Morning Buzz: Packers' bye a chance to heal
Welcome to your Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers around the web and here at PackersNews.com.
First up, Tom Silverstein reports that Packers tight end Jared Cook suffered a high-ankle sprain against the Lions on Sunday. High-ankle sprains are tricky injuries and usually tend to linger for weeks on end. The Packers have only two other tight ends on the active roster in Richard Rodgers and Justin Perillo.
Regarding other Packers' injuries, coach Mike McCarthy expressed hope Monday that outside linebackers Clay Matthews (ankle/hamstring) and Datone Jones (knee), defensive tackle Letroy Guion (knee) and safety Morgan Burnett (groin) would be ready to return after the bye week when Green Bay hosts the New York Giants on Oct. 9.
As for the game against the Lions, Bob McGinn's ratings are up. Bob's film study is exhaustive and not to be missed.
Michael Cohen takes a look at Eddie Lacy's early-season production.
Speaking of Lacy, the Packers' running back joined teammate Ty Montgomery on Monday night for our weekly "Clubhouse Live" show, and thing got a little out of hand with smoothie shots.
There was football talk as well, as in this clip where Montgomery talked about his heads-up play on a kickoff return:
You can see a replay of the entire show here.
The Scouting Academy has a great series of film breakdowns, a few featuring plays from the Packers' game against the Lions.
Justis Mosqueda has a fantastic overview of how the Packers got back on track in Week 3.
On top of just going heavier and getting efficient by only fielding the team's best wide receivers on the outside, McCarthy also threw out plenty of exotic formations. For example, in the mid-second quarter, he sent out a trips formation with running back James Starks in the slot, tight end Richard Rodgers as an inline tight end and fullback Aaron Ripkowski offset to the trips side, all while under center.
No other team in the NFL may run that formation again this season. McCarthy seemingly heard all of the chatter about a potentially vanilla offense and made it a point to prove people wrong, which he did with a 31-3 lead in the second quarter.
ESPN's Rob Demovsky noted the Packers finally did something fans have been begging for the last two seasons: They gave Davante Adams a lot less playing time in Sunday's game.