PLAYER NOTES
–WR/KR Trevor Davis, who spent most of the season on injured reserve before being activated for the Week 11 game at Seattle, will miss this week’s game after aggravating his hamstring on Sunday at Minnesota. Davis is hoping he’ll be able to play again this season. He said, “It’s understanding triggers before they happen, so I kind of saw it coming so I laid off it a little bit. It’s feeling better than usual after certain things like this but we’ll have to see.”
–TE Jimmy Graham caught two passes for 34 yards against Minnesota while playing with a protective device on a broken thumb. “It’s obviously a real irritant during the week,” head coach Mike McCarthy said. “Just the process of putting it on and off is obviously uncomfortable. I would think his preparation as far as workload would be very similar to what we did last week.”
–LT David Bakhtiari did not practice on Wednesday after suffering an injured left knee during the second half at Minnesota. “He’s improving,” head coach Mike McCarthy said, adding it was “premature” to discuss the potential availability of anyone on the team’s lengthy injured list. LG Lane Taylor (quad), who missed the end of the Minnesota game, was limited participation. If they can’t play, Jason Spriggs would start at left tackle and Justin McCray at left guard.
–CB Kevin King and WR Randall Cobb practiced on Wednesday. King has missed the last three games with an injured hamstring and Cobb has missed six of the last eight games with a hamstring injury of his own.
–CB Bashaud Breeland, who was inactive for the Minnesota game with a groin injury, did not practice on Wednesday. Two other defensive starters, S Kentrell Brice and DT Mike Daniels, were out, as well. After missing the Seattle game with an ankle injury, Brice was back in the lineup against Minnesota but reinjured the ankle during the first quarter and suffered a concussion in the third quarter. Daniels, one of the league’s better defensive tackles, has a foot injury and was in a cast last week.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: A third-round pick in 2016, LB Kyler Fackrell had a total of five sacks in his first two seasons. He has a team-high eight this season, emerging as the most effective rusher on a defense that ranks third in the NFL in sack percentage. He’ll attack an offense that ranks 24th in sack percentage allowed and released starting right tackle Andre Smith this week.
“I just think the confidence has really helped him,” defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said. “I think early in the year, he was a little beat up and he wasn’t getting results, and there were some plays that he wished he had back, especially in the run game. Once you start going and they come in bunches. The Buffalo game he had three. I think that was kind of the breakthrough moment for him.”
GAME PLAN: The Packers have lost four of their last five games to fall to the brink of elimination. The offense, once one of the elite units in the NFL, has been more problem than a solution. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a two-time MVP, owns one of the lowest completion percentages in the NFL. For a struggling unit, the Cardinals are arriving at the right time. Opposing quarterbacks have completed 69.0 percent of their passes against the Cardinals. Rodgers should have a big day, so long as they can protect him against a defense that is No. 1 in sack percentage.
On the other side of the ball, Green Bay’s injury-plagued defense should feast on the worst offense in the NFL. The Cardinals are last in scoring, last in rushing, last in passing, last in total offense and last on third down. The key will be tackling. They’ve missed double-digit tackles each of the last three games, and the Cardinals have some playmakers in running back David Johnson and rookie receiver Christian Kirk. Barring an abundance of self-inflicted wounds, Green Bay’s defense should win this matchup.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
–Packers LT David Bakhtiari vs. Cardinals DE Chandler Jones. This will be a must-see clash, so long as Bakhtiari is able to play through the left knee injury sustained at Minnesota. Bakhtiari is one of the NFL’s premier left tackles and Jones is one of the NFL’s premier rushers. He led the NFL with 17 sacks last season and has 11 this season. He rushes almost exclusively from the defense’s right side, meaning he’ll face Bakhtiari, who’s allowed only three sacks this season, according to STATS. If Bakhtiari can’t play, Jones will have a huge advantage over backup Jason Spriggs. Spriggs gave up a sack in a short stint against Minnesota’s Everson Griffen last week.
–Packers WRs vs. Cardinals CBs. Everyone knows about Cardinals CB Patrick Peterson. In his first seven seasons, he was named to seven Pro Bowls. Just who will surround him this week? Jamar Taylor opened the season as the other starter but was released last week. Bene Benwikere replaced Taylor in the starting lineup but was released this week. Budda Baker has manned the slot for most of the season but missed the last two games with a knee injury. The Cardinals signed Leonard Johnson and David Amerson on Nov. 14 and added former Packers corner Quinten Rollins on Monday. The Packers aren’t in much better shape at receiver, though. Davante Adams is the equivalent of Peterson but Randall Cobb has missed six of the last eight games with a hamstring injury and rookies Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown have only sporadically made plays.
