellent job of taking the ball away.''

Rodgers didn't seem particularly worried.

''Stuff happens,'' Rodgers said. ''You don't play as well as you want to, but it's preseason. We're missing some guys, screwed some plays up, turned the ball over. It happens. We'll watch the film, review and get better.''

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