The Sports Xchange

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Josh Sitton was among the fortunate few Saturday night.

The Pro Bowl left guard, quarterback Aaron Rodgers and a few fellow starters on offense were held out of the Green Bay Packers’ 39-26 preseason loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

That was a good thing because Green Bay’s inability to keep the front-line players away from a health setback persisted before the home crowd at Lambeau Field.

Six days after star wide receiver Jordy Nelson sustained a season-ending ACL tear, fellow playmaker Randall Cobb couldn’t get through the Packers’ first possession unharmed.

Cobb landed hard on his right shoulder while being tackled as he tried to make a catch along the sideline. He didn’t return to the game because of what was widely reported Sunday to be a sprain of the AC joint in the shoulder.

“It felt like a bad dream in that situation, having Jordy go down (the previous) week and then (only) three plays in this series,” Cobb said after the game. “It’s just unfortunate.”

Fortunately for Cobb and the uneasiness of Packer backers, who also endured starting right tackle Bryan Bulaga and nickel back Micah Hyde go out with injuries later in the first half Saturday, the prognosis is encouraging.

Coach Mike McCarthy previously scrapped the team’s scheduled final practice of training camp on Monday and moved it to Tuesday. However, in doing so and possibly in the wake of the ongoing string of injuries, media availability for Monday also was canceled.

So, a definitive word on what lies ahead for Cobb as well as Bulaga, Hyde and a number of other injured starters who didn’t play Saturday won’t be known until at least Tuesday.

Following Saturday’s game, though, McCarthy expressed optimism that Cobb’s injury won’t be season-ending, a la Nelson’s.

“I don’t think we’re (there), at all,” McCarthy said.

Later in the locker room, Cobb said, “At least there’s a silver lining in this injury.”

Cobb said X-rays done on the shoulder during the game revealed no structural damage, particularly to the collarbone, which Cobb and the medical staff feared.

“I just caught the ball and was going down to the ground, and I had a guy land on top of me,” Cobb said. “I was just jogging off the field at the end of the (three-and-out) series, and I could feel the pain. I didn’t know exactly what it was. It was discomfort.”

The Packers went into Saturday’s game with five offensive starters not in uniform: Nelson, Rodgers and the offensive linemen Sitton, left tackle David Bakhtiari and right guard T.J. Lang.

Rodgers was a healthy scratch.

Coupled with the decision to also hold out top backup quarterback Scott Tolzien after he sustained a concussion in the previous preseason game, Green Bay was left with rookie Brett Hundley and second-year pro Matt Blanchard at quarterback against the Eagles.

As for the O-line, Bakhtiari still isn’t over a knee injury that has kept him out the last two games. Sitton and Lang didn’t dress after being afflicted with an ankle injury and a concussion, respectively, coming out of the previous game.

By the end of the first quarter Saturday, center Corey Linsley was the only starting lineman on the field after Bulaga dropped out with a sprained left ankle.

A short time later, Hyde was taken by cart from the team’s bench area to the locker room to be examined for a neck spasm.

After game’s end, McCarthy defended the decision to play most of his starters.

“These are tough contests each and every year because there are so many different variables and they’re never exactly the same,” he said. “So, injuries and why you play certain guys and you don’t play other guys, a lot of that has to do with playing with who they’re playing with and what’s around them, too.

“So, there’s just a lot of moving parts, but you have to play. You have to play football. I think it’s nonsense to think you can just go and not play your starters throughout preseason. It’s not practical. We all signed up for four preseason games. It’s what it is.”

It’s conceivable McCarthy will stick with the same two quarterbacks he used in Saturday’s loss to the Eagles when the Packers wrap up preseason play against the New Orleans Saints at Lambeau Field on Thursday night.

“When Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback, you don’t think you’re going to start for a while,” Hundley said with a laugh after the game, “because surely he’s playing some great football. It was an honor for me to start for the Green Bay Packers, and I’ll always remember this.”

Hundley, a fifth-round draft pick from UCLA, acquitted himself nicely in front of the appreciative home fans after a sluggish opening to his extended start Saturday.

Hundley eventually settled down and put up some big positive numbers in a full three quarters. He completed 22-of-31 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns with the one giveaway for a rousing passer rating of 111.6.

NOTES: Wide receiver Randall Cobb (shoulder) will be in jeopardy of missing the Packers’ season opener Sept. 13 at the Chicago Bears. … Linebacker Clay Matthews made his belated preseason debut at inside linebacker after missing the first two preseason games dealing with soreness in his knee and elbow. … Among those who didn’t play was defensive end Datone Jones (knee) and his status for the final pre-season game in unknown. … The on Monday released LB Tavarus Dantzler, T Fabbians Ebbele, LB Josh Francis, DT Lavon Hooks and T Vince Kowalski.