[img_r]http://cdntn.madison.com/images/articles/wsj/2008/09/23/85562_thumb.jpg[/img_r]GREEN BAY Ted Thompson believes he has the perfect way to prevent player injuries, impractical as the idea may be.
"If it were up to me," the Green Bay Packers general manager is fond of saying, "I'd like to wrap up all these players in bubble wrap so they can't get hurt."
For the past two seasons, the Packers haven't particularly needed the protective wrap for their players. Their young roster could have done with it what kids tend to do pop all the little air bubbles for their own entertainment.
But with veteran cornerback Al Harris likely done for the season with a ruptured spleen suffered during Sunday night's 27-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Packers' good fortune in the injury department could be coming to an end after an against-all-odds run of good luck the past two seasons.
"I don't think that this is the most adverse situation that we're going to encounter this year," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "I hope it is, because I think it will be really good days for the Green Bay Packers."
The Packers can only hope that this is the last significant injury they suffer this season. But odds are, it won't be.
Last season, starters missed a combined 16 regular-season games with injuries: wide receiver Greg Jennings (two, hamstring), center Scott Wells (two, orbital socket), defensive tackle Ryan Pickett (two, groin), cornerback Charles Woodson (one, toe), safety Nick Collins (three, knee), fullback Korey Hall (two, hip) and halfback Brandon Jackson (four, shin).
Those 16 games don't include the six lost by defensive tackle Johnny Jolly, who shared the starting job with Corey Williams before a season-ending shoulder injury.
While the team had other injuries returner Will Blackmon (seven games, foot), key defensive reserves Colin Cole (seven, concussion and forearm) and Jarrett Bush (two, groin) and backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers (four, hamstring) all missed significant time the Packers were beyond fortunate.
The Web site Cold Hard Football Facts rated them as the healthiest team in the league last year, and seven of their most important players Brett Favre, Harris, A.J. Hawk, Mark Tauscher, Chad Clifton, Atari Bigby and Nick Barnett started all 16 games.
The 2006 team also managed to avoid the injury bug. Only 12 starter games were lost that year, by Barnett (one, arm), Clifton (one, food poisoning), halfback Ahman Green (two, hamstring), Jennings (one, ankle), Tauscher (five, groin) and guard Jason Spitz (two, thigh).
Already this season, the Packers have seen three starters miss a combined five starts through three games: Wells (three, lower back), Bigby (one, hamstring) and Hall (one, knee), while starting halfback Ryan Grant (hamstring), Hawk (chest), third wideout James Jones (knee) and possible starting guard Josh Sitton (knee) all suffered preseason injuries that limited their availability and effectiveness.
They enter Sunday's game at Tampa Bay with their entire defensive backfield banged up, as safeties Collins (bruised back) and Bigby might not play while Woodson continues to play without practice because of a broken toe.
If Harris indeed misses Sunday's game against the Buccaneers, it will be the first time in his 11-year career he's missed a regular-season or playoff game. Since beginning his career on the Bucs' practice squad in 1997, Harris has played in 175 straight games (including playoffs), 88 of them with the Packers.
And if Harris is lost for the season the team was still waiting for results of further tests done by a specialist as part of Harris' second opinion Tuesday the Packers are almost guaranteed to lose more starter games this season than McCarthy's first two years combined.
"Once again, it's part of the game," McCarthy said. "I concern myself with injuries more on a personal note than how it affects our team because you have to deal with it, and that's what we're prepared to do. It is very unfortunate."
Harris was injured with 6 minutes, 51 seconds left in the first quarter of Sunday night's loss, when he collided with teammate A.J. Hawk.
Harris stayed down for several moments but left the field under his own power and returned after missing just one snap. He later made a key tackle against Cowboys running back Marion Barber along the sideline just before Nick Collins' end-zone interception.
Harris did not return to the field after that series, however, and after the game, McCarthy revealed that Harris had blood in his urine, a tell-tale sign of internal injury.
Without Harris, Tramon Williams, the team's third cornerback, becomes the starter, with Blackmon moving into the third cornerback spot in the nickel defense and either rookie second-round pick Pat Lee or Jarrett Bush playing in the dime.
"Injuries are devastating to an NFL team. But quite frankly you always find ways to go beyond it," Thompson said. "It doesn't mean it doesn't affect you or doesn't affect your record, but you do what you can do, you prepare as best you can and take care of your players as best you can. But those kind of things you have zero control over, so I spend zero time worrying about them.
"I still wish I could wrap them all up in bubble wrap, though."