Packers Clips
The Packers made a late change to their injury report for Thursday night’s home game against the Panthers.
Cornerback Keisean Nixon is now called questionable to play. Nixon is dealing with a shoulder injury and he was not on the reports that the team issued on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Nixon has started all seven games this season and he had an interception in the season-opening loss to the Vikings. He also has 43 tackles, five tackles for loss and a half-sack on the season.
Brandon Cisse is the other starter at cornerback for Green Bay with Benjamin St-Juste and Carrington Valentine also on the depth chart.
On Thursday night, the planets will align in a very specific way. And that could lead to more than a few penalties being called.
When the Panthers and Packers open Week 8, the game will pit the most-penalized team (the Packers, 9.3 per game) against the fourth most-penalized team (the Panthers, 8.7 per game). The Panthers also lead the league in penalty yards per game (79.2), while the Packers are second at 78.0 yards per game.
On top of that, referee Scott Novak’s crew leads the league in penalties called per game (22.7) and penalties accepted per game (20.1).
Throw the ingredients together, and there could be a stew of stoppages on Thursday night.
Either way, it’s something to monitor. Will the Packers and Panthers continue to draw an excess of penalty flags? Will Novak and crew continue to be flag-happy?
It could be a good idea to take a nap tomorrow afternoon. Thursday night’s game could last a little longer than usual.
Wide receiver Matthew Golden moved up to a limited listing on Wednesday’s injury report and the Packers are hoping to have him in the lineup on Thursday night as well.
Golden is listed as questionable to face the Panthers because of shoulder and foot injuries. His participation level was an estimation as the Packers never held more than a walkthrough this week and three defensive players join Golden with questionable tags.
Defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt (ankle), defensive tackle Anthony Campbell (ankle), and defensive end Brenton Cox (quad) are also in that category. All three of them were listed as limited practice participants as well.
Linebacker Zaire Franklin (shin), offensive lineman Travis Glover (knee), and center Sean Rhyan (ankle) have been ruled out for this week.
The Panthers will be shorthanded on defense in Green Bay on Thursday night.
Linebacker Jaelan Phillips was one of two defensive players ruled out on the team’s final injury report of the week. Phillips also missed last Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers with a hamstring injury. Phillips has 2.5 sacks and six quarterback hits in his five appearances this season.
Cornerback Akayleb Evans (triceps, knee) is also out and that leaves the Panthers with two healthy cornerbacks on the 53-man roster Will Lee and Chau Smith-Wade will likely be joined by reinforcements from the practice squad before Thursday’s game gets underway.
The offense will be missing left guard Damien Lewis (knee) and reserve lineman Torricelli Simpkins (ankle).
Defensive tackle Bobby Brown (hand) is the only player listed as questionable. Kicker Ryan Fitzgerald was added to the report with an illness on Wednesday, but he has no injury designation.
The Packers were on the wrong end of some questionable calls during Sunday’s loss to the Lions. Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur has chosen his public words about the officiating issues very carefully.
On Tuesday, LaFleur was pragmatic.
“I don’t think officiating in this league is very easy,” LaFleur told reporters. “I really don’t. I think things happen quickly and there’s some bang-bang, split-second decisions you’ve got to make. So, I don’t think they have an easy job. But, you know, all you want as a coach is consistency across the board. As best as it can be. And sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t.”
He’s right. It’s a problem that’s inherent to the entire officiating function. As explained on Monday’s PFT Live, the league continues to officiate games with a system that has slowly evolved since the decades before TV was invented. At this point, given the various technologies that are available, the league should tear the current apparatus down and rebuild it in a way that maximizes video and digital technology.
Without that (and it’s unlikely the league will do it, for various reasons starting with the expense), the game is left with a flawed, imperfect system that relies on middle-aged officials who are trying to see what’s happening with the naked eye while avoiding being trampled without the benefits of helmets or pads.
The game moves quickly. Information needs to be processed and decisions need to be made in less than the blink of an eye, from a perspective among, not above, the fray.
No, it’s not easy. If it wanted, the league could make it much easier. Much more accurate. Much more reliable.
It won’t start until someone at 345 Park Avenue is willing to make an unpopular suggestion, and then to become the in-house champion for change. On top of everything else that person already has to do.
Which means that the current situation will continue, with mistakes being made and shoulders being shrugged and coaches and owners (except for Tom Brady, apparently) being muzzled. The only recourse for teams is to submit questions to the league, wait for answers, and then (ideally) keep quiet about that, too.
The NFL’s late-afternoon window on Sundays continues to rack up big audiences.
For Week 7, Packers-Lions on Fox averaged 24.67 million viewers.
While not as big as the Sunday night audience for Chiefs-Seahawks (26.3 million), it’s a big number.
The bi-weekly Fox slot at 4:25 p.m. ET is averaging 24.749 million viewers through the first seven weeks of the 2026 NFL season.
This week, CBS has the late-afternoon broadcast, featuring a Denver rematch of the Week 1 game between the Chiefs and Broncos. Given that the Chiefs are 5-1 and the Broncos are 5-2, it should do very well.
The early window should do well, too. It features the 5-2 Browns at the 5-2 Steelers, the 4-3 Ravens at the 5-1 Bills, and the 6-0 Vikings at the 4-2 Lions.
The Lions went for it on fourth-and-1 in a tie game with 4:53 left, and Jahmyr Gibbs was stopped for a 2-yard loss. Lions coach Dan Campbell has faced questions about his unconventional decision.
Campbell explained that the Lions had more confidence in their ability to gain 1 yard than risk Jordan Love executing a 4-minute, game-winning touchdown drive. Campbell added that, even if Detroit’s fourth-down gamble failed, the Packers would not be able to run the clock out, leaving the Lions time to respond.
It worked out as D.J. Wonnum blocked the chip-shot field goal of Packers rookie kicker Trey Smack, and the Lions won on a last-play field goal.
Quarterback Jared Goff said he didn’t “even think twice” when he heard the Lions were going for it deep in their own end.
“I think it’s so -- I don’t know the right word — exposing of people who think it’s not the right decision just because it’s in our territory,” Goff said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. “It’s guaranteeing us a chance to win the game no matter what. Whereas, if we punt it, they can do exactly what we did to them on the final drive, and I’m sure they wish they had another chance to touch the ball.
“So it’s funny. I think back to a few years ago where we went for that fourth down against Green Bay in a similar situation, fourth-and-1, and we got it with David Montgomery. There was backlash on that, and we converted. I guess no matter what, there will be backlash, so who really cares at this point, right?”
In 2024, the Lions went for it on fourth-and-1 at the Green Bay 21 with 43 seconds left. David Montgomery ran for 7 yards, and Jake Bates kicked a 35-yard field goal on the final play for a 34-31 win.
“I think when we’re in those situations, we’re so much more comfortable in them than the other teams because we do them more often,” Goff said, “and it is an advantage for us. It’s something that we practice and something that we spend a lot of time on, and we feel very comfortable in those situations.”
The Lions lead the NFL in fourth-down conversions (89) over the past five seasons and rank second in attempts (154), according to 97.1 The Ticket. Their conversion rate of 57.8 percent over that stretch ranks seventh.
The Lions have converted 61.5 percent of their 13 fourth-down attempts this season.
“Again, unfortunately we didn’t convert this one,” said Goff. “We want to get the first down and keep the game moving and finish the game on that drive, but Dan knew that if we were not to get it, OK, they’ll either kick a field goal or they’ll score a touchdown, and then we’ll get the ball back. Now, thankfully, they missed the field goal, and everything was great, but by every measure of everything, it’s the right decision.”
The Packers’ defense could be getting a major boost.
Linebacker Micah Parsons, who suffered a torn ACL in December 2025, seems to be moving closer to a return.
Parsons remains on the reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list. The Packers can open a three-week practice window at any time. At the end of the three weeks, he must either move to the 53-man roster or return to the PUP list and not play this season.
On Tuesday, coach Matt LaFleur was asked whether Parsons will return to practice next week.
“I sure hope so,” LaFleur said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN. As Demovsky notes, LaFleur’s previous responses to that question “had been a hard no.”
Parsons tore his ACL on December 14, the same day Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered the same injury. But it’s very different for a quarterback and a front-seven defender. Parsons will be constantly navigating plenty of bodies and limbs, which inevitably will be hitting his legs and knees. He needs to be sure that he’ll have the confidence in the repaired ACL before he takes the field again.
Green Bay could use the boost defensively. At 4-3, they host the Panthers on Thursday night. After that, they face the Patriots and Vikings before the Week 11 bye.
Given the three-week practice window, a return next week could mean that Parsons will return in Week 12, when the Packers visit the Rams in the NFL’s first-ever Thanksgiving Eve game.
Packers linebacker Zaire Franklin will miss another game. It’s not a surprise given the Packers play on Thursday night.
Coach Matt LaFleur announced Tuesday that Franklin will not play against the Panthers.
Franklin missed last week’s game after getting accidentally kicked in Thursday’s practice. He was diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his leg.
The Packers did not place him on injured reserve, believing he can return after missing fewer than four games.
Franklin ranks third on the team in tackles (41) and has two quarterback hits, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.
Ty’Ron Hopper took Franklin’s spot in the lineup on Sunday, and Isaiah McDuffie wore the green dot in Franklin’s stead.
The Sunday Splash! report regarding a potential fire sale in Indy was conditioned on the Colts’ performance in their three remaining games before the trade deadline. After only one game, they tapped the “Everything Must Go” sign in the front yard.
Guard Quenton Nelson, as expected, has been traded to the Seahawks. Defensive tackle DeForest Buckner has been traded back to the 49ers, as expected.
So who’s next? Running back Jonathan Taylor has been the focal point of speculation, with ESPN linking him to the Packers, Seahawks, Broncos, and Vikings.
The Vikings got the ultimate opportunity to scout Taylor on Sunday, when he accounted for 110 of the team’s 218 total offensive yards in a 16-10 Minnesota win. Taylor averaged 5.3 yards per carry and went 38 yards for the Colts’ only touchdown of the day.
There’s an obvious incentive to maximize 2027 draft picks, especially with the Colts’ first-rounder committed to the Jets as the back end of the Sauce Gardner trade. But Taylor is under contract for two more years; they may want to keep him until the offseason, giving the next G.M. the opportunity to decide whether to retain Taylor or trade him in March.
Of course, Taylor would have more value now to a team that hopes to augment its roster for a playoff push. Although the Vikings were burned 37 years ago this month by the Herschel Walker trade, it would take much less than the ridiculous haul of picks and players (which became more picks after the Cowboys cut them) to get Taylor.
Taylor could make a huge difference for a team premised on a stout defense. While Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason have proven to be capable options at tailback, Taylor is among the best in the league. He has the power and speed to move the chains and, when given an opening, go the distance.
Whatever happens with Taylor, it’s clear the Colts aren’t waiting to see what happens over the next two weekends. In a deadline-driven business, the timeline for the Colts isn’t being driven by the deadline. It’s being determined by getting deals done now and moving on.
