CHICAGO – Charles Woodson isn’t mad. Well, check that. The Green Bay Packers veteran safety isn’t mad at team physician Dr. Pat McKenzie. He’s mad at the situation.
But Woodson insisted in the wake of Sunday’s 21-13 victory over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field that he isn’t upset that McKenzie and the Packers medical staff have yet to clear him for game action nearly two months after he broke his collarbone at St. Louis on Oct. 21.
“I am pissed, because I want to play. But it’s a mutual decision,” said Woodson, who started practicing two weeks ago and even practiced last week, even though he’d been ruled out on Wednesday. “You know if there was any other way, I’d be playing. But I understand the doctors’ expert opinion, and we’re in agreement 100 percent. So we just want to give it time.”
Woodson made it clear that is going to play again this season. The doctors have not ruled that out, and the team has not placed him on season-ending injured reserve.
“Oh, I’m coming back. I’m coming back. I’m coming back – so don’t worry about that,” Woodson said. Asked if it might be next week against Tennessee, he smiled and replied, “We’ll see. We’ll see.”
Given the way the defense has played without him, Woodson said there’s no reason to take an unnecessary risk.
“We'll sit down against this week, talk it over, and see if we feel like it's a good time to come back and we'll go from there,” Woodson said. “Right now the team is playing well. And we felt like they could come down here and get a ‘W’ whether I played or not. And they did. The consensus is that when I do come back, we're going to make sure it's 100 percent. That's it.”
Asked if he might wait until the playoffs, Woodson replied, “That I don't know. I don't know if I really want to sit and then just come back in the playoffs. Probably much rather get in a game, get some time and game speed, get yourself dirty a little bit. We'll see what happens.”
Jason Wild wrote: