GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) The Packers’ banged-up defense has taken another hit with linebacker Nick Perry ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks with what coach Mike McCarthy called a ”significant hand injury.”
Perry leads the team with eight sacks. He got hurt in the first half of last week’s win over Houston before returning after halftime playing with a heavily-wrapped left hand.
McCarthy said Wednesday that he didn’t know how long Perry would be sidelined, but that the pass rusher would be re-evaluated on Monday.
The loss of Perry is the latest blow to a defense that has had injuries mount at cornerback and now linebacker. McCarthy said Clay Matthews won’t practice on Wednesday or Thursday as he works through a left shoulder injury.
”Each week it’s going to get better. That’s the hope. As far as having a setback, it didn’t help him playing in the game,” McCarthy said. ”We’ll get to Saturday and kind of see where we are. But the goal is to try to get some strength back in the shoulder.”
The addition of Perry to the injury report means that the four linebackers who began the season as starters this season will have all missed at least a game this year. At inside linebacker, Blake Martinez has missed two games with a knee injury, while Jake Ryan returned last week from a two-game absence because of an ankle injury.
”They are what they are. I know nobody wants to talk about,” McCarthy said before practice about injuries. ”Our job is to put players in position to be successful. We feel good about our plan, and plan on being successful Sunday.”
McCarthy also said that quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is playing with a sore left hamstring, would be limited in practice on Wednesday.
Green Bay (6-6) has won two straight games to get back to .500, holding the Eagles and Texans each to 13 points after having allowed at least 31 in four straight games, all losses.
The Packers face a critical game against Seattle. Green Bay is tied with Minnesota for second place in the NFC North, two games back of Detroit with four games left in the regular season.
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