Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker remained out of practice Friday, earning a doubtful designation for Sunday’s game against the Packers.
Walker, who leads Seattle with 542 yards rushing this season, has a calf injury.
Zach Charbonnet has 400 yards and is tied with Walker for the team lead with seven touchdowns after rushing for 134 yards and two touchdowns Sunday.
Wide receiver DK Metcalf (shoulder) has no injury designation after a full practice Friday.
The Seahawks ruled out cornerback Tre Brown (hamstring), free safety Jerrick Reed (quad), tight end Brady Russell (foot), offensive tackle Stone Forsythe (hand) and strong safety K’Von Wallace (ankle).
Cornerback Artie Burns (toe) is doubtful.
Cornerback Jaire Alexander is going to miss another game for the Packers.
Alexander has missed the last three games with a knee injury and head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters on Friday that he will make it four in a row when the Packers face the Seahawks on Sunday night. Alexander also missed Week Nine and had to leave his Week 11 return appearance against the Bears after a handful of snaps.
“Based on what I saw the past couple days, I didn’t feel he was ready to play,” LaFleur said, via Wes Hodkiewicz of the team’s website.
While Alexander will remain out, the Packers are set to get wide receiver Romeo Doubs back in the lineup. LaFleur said he has cleared the concussion protocol.
Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald called running back Kenneth Walker day to day Wednesday, but Thursday was not the day he returned to practice.
Walker remained out, rehabbing a calf injury.
He leads Seattle with 542 yards rushing this season. But Zach Charbonnet has 400 yards and is tied with Walker for the team lead with seven touchdowns after rushing for 134 yards and two touchdowns Sunday.
Wide receiver DK Metcalf (shoulder) had a limited session after full participation Wednesday.
Tight end Brady Russell (foot) did not practice Thursday after limited work Wednesday, and cornerback Tre Brown (hamstring) and safety Jerrick Reed II (quad) remained out.
Defensive end Leonard Williams (foot/rest) and linebacker Ernest Jones IV (knee/rest) returned to limited work Thursday.
Punter Michael Dickson (back) had full participation after limited work a day earlier.
The Lions have revoked the season tickets of the fan who had a heated verbal altercation with Packers head coach Matt LaFleur during last Thursday’s game between the teams.
Fahad Yousif told the Detroit News that the Lions informed him of the decision via an email. Yousif was on the field before the game to hold part of on oversized flag during the national anthem and had to be separated from LaFleur, who said Yousef “was talking junk to our players, giving them the throat slash sign.”
“The biggest gut punch, man,” Yousif said. “Just waking up and seeing that email and not being able to talk to somebody in person, it was a terrible feeling. I don’t have my chance to give my side of the story or anything.”
Yousef was asked to leave the game by the Lions before halftime and said at the time that he “got caught up” in the moment. He told the newspaper that he was “devastated” by the team’s decision and admitted that the entire incident “definitely could have been avoided” on his end, but his lack of self-control in the moment proved to be costly.
Two NFL teams have already clinched their divisions, and two more teams could clinch their divisions this week. But the Lions, despite having the NFL’s best record, aren’t close to clinching the NFC North.
The Vikings are only one game behind the Lions in the division and the Packers are three games back, and Lions quarterback Jared Goff knows the division race is far from settled.
“We have to keep winning,” Goff said. “We’d love to say at 12-1 our division’s wrapped up, but it’s not even close. We’ve got two teams on our heels that are pushing us pretty hard. We’ve got to keep winning. I’m sure they’re just waiting for us to lose.”
The Lions have a head-to-head sweep over the Packers, and have already beaten the Vikings in Minnesota, and they’re -1100 favorites to win the NFC North. So they’re certainly in very good shape to win the division, and could clinch the NFC North before their Week 18 rematch with the Vikings. But they haven’t put the rest of the division in the rear-view mirror the way a 12-1 team usually would have.
Seattle running back Kenneth Walker is likely to be back sooner rather than later.
Walker missed last Sunday’s win over the Cardinals with a calf issue, but it doesn’t sound as if he’ll be sidelined for too much longer.
“He’s still day-to-day right now,” head coach Mike Macdonald said during his Wednesday press conference, via Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune. “It got more kind of complicated as the week went on. That’s why we had to do some more tests and stuff. But right now, there’s positive signs.
“So, we’ll just say day-to-day, I think is fair. But it’s not long-term.”
Walker leads Seattle with 542 yards rushing this season.
But Zach Charbonnet, who started against Arizona, has 400 yards and is tied with Walker for the team lead with seven touchdowns.
Charbonnet rushed for 134 yards on 22 carries with two TDs in last Sunday’s 30-18 victory.
Seattle’s full Wednesday injury report will be released later in the day.
The Packers may be getting tight end Luke Musgrave back in the lineup in the near future.
Reporters at the open portion of Wednesday’s practice shared that Musgrave is taking part in his first on-field work since having ankle surgery early this season. Musgrave’s presence on the field means that his 21-day practice window has been opened and he could be activated at any time in the next three weeks.
Musgrave had five catches for 22 yards in the first four games of the season. The 2023 second-round pick had 34 catches for 352 yards and a touchdown during his rookie season.
Cornerback Jaire Alexander (knee) and wide receiver Romeo Doubs (concussion), linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (hamstring), and cornerback Corey Ballentine (knee) were also practicing. All four players missed last Thursday’s loss to the Lions.
With footage emerging of former Jets defensive end Mark Gastineau accosting former Packers quarterback Brett Favre for taking a dive to help former Giants defensive end Michael Strahan set the single-season sack record in 2001, Favre has taken to Twitter to tell his side of the story.
In so doing, Favre says he wasn’t trying to hurt Gastineau. Favre admits, however, that “maybe it crossed my mind” to help Strahan during the final game of the 2001 season, which ended with Strahan getting a record-setting gimme sack from Favre..
Favre also takes issue with the decision to record and publicize the 2023 interaction between Gastineau and Favre.
Favre’s full Twitter thread, in which he starts by calling the incident a “small dustup,” appears below.
“Back in 2002, when Michael Strahan sacked me at the end of a game that we had wrapped up, I was in no way trying to hurt Mark Gastineau,” Favre wrote. “I was trying to close out a game and squeeze the last bit of fun out of a hard-fought game. . . . I booted out of a run thinking it would be wide open, saw Strahan standing there and ducked down. The game was over. There was no need for me to do anything spectacular. It probably wasn’t Michael’s best sack or tackle for loss.
“In a different game or situation, I would have made a bigger effort to avoid the sack or TFL. But at no point was I thinking about hurting Gastineau. Maybe it crossed my mind to help Strahan. I didn’t think it through. That wasn’t my forte at the time. I just wanted to have fun and compete. In retrospect, I understand how Gastineau feels. We played a brutal game. Gastineau played during an era where guys didn’t make generational wealth.
“I see now how being the Sack King would elevate his value at card shows, strengthen his case for the Hall of Fame, increase his demand as a public speaker. I had no way of knowing that then. I realize now the potential financial implications because football is far more business-oriented than when me or Mark played.
“There was no malice on my part. Mark was a great player. My understanding is he’s a great guy and a fun teammate, a guy who played with the kind of joy and passion I tried to mimic. I understand his frustration, but I’m not his enemy. A while back, he saw me at a card show and got his frustration off his chest. It’s not the kind of moment that should be filmed and released. It was a private moment of frustration between two old football warriors.
“I have a great deal of respect for Mark. I hope one day he joins me in the Hall of Fame. He earned it. Look at his numbers. He eclipsed 20 sacks twice and had 19 in another year!
“Mark definitely left an indelible mark on the game. I hope this controversy brings attention to just how great Mark Gastineau was. He belongs in Canton.”
Favre sort of admits he was helping Strahan. Still, Favre insists he never considered the impact it might have on Gastineau. It’s easy to accept Favre’s position that he just wasn’t thinking about it that way.
Favre was clearly respectful and friendly to Gastineau in their encounter. Gastineau was determined to give Favre a piece of his mind, after holding it for more than two decades. And he did.
Bottom line? There’s no place in football for helping someone achieve a statistical milestone. The player either earns it or he doesn’t. What Favre did for Strahan is no different than a Giants defender deliberately whiffing on a Week 18 tackle as Eagles running back Saquon Barkley tries to set the single-season rushing record.
Conduct like that tarnishes the achievement, and it makes everyone involved look bad. Deep down, Favre knows it. Strahan probably does, too.
Twenty-three years ago, Packers quarterback Brett Favre took a dive to give Giants defensive end Michael Strahan the single-season sack record. Everybody knows it.
Everybody including Mark Gastineau.
The former Jets pass rusher, who held the record before Favre handed it to Strahan, still holds a grudge about the moment. The proof appears in the upcoming 30 for 30 documentary on the New York Sack Exchange.
Last year, Gastineau and Favre interacted at a memorabilia show. It starts when Favre approaches Gastineau in a friendly, unsuspecting manner. Gastineau was not friendly.
Favre tells Gastineau he thinks they’ve met once before.
“Yeah, right -- when you fell down for him,” Gastineau says, via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. “I’m going to get my sack back. I’m going to get my sack back, dude.”
Favre thinks that means Gastineau is going to sack Favre.
“You probably would hurt me,” Favre says.
“Well, I don’t care,” Gastineau says. “You hurt me. You hurt me! You hear me?”
“Yeah, I hear you,” Favre says.
“You really hurt me,” Gastineau says. “You really hurt me, Brett.”
Favre didn’t do it to hurt Gastineau. Favre was doing Strahan a favor. Gastineau is also upset with the man who benefited from the phony sack.
He thinks Strahan and Favre conspired. Gastineau plans to let Strahan hear about it, at some point.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time -- many, many years,” Gastineau told ESPN.com. “I’ve only got one more guy to go to.”
T.J. Watt has since tied the all-time record of 22.5. Which means that, as far as anyone should be concerned, Watt holds the record alone.
Four teams have already clinched playoff berths and four more teams could join them in Week 15.
The NFL has released this week’s playoff scenarios and it shows that the Texans, Steelers, Packers and Vikings can all book spots in the tournament.
Houston’s path to the playoffs is to beat the Dolphins on Sunday while the Colts lose in Denver. If that happens, the Texans will also be the AFC South champions for the second straight season.
The Steelers have two paths and one of them is as straightforward as it gets. They’re in if they beat the Eagles in Philly and they can also get in and they’ll also be in if the Texans wrap up their division because they lock up a berth with losses by the Dolphins and Colts. Ties by both those teams would also benefit the Steelers, but it’s not a particularly likely development.
In the NFC, the Vikings are in with a home win over the Bears. They can also get in with a tie, a Rams loss or tie or a Seahawks loss or tie.
The Packers are less likely to end the weekend with their playoff fate settled. They will be in the postseason with a win, a Falcons loss or tie and a tie between the Rams and 49ers.
The Eagles locked up their spot in Week 14 and they can move on to clinching the division this weekend. A win and a Commanders loss or tie is the easiest path to an NFC East crown, but tying the Steelers while the Commanders lose would also get the job done.
