Packers notes: Tauscher expects to be ready for Carolina
By JASON WILDE
GREEN BAY -- Mark Tauscher thinks he'll be able to start Sunday for the Green Bay Packers against the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field, but if the veteran right tackle is going to play through his hamstring injury, he'll have to do it with limited practice time.
Tauscher did not practice Wednesday and won't practice again Thursday, Packers coach Mike McCarthy said as the team returned to work following Monday night's 51-29 loss at New Orleans. Tauscher then will be evaluated by team doctor Pat McKenzie on Friday morning to determine whether he can practice that day.
"We'll see how much work he'll be able to do on Friday," McCarthy said. "I know Mark is very optimistic. He has been very positive about his chances to play."
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Tony Moll took most of the right tackle reps in practice Wednesday -- although left guard Daryn Colledge aso saw time there -- and would start in Tauscher's place. Moll came in on the third play of Monday night's loss, and other than being to blame on a 5-yard loss by Ryan Grant on the third series, graded out "pretty well," offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said.
"After that, we didn't have to adjust our game-plan a whole lot, we didn't have to send an extra guy over there in protection," Philbin said. "The guy's a competitor. He has confidence in his ability, which is good. If you asked him, he probably feels he should be playing all the time, which is the way you want guys to think. He gave us a competitive performance. Was he perfect? No. But he got some movement in the running game, battled his butt off in pass protection. He gave us a chance."
Health watch
Including Tauscher, the Packers listed 19 players on the injury report, although only Tauscher, safety Charlie Peprah (calf), No. 3 halfback DeShawn Wynn (calf) and cornerback Pat Lee (knee) failed to practice on at least a limited basis.
McCarthy said Lee's knee injury, suffered Monday night, will keep him out "a couple of weeks." The news was better at safety because Atari Bigby (ankle), Nick Collins (knee), Aaron Rouse (ankle) and Jarrett Bush (ankle) were all able to practice on a limited basis.
Also limited were left tackle Chad Clifton (knees), tight end Tory Humphrey (ankle), No. 2 halfback Brandon Jackson (ankle), wide receiver Greg Jennings (rib), defensive tackle Johnny Jolly (ankle), defensive end Mike Montgomery (ankle), center Scott Wells (shoulder) and cornerback Charles Woodson (toe).
Wide receiver James Jones (knee) and defensive end Jeremy Thompson (groin) were full participants. Justin Harrell tweaked his knee during the game and is wearing a brace but practiced fully.
For the Panthers, linebacker Adam Seward (ankle) did not practice while halfback Jonathan Stewart (ankle) practiced fully.
Hit man
Apparently, none of Aaron Rodgers' coaches had a problem with the quarterback leading with his throwing shoulder -- already dislocated once this year -- on that wallop of a hit against Saints cornerback Jason David after Rodgers' first interception Monday night. Philbin said he didn't speak to Rodgers about it, while quarterbacks coach Tom Clements said the hit "shows you he's a competitor. He wants to do well. I think that (hit) was illustrative of that."
Rodgers said he didn't get any negative feedback about the risky move, so he's not going to change.
"I'm going to do the same thing if that happens again," Rodgers said. "The exact same thing."
At least one person was thinking about Rodgers' safety.
"What went through my mind? I was like, `Be careful! You're throwing your throwing shoulder in there,'" backup Matt Flynn said. "But I've done the same thing. You throw an interception like that, you get mad and you get frustrated and you want to go down there and hit him as hard as you can. I understood exactly what he was doing."
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