Packers-Cowboys Inactives: Jaire Alexander, Christian Watson Will Play
The Green Bay Packers will be at almost full strength for Sunday’s NFC wild-card playoff game at the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys will be at full strength.
In a huge boost for the Packers, receiver Christian Watson and cornerback Jaire Alexander are active for the playoff showdown after successful pregame workouts.
Not only are they active, the Packers will be counting on them. As part of their inactives list, feisty rookie receiver Malik Heath and cornerback David Long, who was elevated from the practice squad for insurance, are out.
Their presence can’t be understated.
Alexander played in only seven games this season and missed seven of the last nine games due to a shoulder injury and a one-game suspension. He rolled an ankle at Wednesday’s practice. He didn’t practice the rest of the week, focusing instead on “(a)round the clock” treatment.
While Alexander has had a largely forgettable season by his All-Pro standards, the Cowboys’ top-ranked scoring offense features the elite combination of quarterback Dak Prescott and receiver CeeDee Lamb.
“It’s one of the best in the league,” coach Matt LaFleur said of their connection. “They’re dynamic, they’re super-explosive. Obviously, they’re going to try to find different ways to get him the ball and he’s such a threat in terms of his ability to make people miss, to use his speed to outrun people. He’s a big, strong guy. He can break tackles, so we’ve got to make sure we know where No. 88 is on every snap.”
It will be interesting to see whether defensive coordinator Joe Barry matches a less-than-full speed Alexander against Lamb, who is wicked in the slot, or if he plays his usual take-away-the-big-play zone schemes.
“I’ve said this before,” Barry said, “the challenge when you match a guy, it’s not the guy – the player’s just looking for a jersey number and he’s going to that side – it’s the rest of the secondary that has to play off that. We’ve done it before and we feel comfortable with it.”
Watson missed the last five games with a hamstring injury. The passing attack has been perfectly good without him, but he scored three touchdowns in last year’s game at Lambeau Field.
“You can never have enough good players,” LaFleur said. “Certainly, I think not having them for quite some time, it creates some challenges in how do you insert them into the lineup and what exactly are you going to do with them, but that’s a good problem to have to figure out.”
With Romeo Doubs and high-flying rookies Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks removed from the injury report on Friday following their chest injuries, and with tight end Luke Musgrave ready for his second game following a kidney injury, the Packers will have plenty of weapons to attack the Cowboys.
In fact, of their top nine in receptions, only running back AJ Dillon (neck/thumb) won’t play. In fact, Dillon is the biggest name on either team’s inactive list.
Reed is first on the team with 64 receptions, 793 yards and 10 total touchdowns.
Doubs is second on the team with 59 receptions for 674 yards and is tied with Reed for first with eight receiving touchdowns.
Wicks is third with 39 receptions for 581 yards.
Musgrave is fourth with 34 receptions and sixth with 352 yards.
Tight end Tucker Kraft is fifth with 31 receptions and 355 yards.
Running back Aaron Jones is sixth with 30 receptions.
Watson is seventh with 28 receptions, fourth with 422 yards and third with five touchdowns.
Receiver Bo Melton is ninth with 18 receptions for 218 yards, with almost all of that production coming during the team’s three-game winning streak with 15 catches for 211 yards and one touchdown.
Heath is 10th with 15 receptions.
That superior depth is a major reason behind the success of a Packers passing game that lacks a so-called No. 1 receiver.
Green Bay had only three players on its final injury report: Alexander, Watson and Dillon. Dillon is inactive, and the others are healthy scratches: Heath, Long, safety Benny Sapp, outside linebacker Brenton Cox and offensive tackle Caleb Jones.
Dallas had only one player on its final injury report: backup quarterback Cooper Rush. Rush is active, so their inactives list is formed by nothing but deep backups: quarterback Trey Lance (third QB), cornerback Eric Scott, receiver Jalen Brooks, offensive linemen Asim Richards and Matt Waletzko and defensive lineman Villami Fehoko.
