Injuries for Packers' Bulaga, Lacy not as serious as initially feared
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- After a resounding defeat Thursday night in Seattle to begin the NFL season, the Green Bay Packers were in need of some good news. They got just that Friday in the form of injuries to two key offensive starters not being as bad as they could have been.
Running back Eddie Lacy left the game early with a concussion, but not even 24 hours later, the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year is improving.
"I was told Eddie feels very good today," head coach Mike McCarthy said. "He's already started the concussion protocol and has cleared the first step."
This is the second concussion already in Lacy's brief NFL career. He suffered a concussion in Week 2 last season and missed the following week's game.
One thing working in Lacy's favor in terms of not missing the Packers' next game is that Green Bay has nine full days off before hosting the New York Jets on Sept. 14.
"The biggest thing of any medical situation, particularly Eddie Lacy, we're always going to go through the process," McCarthy said. "I think it's been clearly stated that we don't take unnecessary risk for the players. We'll just trust our medical staff."
The other injury was to right tackle Bryan Bulaga, who grabbed at his surgically repaired left knee after going to the ground in the second quarter against the Seahawks. Bulaga did not return to the game, but any fears that the 2010 first-round pick once again suffered a season-ending injury can be put to rest.
"It's not a major injury," McCarthy said. "We're relieved by that."
Bulaga suffered a torn MCL, according to reports. That's an injury that could take multiple weeks to heal, but it could also be just a matter of a few days, depending on the severity.
"Right now we have a little bit of a gap between how Bryan feels and how the medical department feels about him, which is normal," McCarthy said. "I think really Wednesday's practice will probably give us a better indication. I know Bryan would like to try to go on Wednesday, but we have to continue to see how his knee reacts between now and then."
McCarthy did not have a definitive timeline on Bulaga's return. In the event that Bulaga is not ready to play in Week 2, McCarthy confirmed that Derek Sherrod would start at right tackle. Sherrod allowed two sacks in the loss at Seattle, one of which was on fourth down and the other resulting in a safety.
"I think Derek will play better than he did this week," McCarthy said. "Really, there's some things that we weren't totally in tune with. That first sack, we had a protection call there that everything wasn't done correctly, so (Cliff) Avril was able to get the edge there. The second sack, you know, really, we were playing uphill there. That's something that we could probably do a better job of as we move forward."
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