Alshon Jeffery arrived at his locker at the NovaCare Complex covered in sweat after a high-tempo workout on Tuesday. The obvious question, of course, is whether he will play Thursday night in Green Bay.
And to that question, Jeffery stayed the course with the message of uncertainty.
"We'll see," Jeffery said. "Like I said, I'm just taking it day by day, trying to get better."
Jeffery left the Atlanta game two Sundays ago after only six snaps with a calf injury that, to this day, nobody outside of Jeffery and the Eagles' athletic training staff knows how it happened. He didn't play against Detroit on Sunday and, after head coach Doug Pederson said on Monday that he was "hopeful" that Jeffery would go against the Packers, he's been ramping up his rehab work.
So, after a bicycle session and some strength work on Tuesday, Jeffery talked about how much he missed being on the field.
"I miss it a lot, man," said Jeffery, who would have been listed as a full participant if the Eagles held a full practice Tuesday instead of a walk-through. "One or two plays, we're still in the game. At the same time, it's good to face adversity. One-and-two is not where we wanted to start, but that's where we're at. Hey, I'm up for the challenge."
Jeffery said the atmosphere at Lambeau Field is "great," similar to Friday Night Lights where the entire town comes out to see the high school game. In this instance, a lot more is riding on the result. Jeffery will continue receiving treatment, working hard, and "taking care of my body."
In other words, we're not going to know until Thursday, 90 minutes before kickoff when the teams announce their inactive players, if Jeffery is able to step back into the Eagles' lineup and provide a huge lift to the receiving corps.
LB Kamu Grugier-Hill expects to play limited role Thursday
Linebacker and special teams captain Kamu Grugier-Hill is on track to make his season debut Thursday night. He's been sidelined with a knee injury suffered in Training Camp.
"Still playing, but just going to try to get worked into some things," Grugier-Hill said. "Let my body get right."
Heel issue not a problem for WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside
Rookie wide receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside doesn't know when he suffered a heel injury in Sunday's game against Detroit, but said it would not preclude him from playing Thursday night.
Arcega-Whiteside played 55 snaps Sunday with DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery sidelined. He had one catch for 10 yards on three targets. One of them was the final play on offense for the Eagles where quarterback Carson Wentz went for Arcega-Whiteside on a deep post. Arcega-Whiteside was unable to come up with the catch near the goal line.
"You gotta have a short memory if you're going to play in this game," Arcega-Whiteside said. "As professionals, as kids, we're all going to make mistakes. The difference between a decent player, a good player, and a great player is how fast you can recover, how fast you can flush the mistakes and just keep pushing forward."
