Packers-Rams Injury Report: Donald Will Play, Goff Will Start

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Two days before the Green Bay Packers host the Los Angeles Rams in a divisional playoff game, the big news on Thursday’s injury report came out of Los Angeles.
Rams coach Shawn McVay took All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald off the injury report, ruled out quarterback John Wolford and listed receiver Cooper Kupp and guard David Edwards as questionable.
Donald missed the end of last week’s playoff game at Seattle with injured ribs. Tests revealed torn rib cartilage, not a break, so the expectation was Donald would play even though he did not practice on Tuesday or Wednesday. He was limited on Thursday.
RELATED: LAFLEUR NOT SWEATING POSITIVE COVID TEST
“Man, my damn side is just sore. I’m good though. I ain’t going to sit here and talk about my damn side the whole time,” Donald joked on Wednesday. “I’m good. I just had a whole workout. I feel strong, I feel healthy so I’m good.”
Without Wolford, who started at Seattle but suffered a neck stinger, Jared Goff will be back in the saddle.
“We were pretty much preparing for Jared all week, so it doesn't change too much,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said.
Goff had started 62 of a possible 63 regular-season games before missing the Week 17 game against Arizona due to his surgically repaired right thumb. He replaced Wolford and completed 9-of-19 passes in the victory against the Seahawks. Goff has been practicing with a glove on his throwing hand all week in preparation for the cold in Green Bay.
“He’s good,” McVay said before practice on Thursday. “He’s done a nice job throughout the course of the week. I think he’s been able to get a lot of good individual work with Kevin (offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell), and then we had a little bit of physical work yesterday.
“And so he’s making good progress. I know he’s been pain-free, but I think the further away you get away from that (injury), the more normal functionality you’ll get from that thumb surgery. Feeling like yourself as far as getting the grip, throwing the football and all the different things that position entails from a ball-handling perspective.”
Kupp led the Rams with 92 receptions and 974 yards. Edwards, a fifth-round pick in 2019 from Wisconsin, is the starting left guard.
For Green Bay, the only player on the injury report is defensive tackle Kingsley Keke, who is doubtful with the concussion suffered in Week 16 against Tennessee. He did not practice this week.
Packers Injury Report
Doubtful: DT Kingsley Keke (concussion).
Rams Injury Report
Out: OLB Terrell Lewis (ankle), QB John Wolford (neck).
Questionable: G David Edwards (ankle), WR Cooper Kupp (knee).
-6269900502a1e0ca581b6c34076450d4.jpg)
Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.