GREEN BAY Twice during the offseason, Al Harris guaranteed that hed be in the Green Bay Packers starting lineup when for the Sept. 12 regular-season opener at Philadelphia.

The two-time Pro Bowl cornerback wouldnt make any such statements between Sundays training camp practices, but it wasnt because hed suddenly lost confidence in his healing left knee.

Nothing has changed for me, Harris said.

Rather, while Harris wouldnt say so himself, it was clear that someone suggested to him that he be a little less bold with his comeback timeline from the career-threatening knee injury he suffered last Nov. 22, when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament, the the lateral collateral ligament, the IT band, the fibular collateral ligament and the lateral hamstring.

Its totally up to (team doctor) Pat (McKenzie) and (general manager) Ted (Thompson). If it were up to me, Id be shooting to be back as soon as possible, Harris said. But you see a lot of guys try to rush back and put a timeline on it and they end up hurting themselves more. I just really have to go by the way the knee feels. Right now, its going well and its responding well. As soon as I satisfy the training staff, Ill be out there.

While Harris opened camp on the physically unable to perform list along with safety Atari Bigby (ankle) and rookie running back James Starks (hamstring) he made it clear that he expects to be activated sometime late in training camp. And if that wasnt enough of a clue that he still believes hell be ready for the Eagles, his response when asked how much practice time hell need to knock off the rust was telling, too.

Ill probably need to see a couple days of practice, but weve got to be smart. Ive played a lot of football, Harris said. I still have to get a little more range of motion (in the knee). Functionally, though, Im doing awesome.

In his annual pre-camp news conference, coach Mike McCarthy admitted that he had his doubts about whether Harris would be ready to start the season. But after the way Harris has come on in the past month or so of his rehabilitation, the coach is encouraged and optimistic.

I would not be surprised (if he played in Week 1), McCarthy said. If you were to have asked me three or four weeks ago, I would have probably said no. But he has made a lot of progress.

Added Harris' friend and cornerback mate, Charles Woodson: I wouldnt bet against him, Ill tell you that. You guys have been around Al longer than I have, and you know the way he works and how bad he wants to be on that field. So I definitely wouldnt bet against him.

Harris said that while he has always come back from injury during his career before the knee injury, he had played in 172 of a possible 176 games, returning from what was thought to be a season-ending lacerated spleen in 2008 after missing just four games he understood why people doubted whether he could rebound from such a catastrophic knee injury at age 35.

The more research Ive done, I can honestly see why people doubted. Normally guys hang it up after something like this, Harris said. Pat did an awesome job, and I thank God that he allowed my body to heal very quickly. I can see why people doubted at first.

Then, realizing he was again making it sound like hell be ready for the opener, Harris smiled.

But hey, he said, were going to wait and see.