Packers' Rodgers will have curtailed prep time for playoffs

[January 03, 2015]  (Reuters) - Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers is unlikely to be back on the practice field until next Thursday, just three days before his team's playoff game at home, Packers coach Mike McCarthy said on Friday.

Rodgers has been resting and rehabilitating his left calf, which was reinjured when he was stepped on by Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh during the fourth quarter of Sunday's regular season finale, won 30-20 by Green Bay.

"Aaron's doing well," McCarthy told reporters after the Packers' first workout session of their playoff bye week.

"He's been in treatment during the practice period, and we'll do the same tomorrow. I really don't see him getting on the practice field until Thursday probably at the earliest."

The Packers, who won the NFC North title and secured a playoff bye as the No. 2 seed, will not know the identity of their Jan. 11 opponents until after Sunday's NFC wildcard game between the Lions and Dallas Cowboys. They will play either the Lions, Cowboys or Carolina Panthers.

McCarthy said he was not overly concerned that Rodgers would miss plenty of practice time.

"He's already started the preparation process," McCarthy explained. "He'll be prepared. There won't be a bunch of new ideas or things he hasn't seen or things he hasn't had the reps with his team mates."

Rodgers, a four-time Pro Bowl selection who was the Super Bowl most valuable player with the Packers in 2011, was also in optimistic mood.

"It's going all right, the calf is slowly progressing," the 31-year-old quarterback told reporters. "I wasn't out there today but we are right where we need to be and getting ready to hopefully get out on the field next week."

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Gene Cherry)

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