Jordy Nelson is being held out of Sunday’s NFC Divisional Round game between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys after suffering fractured ribs last weekend. But if the Packers advance past the Cowboys this weekend, Nelson could be available to play in the NFC Championship Game against the Atlanta Falcons.
In fact, the Packers have “legitimate hope” that Nelson will be good to go next weekend, per Rob Demovsky of ESPN after he had “no issues with the travel” to Texas this weekend. He had been considering wearing a kevlar vest this weekend to help absorb hits but ended up being held out.
Nelson was Green Bay’s top receiver this year, one season removed from missing the 2015 campaign with an ACL tear.
He caught 97 passes for 1,257 yards and 14 touchdowns, picking right back up where he left off in 2014. Before exiting last weekend’s game against the New York Giants with fractured ribs, Nelson had caught just one pass for 13 yards on three targets from Aaron Rodgers.
Speaking of Rodgers, the quarterback has been an unstoppable force during the team’s seven-game winning streak and has developed outstanding rapport with Davante Adams, who reeled in eight catches for 125 yards and a touchdown last weekend.
Getting past Dallas without Nelson will be a tough task, to be sure. The Cowboys have lost just three times all year and will be coming in fresh, healthy and hungry to advance to the conference title game for the first time since 1995. But if Rodgers can stay hot, then it’s going to be hard for the Cowboys to keep pace offensively, meaning Nelson could have a part to play in the Packers’ postseason run after all.