Notebook: Cobb held out with ankle injury

GREEN BAY - Wide receiver Randall Cobb was held out of practice Wednesday as the Green Bay Packers try to get his ailing ankle in good enough shape to play Sunday night against Detroit.

Cobb, who practiced only a little last week and did not play against the Minnesota Vikings, was not at the indoor workout in the Don Hutson Center. Coach MIke McCarthy said before practice that Cobb would be with the rehab group, but did not say what the rest of his week would look like.

The Packers will practice twice more this week before leaving for Detroit.

"He's getting better," McCarthy said.

Also sitting out practice was running back Christine Michael, linebacker Julius Peppers and running back James Starks.

All three were not present. Michael and Peppers were held out for non-injury reasons, according to the injury report. Starks is still in the concussion protocol.

With the game indoors at Ford Field this week, the Packers practiced inside with the doors closed. Because the game is at 7:30 p.m., McCarthy moved the practice to late afternoon so it was held closer to the scheduled kickoff time.

For the Lions, cornerback Darius Slay (hamstring) returned to practice and took part in a limited fashion. Slay, Detroit's best corner, sat out the Monday night game against Dallas.

Nothing to talk about: Receiver Jordy Nelson wanted no part of the story coming out of Minnesota about the Vikings cornerbacks defying coach Mike Zimmer's wishes in covering Nelson.

Zimmer wanted Xavier Rhodes to follow Nelson around the field but Terence Newman reportedly persuaded Rhodes to stay on his side of the field so they would be able to share coverage of Nelson depending on where he lined up each play.

I’m not talking about that," Nelson said. "That’s their issue, so it had no effect on the game. I think that’s an internal issue. Sorry. I’m not going to add any extra nonsense. It’s getting way too much play."

Mirror image: It has been said that Lions wide receiver Golden Tate is like a running back playing wide receiver. Tate excels at racking up yards after the catch with his elusiveness and open-field abilities.

The same description used to apply to Packers’ running back Ty Montgomery, a former wide receiver. But so natural were Montgomery’s running skills that an official position change quickly followed.

“He’s one of those guys that’s got the body type that he can certainly play a number of different roles,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. “I mean, even coming out of college, he was a strong, sort of physical receiver. Looking at him now, I think he fits right with that in his wheelhouse.

“Golden Tate is one of those guys, every once in a while we stick him in the backfield and do a couple things.”

But could Tate make the full-time switch to running back? He’s not so sure.

“I think that’d be a pretty drastic change for me personally,” Tate said. “Hats go off to Montgomery. … I think he’s done a great job of handling that load. That’s a lot of load to handle. I think he’s done a phenomenal job.”

High note: Part of the Packers’ preparation for Sunday’s showdown with the Lions included watching the tap of last year’s game at Ford Field.

While the first part of that game was ugly — the Packers trailed 17-0 at the end of the first quarter — everyone inside Lambeau Field knew what to expect at the end of the film session.

Aaron Rodgers to Richard Rodgers. Hail Mary. A 27-23 win for the Packers.

“It’s nice on the film,” Aaron Rodgers said. “It’s a good way to end the last play. … That was a great memory we’ll take with us for years but hopefully we’ll make some more on Sunday.”

Tom Silverstein can be reached via email at tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com or twitter.com/TomSilverstein