The Green Bay Packers improved to 8-3 on the season with a 38-10 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon. Both teams were missing major players throughout the game, with Packers mainstays Jaire Alexander and Edgerrin Cooper sidelined due to injuries. Additionally, wide receiver Romeo Doubs was removed from the game after suffering a concussion.
All three players have already been ruled out of the Packers’ Thanksgiving game against the Miami Dolphins.
San Francisco, of course, was without starting quarterback Brock Purdy, who is sidelined with a shoulder injury. They also lacked All-Pro pass rusher Nick Bosa, who suffered hip and oblique injuries. Trent Williams, a future Hall of Fame left tackle, also did not play.
Many people speculated after the game that the Packers’ victory was only due to the 49ers’ extensive injuries. The players would have none of it.
“It is the NFL. This is not an excuse. We did not have a quarterback. We won three games, and we don’t want to hear that. We came to play. “They should have come to play,” Keisean Nixon stated.
Jordan Love echoed this stance, saying, “It’s the NFL; they have other talented players. We’ve had injuries; guys are bruised. You have to find a method to win, regardless of who is out there. It’s difficult for them, but we’ll get the victory.”
From the Packers’ standpoint, what their stars said was correct. Love missed two games (and half of another) due to injuries. Green Bay won each one.
One 49ers player agreed that injuries are no reason not to win, but he did confess that he played against the Packers (and numerous games prior) with a serious ailment.
In a recent discussion with reporters, San Francisco linebacker Fred Warner confessed that he has been playing with a fractured ankle since Week Four, when the 49ers defeated the New England Patriots 30-13. Following his injury, Warner did not play in the second half of the game. However, he has participated in every game since.
“It’s something I deal with every game,” Warner told ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. “I hop on the table before every game and get it shot up so I can roll. But this is not an excuse. It’s just how it is. That is the NFL. You are not going to be healthy. You have to get out there and find ways to execute, play at a high level, and win every week.”
Warner’s statements sound remarkably similar to those made by Love and Nixon following the game. In the NFL, no one cares if a player is injured or not. They want to see production.
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