Rodgers hurt, wins
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was taken back to the locker room on a cart after an apparent knee injury.
Rodgers was hurt in the second quarter against the Chicago Bears on Sunday night after slipping to the turf while under pressure from linebacker Khalil Mack and defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris.
He initially tried to get up, then went back down, and was attended to by trainers. He appeared to reach down for the back of his left leg.
He returned to play in the second half, threw three TD pasases in the fourth quarter and led the Packers from a 20-0 deficit to a 24-23 win.
It was Rodgers’ first regular-season game back at Lambeau Field since last Sept. 28 against the Bears.
Plenty of other injuries occurred in Week 1.
Three-time Pro Bowl tight end Delanie Walker suffered a gruesome injury to his right leg Sunday night late in Tennessee’s loss in Miami and was carted off the field.
Titans coach Mike Vrabel said Walker was not in the locker room after their 27-20 loss , but their thoughts and prayers are with the veteran.
“It certainly didn’t look good from where I was standing,” Vrabel said.
Walker was the third Titans starter to leave the game with an injury. Two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Taylor Lewan left with a concussion, and quarterback Marcus Mariota was pulled with an elbow injury after a pair of interceptions in a game that lasted 7 hours and 8 minutes — the NFL’s longest since the league’s merger in 1970 with the AFL.
Three-time Pro Bowl tight end Greg Olsen tried to play for the Carolina Panthers with a back injury only to wind up on the sideline on crutches wearing a walking boot on an injured foot. Olsen went to the locker room in the second quarter. He missed nine games last season with a fracture in his foot, though coach Ron Rivera said it wasn’t the same injury.
Jacksonville running back Leonard Fournette hturt his hamstring in the second quarter and never returned to the Jaguars’ season opener. The Jaguars beat the Giants 20-15 without Fournette, who finished with 41 yards on nine carries and he also had three catches for 14 more yards before leaving the game.
Seattle wide receiver Doug Baldwin was knocked out of the game against Denver with an injured right knee. He was hurt in the first quarter when a Denver player he was attempting to block rolled over his leg. He walked off under his own power and came back briefly before leaving the game. Baldwin missed all of August with a left knee injury.
In Los Angeles, Chargers right tackle Joe Barksdale was carted back to the locker room with a knee injury. Barksdale suffered the injury near the end of the Chargers’ third offensive drive of the first quarter.
Houston Texans right tackle Seantrel Henderson also was carted off the field in New England with a left ankle injury. Patriots defensive lineman Keionta Davis landed on Henderson’s ankle while trying to rush quarterback Deshaun Watson. Henderson was tended to on the field for a few minutes and then walked off.
Patriots running back Jeremy Hill did not return after a knee injury in the third quarter.
