GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy has ruled out at least 11 players for Thursday night's preseason opener against the San Diego Chargers -- including wide receiver Greg Jennings and starting left tackle Marshall Newhouse, who are recovering from concussions.
Also ruled out for the Packers are cornerback Sam Shields (elbow), running back Brandon Saine (hamstring), tight end Ryan Taylor (concussion), wide receiver Tori Gurley (groin), running back Du'ane Bennett (knee), offensive lineman Ray Dominguez (ankle), fullback Jon Hoese (hamstring), tight end Eric Lair (knee) and offensive lineman Mike McCabe (hip).
Packers general manager Ted Thompson acknowledged that the number of early injuries is somewhat concerning, although none of them seem particularly serious.
"If you have a pretty good balanced start at training camp when you have all 90 of your guys ready to go and then start picking them off, it usually accelerates when a position loses someone," Thompson said. "Then it puts more burden on those who are left, and then one more of those go down and it kind of works like that. Alarming is probably not the right word, but it's concerning because you don't want to tax your guys that are healthy too much."
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press
