Packers prep for Cowboys with WR Adams day to day
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Packers star receiver Davante Adams is day by day with an injured toe as Green Bay prepares for a trip to Texas to play the Cowboys this weekend.
Adams was injured during the fourth quarter Thursday night against Philadelphia. After being held to four catches in two of the team’s first three games, Adams had 10 catches against the Eagles. His 180 yards set a career high and are almost as many as Green Bay’s second-leading receiver, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, has in the first four games combined (217).
“Those guys are going to have to fill the void if he’s not able to go,” coach Matt LaFleur said Monday. “Obviously, that would create a pretty significant void but it is the next man has got to step up. It’s not like our standards and expectations are going to change. Certainly, we have to be mindful of what we’re asking certain guys to do because when you have a receiver like Davante, I don’t think there’s a route that he cannot run. He’s a dynamic receiver but those other guys, it creates opportunities for other guys to step up and make some plays.”
Last season, Adams recorded 111 catches — one off the franchise record — and was targeted 169 times, just one behind the league-leading total of Atlanta’s Julio Jones. The passing game continues to run through the two-time Pro Bowler, though not as much as it did last year.
Rodgers has completed 25 of 36 passes (69.4 percent to Adams). The numbers drop off for most other receivers. Geronimo Allison has two touchdowns but has lost one fumble while tight end Jimmy Graham has two touchdowns but failed to catch a fourth-down pass in the end zone with Green Bay trailing 34-27 against Philadelphia.
Adams has almost as many catches as Valdes-Scantling (16) and running back Aaron Jones (12) combined, and his 378 yards almost equal the combined 384 of the team’s next three players (Valdes-Scantling, 217; Graham, 91; Allison, 76).
If Adams can’t play or is limited at Dallas on Sunday, it will mean more opportunities for those other targets.
“Definitely never want to see anybody go down out there,” Allison said. “It’s a physical game (and) things happen, but definitely there’s opportunities every week, every day, for guys to go out there and make plays.”
Without Adams on the Packers’ do-or-die final drive, they moved the ball from their 11 to the Eagles 3 before Rodgers’ pass to Valdes-Scantling was deflected and intercepted by linebacker Nigel Bradham.
“When you come up short, it’s like you didn’t get the job done,” Allison said. “If we can get a field goal, we’ll take that. If we come away with seven points, we’ll take it. When you come away with no points, you didn’t do the job. It didn’t get done.”
Notes: LB Oren Burks, who suffered a partially torn pectoral in the first preseason game against Houston on Aug. 8, returned to practice. He wore a harness at practice and will do so once he’s cleared to play in a game. “It felt great to have my helmet back on and being out there with the guys. It’s been a long process rehabbing and everything but I’m just taking it day by day.” . DT Montravius Adams, who has missed the last two games with a shoulder injury, hopes to be ready for Dallas. . LaFleur watched Dallas’ game against New Orleans on Sunday night but wasn’t dialed into the action. “I was with my family. I had my kids crawling all over me.”
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