Packers injury updates on Josh Jacobs, Keisean Nixon, Lukas Van Ness and others

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur provided a few injury updates coming out of Sunday’s win over the Minnesota Vikings and before Thursday’s showdown with the Detroit Lions.

The Packers have an injury report that is 16 players long, so there are plenty of injury situations to discuss on a short week, including the statuses of running back Josh Jacobs, defensive end Lukas Van Ness, cornerback Keisean Nixon and quarterback Jordan Love.

The updates coming out of Tuesday’s press conference:

On Lukas Van Ness, who played only six snaps in his return from a foot injury: “He’s been dealing with an injury. I think we all were thinking he’d be further along than where he is, and unfortunately he’s where he’s at. It’s a day to day thing.” Van Ness missed five games. He returned to the field Sunday but appeared to be in pain coming off in the first half. The Packers estimated Van Ness as a non-participant on Monday and Tuesday, suggesting he’ll be out Thursday.

More on Van Ness: “I wouldn’t say it’s a setback, it’s just where he’s at. He thought he’d be able to go, and he tried to go, but he wasn’t feeling it.” He played only one snap in the second half.

On Keisean Nixon, who was upgraded on Tuesday’s injury report to a limited participant: “Yeah, a lot of these guys are making progress…Obviously he’s a guy that we will absolutely give up until game time to see if he can go.” Nixon suffered a stinger against the Vikings and missed the better part of the last three quarters. It’s still possible he plays on Thursday.

On Josh Jacobs: “We’ll see how he responds. We didn’t have a full practice. Everything was walkthrough today. So, we’ll just see how he’s feeling on gameday.” Jacobs didn’t play on Sunday but was confident he’d back this week. It sounds like he could be another game-time decision on Thursday.

On Jordan Love, who handed off with his right hand exclusively against the Vikings because of a left shoulder injury: “I don’t think you necessarily want to see that. I think it’s not natural, and you never want to put the ball in jeopardy. Certainly, some of our passes will come off our actions. If you’re not doing the right action, it can take away from that effect.” LaFleur said he is comfortable with Love doing “whatever it takes” to get through it.

On Jayden Reed, who was designated for return from injured reserve on Friday, and if he could play Thursday: “You never know, you never know…You’ll find out Thursday at noon.” Reed is coming back from surgery to repair a broken collarbone and a foot injury. He’s been out since Week 2. While it would be a bit of a surprise, Reed’s return could provide a big boost against the Lions.

More on Love: “It speaks a lot to him in regards to his mindset, his mentality and how tough he is. It takes a lot of physical and mental toughness to play the quarterback position, to stand in there, especially when you are injured, knowing you are going to get hit at some point.”