An extremely tough season for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers won’t get any easier on Sunday, when Green Bay travels to face the Bills on Sunday Night Football. On Friday, the Packers announced that Rodgers will be without his top pass catcher, wide receiver Allen Lazard, to add to the adversity that the team has faced during its recent three-game slide.
In the team’s Friday practice report, the Packers ruled out Lazard with a shoulder injury, along with cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles (ankle) for Sunday’s game.
Lazard, who leads the team with 340 yards and four touchdowns, joins second-leading receiver Randall Cobb on the sideline. Cobb is on injured reserve with an ankle injury. Tight end Robert Tonyan will enter the game as the team’s leading receiver with 30 receptions for 251 yards. He has one score on the season.
He’ll be buoyed by a pair of rookies on the outside. Fourth-rounder Romeo Doubs has been a pleasant surprise since the summer and enters the game with 26 catches for 234 yards and two touchdowns. Second-rounder Christian Watson was supposed to be the bigger factor as the team moved past the offseason’s Davante Adams trade, but has been limited by injuries dating back to the summer, and has just seven receptions for 52 yards. He is questionable for Sunday, but practiced Friday, a positive indicator of his potential availability.
The team also gets veteran Sammy Watkins back in the fold after his own stint on injured reserve.
SI Sportsbook has the Packers as a 10.5-point underdog in the game, the first time that Rodgers will be a double-digit underdog in his NFL career as starting quarterback.
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