Packer Central

Tucker Kraft Injured as Packers Trail Panthers in Third Quarter

The Green Bay Packers not only are trailing the Carolina Panthers 13-6 after three quarters, they lost one of their most important players when Tucker Kraft sustained a knee injury.
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) celebrates his touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week.
Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) celebrates his touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. | Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The second half of Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers started in disastrous fashion for the Green Bay Packers. On the fifth play of the third quarter, star tight end Tucker Kraft was a lead blocker as Josh Jacobs got to the perimeter for a gain of 16 yards.

However, Kraft was injured when he collided with guard Sean Rhyan. Kraft clutched his right knee immediately and was down for a few minutes before walking off with trainers. As the offense faltered and Branndon McManus missed a 43-yard field goal, Kraft hopped onto a cart and was taken to the locker room.

The Packers listed him as questionable to return.

In the fourth quarter, he was ruled out.

Here is the video and some early speculation.

The Packers trailed 7-6 at the time of the injury, and fell behind 13-6 shortly thereafter. After a big third-down conversion, Jordan Love threw a bomb into triple coverage and was intercepted by Tre’von Moehrig, with the return setting up Carolina at Green Bay’s 38.

Rico Dowdle scored from the 1 but was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for the celebration. Kicker Ryan Fitzgerald was short from 48 yards on the point-after attempt, making it 13-6 with 2:12 left in the quarter.

The score remained 13-6 after three quarters.

The Packers, who entered the game with a three-game winning streak and the best record in the NFC, will have to rally without one of their premier players who had been a bigger and bigger part of the offense.

“Certainly, we want to get everybody involved. But the bottom line is, it’s about winning,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “It’s about moving the football. It’s about scoring points. And a lot of times you can’t dictate what coverages teams are going to play, and that certainly dictates where the ball’s going to end up going.”

Kraft entered the game ranked 10th among tight ends with 32 receptions, second with 489 yards, first with 15.3 yards per catch, second with six touchdowns and 10th with an 82.1 percent catch rate.

He was No. 1 among all non-running backs in yards after the catch per catch.

“I was a high school running back,” Kraft said last week. “I played my first snaps at tight end when I got to college, so I catch the ball and I just try to get to top speed while holding the ball secure. There’s never really a plan. It’s ugly. It’s not like a practiced part. It’s just something I do in practice every day. As soon as I catch the ball, just simulating the YAC as much as I can, finishing 15, 20 yards on every play in practice.”

During last week’s win over Pittsburgh, Kraft joined Paul Coffman as the only tight ends in franchise history with 100-plus receiving yards and two-plus touchdowns in a game. Coffman caught six passes for 124 yards and two scores during the Packers’ famous Monday night victory over Washington in 1983.

“It’s big-time,” Love said. “He’s a big-time player, and I think everybody’s seen what he’s capable of when he gets the ball in his hands, just making guys miss, running people over, getting those extra yards. So, you know that anytime he touches the ball, he’s going to try to fight for all those yards.

“He’s just an explosive playmaker, so I’m just glad that everybody’s kind of seeing what he’s all about now.”

The Packers have two tight ends on the roster, Luke Musgrave and John Fitzpatrick. Josh Whyle, who caught 28 passes for 248 yards last year for the Titans, is on the practice squad.

Also, defensive tackle Colby Wooden (shoulder) is out and receiver Matthew Golden (shoulder) is questionable. Left guard Aaron Banks (stinger) has been out since the first quarter. 

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

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.