GREEN BAY – Davante Adams doesn't know when he'll be back on the field.
The Packers' No. 1 receiver missed the victory at Dallas with a turf toe injury and hasn't returned to practice yet. After Thursday's workout, he spoke to the media for the first time since the injury, which occurred against the Eagles two weeks ago, and was unable to put any kind of timeline on his recovery and potential return.
His primary goal is to come back when he's not in danger of making the injury any worse. He didn't rule out possibly playing on Monday night against Detroit at Lambeau Field, but he didn't sound overly optimistic about his immediate prospects, either.
"We're just really trying to pace it at this point," Adams said. "I can't really tell you when I'm going to play. I know it doesn't feel how I want it to feel at the moment, but we definitely have time."
The injury cut short what had been a career game for Adams, who had 10 catches for 180 yards against Philadelphia before exiting in the fourth quarter. He wasn't on the field for either of the Packers' two failed goal-to-go situations down the stretch in the seven-point loss.
Unaccustomed to not playing – he had missed just three games total over the previous three years – Adams hasn't dealt with an injury this significant since his second season in 2015, when he badly sprained an ankle in September.
He missed three games that year but came back and battled through it, albeit at less than full speed and capacity. But he's not really entertaining any such thoughts with this particular injury. He did declare it won't require surgery.
"It's not really something you can just say 'I'm going to tough through this,'" he said. "It has to be healed, especially when you have ligament damage. We have to be smart about it. We've made some strides in treating it, but we have to make a few more.
"The fact of the matter is I'm not playing through anything when it comes to this. It's not the toughness thing. I'm not interested in winning any medal of honor awards or anything like that. I'm going to get back when it's healed and when it's ready to go. I'll listen to my body and listen to our doctors."
For the season, Adams still leads the Packers with 25 receptions for 378 yards, though he doesn't have a touchdown and is in his longest personal scoring drought since 2015.
The silver lining, especially with all the what-ifs about the Philly game had he not gotten hurt, is the Packers remained productive without him in Dallas. Green Bay put up a season-high 34 points behind running back Aaron Jones' 182 total yards and franchise-record-tying four rushing TDs.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw for just 238 yards in Adams' absence, but he did complete passes to nine different players – three receivers, three tight ends and three running backs – in the game.
"Last year I think we won one game on the road all year," Adams said. "To be able to do that when I'm not able to contribute, it sucks for me, but it means a lot for the football team."
