Aaron Rodgers concerned injured knee will worsen through season

ByROB DEMOVSKY
September 19, 2018, 3:36 PM

GREEN BAY, Wis. - The hope, of course, is that Aaron Rodgers' injured left knee improves as the season goes along.

The concern, however, is that the more the Green Bay Packers quarterback plays on it, the worse it gets.

"Yeah, obviously that's a concern," Rodgers said Wednesday. "Hopefully it goes the other way though."

Rodgers made it through all of Sunday's 29-29 tie against the Minnesota Vikings while playing with a large brace on his left knee, which he injured in the previous week's season-opening win over the Chicago Bears.

He admitted that his knee "obviously it won't be 100 percent, so I'll just adjust accordingly to how I'm feeling and try to get through."

"It just depends on how the week goes with the rehab and the recovery," Rodgers said. "Obviously, I'd love to be better than I was last week as far as health-wise but there's some factors that are out of my control."

That likely means another week without much time on the practice field. Rodgers did not practice last week until Saturday, when he took part in the hour-long session that coach Mike McCarthy typically holds the day before games.

McCarthy altered his usual practice schedule in advance of Sunday's game at Washington. He cancelled Wednesday's practice, although not necessarily because of Rodgers' injury. The Packers' overtime game against the Vikings was played in 80-degree heat with 71 percent humidity. That followed a Sunday night season opener against the Bears.

"I think it's obvious we came off of a Sunday Night game, played an overtime game in unusual heat for this part of the country, so just trusting our numbers," McCarthy said. "That's why we're doing what we're doing."

Rodgers said the warm weather on Sunday actually helped his knee get loose as the game went on.

"The heat and the adrenaline definitely helped, but it's just going to be something you've got to deal with for a while," Rodgers said. "Take it week by week. It doesn't seem like there's a major setback at this point, so just being smart about it and trying to get ready to play Sunday."

Rodgers completed 30-of-42 passes with one touchdown and no interceptions, while often favoring throws from within the pocket.

He ran three times for 8 yards (with a long run of 7 for a first down). One of them was a read-option keeper in overtime when he fumbled. He completed 30-of-42 passes with one touchdown and no interceptions. However, the Packers converted just one of five red zone trips into touchdowns.

"We're still in a day by day mode, I mean, just how he's progressing," McCarthy said Wednesday. "So we'll see how the team responds out of this format that we're in today. They'll be, there's a number of players obviously, there's players that have played a lot of reps the first two weeks. So, what we want to get done with them and how we practice them tomorrow will be based off the information that we go through tonight as a staff. So, he's obviously in that group from an injury standpoint."

The other major injury of concern is to cornerback Kevin King, who dropped out against the Vikings because of a groin injury. Although McCarthy did not think it was a long-term issue, he said King would be "hard pressed" to play Sunday at Washington.