Monday wrap-up

Not only did the Green Bay Packers lose in embarassing fashion Sunday to the Cincinnati Bengals, they got pretty banged up while doing it.

Chad Clifton (ankle), Nick Collins (clavicle) and Aaron Rouse (neck stinger) all suffered injuries in the contest.

Donald Lee was also hurt when he took a shot from Roy Williams late in the game, but it sounds like he’s okay.

Clifton and Collins seem to be the most banged up, as coach Mike McCarthy talked today as though neither is likely to play in Sunday’s suddenly crucial game at St. Louis (0-2).

Rouse doesn’t appear to be as banged up, although we won’t know more until Wednesday.

Clifton’s injury will likely lead to a re-shuffled offensive line with Daryn Colledge at left tackle, Jason Spitz at left guard and Scott Wells at center.

Colledge was awful at left tackle against the Bengals, but with a week to practice there, he should be better. Really, I don’t know how he could be much worse. Spitz doesn’t have much experience at left guard, but he’s played right guard quite a bit so I don’t have as much concern about him. Wells is a solid center. Turns out he didn’t have to sit on the bench very long after losing his job to Spitz in the preseason, huh?

Regardless, the group has to play better. This team won’t go anywhere until it does.

(One more thing on that topic: I thought Allen Barbre did a solid job Sunday after everyone spent the past week ripping him to shreds. He wasn’t great, but he wasn’t getting killed, which shows progress and I’ll take it.)

If Collins can’t go, cornerback/safety/bain of my existence Jarrett Bush or Derrick Martin would play in his place. I’d go with Martin; yes, I know nothing about him, but that’s more than I can say about Bush.

Finally on the injury front, in the same Press Gazette article, McCarthy says B.J. Raji (RAJI!) didn’t play because he still runs with a limp. It seemed like he’d play, as he was a full participant most of last week. But the coaching staff wants to be very cautious with him.

I can understand that, to a point, but he’s got to get on the field pretty quickly because the team only has three solid d-linemen at the moment. And those guys are going to get gassed much sooner than later if it’s just them playing the majority of the snaps.

Where were you, Greg?

A big reason for the offensive struggles, outside of the line crapping themselves, was the disappearing act pulled off by wideout Greg Jennings.

Jennings was held without a catch for the first time in his career Sunday. He was only even targeted a few times, one of which he dropped.

Jennings declined to speak with reporters after the game, so it’s hard to say exactly what his problem was. I have a hard time believing it was the Bengals’ corners, so I have to think it was a mental issue with Jennings.

Not totally out-of-the-ordinary with him, if you think about it. Yes, he’s a very good receiver. But, sometimes, Jennings isn’t as much of a consistent factor as you’d like him to be.

That wasn’t as much of a problem earlier in his career. But, now that he’s being paid elite money, he needs to play like an elite player every week.

After all, Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Reggie Wayne aren’t being held catchless by mediocre teams. If Jennings wants to be in that group, performances like his Sunday can not continue to happen.

Wishing for Bubba

I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but there were quite a few times during the Bengals’ game where I found myself wishing Bubba Franks was still a Packer.

Yes, Franks was an overpaid pass-catching liability who only really had a couple of good seasons and struggled to stay healthy. But he could block. Boy, could he block.

That was something the Packers clearly missed, as evidenced by Antwan Odom’s five-sack performance, the most ever surrendered by the Packers to one player in a single game.

Green Bay had no one who could really help Clifton or, later, Colledge in blocking Odom. Lee and Jermichael Finley are primarily pass-catchers and Spencer Havner is a converted linebacker who is still learning the position (although his catch over the middle Sunday wasn’t half bad).

Had the Packers had a pure blocking tight end, perhaps they could have neutralized Odom – or, at the very least, slowed him down. There’s no one in that group who could help. They tried using a fullback or running back to help, but by then Odom had a full head of steam and they weren’t stopping him.

I was on-board when Franks got cut, for all of the reasons I listed above. But an inability to replace what he brought to the team is one of the few glaring mistakes made by Ted Thompson over the past couple of seasons.

-Chris Lempesis