Packers offensive coordinator Tom Rossley didn't cut back on his workload last week in the aftermath of having a health scare prior to Green Bay’s Sept. 25 game against Carolina.
Rossley, 59, experienced chest pains and was taken by ambulance from
Lambeau Field to a Green Bay hospital. Initial tests came up negative, and
Rossley was cleared to return to the stadium and worked from his customary
spot in the press box the final two-plus quarters.
Rossley checked himself back into the hospital following the game and
remained there overnight before being discharged Monday. Further tests also
were negative.
Rossley underwent an emergency angioplasty Oct. 12 last year to clear a
blocked artery.
Walker surgery on Friday
Javon Walker is scheduled to undergo surgery Friday in Houston to
repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee sustained in
the Sept. 11 season opener. Walker decided to go outside the organization
and have Houston Texans physician Walter Lowe perform the operation.
Walker is a native of Texas and will spend the first four to six weeks of
his rehabilitation in Houston. Walker, named to his first Pro Bowl last
year, is expected to need six to 10 months of recovery before returning to
the field.
Promising kickoff returner
Terrence Murphy not only was elevated to No. 4 receiver in the wake
of Javon Walker's season-ending injury, the rookie has taken on
kickoff-return duties.
Murphy, a second-round draft pick out of Texas A&M, led the Big 12
Conference with an average of 27.2 yards on kickoff returns as a junior in
2003. Hip and knee injuries that sidelined the wide receiver most of the preseason and
for the season opener, preventing the Packers from pairing Murphy with Najeh Davenport on kickoffs until the Sept. 25 loss to Tampa Bay, in which he
returned two for an average of 27 yards.
Practice, practice
-- B.J. Sander, who doubles as the holder on kicks, spent extra time
before and during practice last week working on his holds with kicker Ryan Longwell.
"(We threw) a lot more balls to him so he can get comfortable," Longwell
said of his first-year holder.
Part of the Packers' early-season woes has been attributed to unusual
breakdowns involving the kicking game.
Sander mishandled a snap that aborted Longwell's first field-goal attempt
of the season in the Sept. 11 opener.
Then, in the Sept. 25 game, Sander wasn't able to get the ball properly
placed after a high snap from Rob Davis, contributing to an errant
extra-point attempt by Longwell, his first miss since 2001. Sander later
didn't tilt the ball correctly on a 42-yard field-goal try that Longwell
hooked wide left.