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Green Bay Packers - PlayerWatch

[December 23, 2016] CB Damarious Randall could be iffy to play Saturday against the Vikings. The second-year starter is on the injury report this week with a shoulder injury, which left him in the limited category at practice Wednesday and the same as an estimated designation with the team off the field Thursday. "Damarious is just working through some things," head coach Mike McCarthy said Thursday. "It's this time of year, guys are banged up, so he's making progress." Randall struggled in pass coverage in the win at Chicago on Sunday and was pulled from the game in the fourth quarter.

QB Aaron Rodgers is expected to be good to go when the Packers host the Minnesota Vikings in a Christmas Eve matinee Saturday. The team didn't practice Thursday, but Rodgers was estimated to have been a full participant, which was his status on the field the previous day. The Pro-Bowl honoree has been nursing a strained right calf the last two games and also a sore left hamstring in recent weeks. "Aaron's getting better," head coach Mike McCarthy said Thursday.

OLB Clay Matthews feels he's close to having full use of his separated left shoulder in game action. The defensive standout has been relegated to a situational role the last two games because of the injury. Matthews expects to play more when the Packers play Minnesota on Saturday. "I think this week will be a step in the right direction. I really do feel good about this week," Matthews said Thursday, a day after he had full work in practice. "Every other week, it's been just about keeping (the shoulder) from reinjuring it and being smart, but I feel like this week with where I'm at mentally ... should be a week where I can hopefully do the things that I'm accustomed to doing."

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OLB Nick Perry is trying to convince the medical staff that he can play with possibly a big club over his broken left hand. Perry practiced with the extra protection in limited fashion Wednesday and would have had the same status Thursday had the team been on the field. Head coach Mike McCarthy said Perry, who leads the team with eight sacks but has missed the last two games, will be involved in the team's light workout Friday before the game Saturday against the Vikings. "He had a chance to work yesterday, just experiment with the cast and so forth, so he's still working through that process," McCarthy said Thursday.

G Lane Taylor appears to be on track to play Saturday against Minnesota. The starting left guard would have been elevated from limited status in practice Wednesday to full participant had the team practiced Thursday. Taylor was knocked out of the last-second road win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday in the final minute because of a hip injury sustained in a collision with right guard T.J. Lang. The Packers still had Lang in the limited category Thursday as the veteran starter tries to bounce back from the back injury he incurred in the collision with Taylor.

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