Wells injury has Pack trying new line combos
By CHRIS JENKINS
AP Sports Writer
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- With the Green Bay Packers' interior offensive line already in a state of flux, another injury to center Scott Wells could cause even more uncertainty.
Wells, who has missed much of training camp with a "trunk" injury -- described as a muscle in his lower back in the general vicinity of the hip -- returned to play in Saturday's preseason game against San Francisco but had to leave the game when a similar injury flared up on the other side of his back.
"It's the same thing he had on the other side, trunk injury," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "They did a bunch of tests today. We'll have all the results tomorrow."
Wells sat out practice Monday night, causing the Packers to shift Jason Spitz from left guard to center. Daryn Colledge, a regular starter over the past two seasons who has had trouble working his way back into the starting lineup during camp this year, filled in at left guard.
Josh Sitton, a rookie who is highly regarded by Packers coaches but has struggled in preseason games, stayed at right guard. Mark Tauscher was in his regular spot at right tackle, but Tony Moll filled in for Chad Clifton at left tackle.
McCarthy said Clifton, a veteran who gets regular rest during practices, was "a little sore, but nothing major."
The injuries throw another twist into what already was shaping up as a potential trouble spot for the Packers. Given the new round of uncertainty about Wells' health, McCarthy said he couldn't commit to plugging in Spitz on the left side.
Spitz said he found out just before Monday's practice that he was going to practice at center.
"You've got to do a lot of moving around with this o-line, and (it's) just the way things work out," Spitz said. "But the beautiful thing is, they tell you, and you've just got to go out and do it."
Until he hears otherwise, Colledge said he is preparing as if he's the staring left guard.
"As of today, I'm the starting left guard," Colledge said. "If somebody gets injured, something happens, you never know. But as of right now, I'm planning to be left guard."
But Colledge said players still don't have a good sense of how things will shake out on the offensive line.
"I didn't know I was the left guard until an hour before practice," Colledge said. "We all show up, we find out who's injured, we find out who's ready to go and we move around. We make things happen where we can. We've got a lot of guys on this team that are flexible and willing to play different positions to help this team get better, and that's what's expected."
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HAWK WATCH: Linebacker A.J. Hawk missed Saturday's game with a chest sprain and did not practice Monday. McCarthy, who often refers to injured players as "day-to-day," described Hawk's injury as "week-to-week."
Hawk said he doesn't know how long he'll be out.
"I don't know, that's the thing," Hawk said. "I just kind of listen to what they're telling me, and that's kind of what they told me. They haven't given me any timelines or anything. Just trying to heal up. That's all I'm worried about."
Hawk, who has started all 32 Packers games -- 34, including playoffs -- since becoming the team's first-round draft pick in 2006, said sitting out because of an injury is a strange feeling.
"Oh, it definitely is, yeah," Hawk said. "It's not something I plan on. I don't plan on ever getting hurt, and I've never really had to miss any time in practice or games. It's definitely different. But I guess with the timeframe of this happening, that's the only positive thing I can look to. It happened now and not in the middle of the season or something."
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NOTES: McCarthy said RB Ryan Grant's hamstring is "not quite ready" for him to resume practice. Grant said he would be playing if Friday's game at Denver were in the regular season. ... Also missing Monday's practice were RB DeShawn Wynn, DT Ryan Pickett and DT Justin Harrell. McCarthy said all the players who sat out Monday are improving. ... Of the training camp competition between rookie quarterbacks Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn, McCarthy said, "I'd say Brian is still ahead of Matt at this point." ... McCarthy said rookie wide receiver Jordy Nelson is a strong candidate to return kickoffs this season after a long runback Saturday. "I think it's a little early to make that decision, but he definitely helped himself," McCarthy said. "I thought he showed a lot of athletic ability, the ability to break tackles, had the ball high and tight and did a really good job. He put us in excellent field position on both his returns. We didn't get any points out of it, but I thought he did an excellent job."
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)