GREEN BAY – The Packers aren't concerned so much about what happened with the Cincinnati Bengals during the first two weeks of the regular season as what awaits them Sunday at Lambeau Field.
It'll be the first time Green Bay has played the Bengals since a 34-30 loss in Cincinnati on Sept. 22, 2013.
"When you play a team you haven't competed against in four years, especially in Week 3, there's going to be unscouted looks," said Head Coach Mike McCarthy prior to practice Wednesday. "There probably will be more this week than the norm. At the end of the day, they're coming off a Thursday night game. We'll stay true to the video and frankly we'll focus on their players and their schemes, and concepts because the uncommon opponent for us is the focus for us."
Off to a 0-2 start, the Bengals dismissed longtime assistant Ken Zampese this week after Cincinnati's offense scored only nine points in the first two games of the year.
For McCarthy, the bigger focus for the Packers this week is making sure his team makes the necessary corrections following its 34-23 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, a process that began Wednesday morning.
The Packers pushed back Wednesday's practice to 2:45 p.m. CT to help the team bounce back from injuries and the late-road trip. McCarthy said there will be 13 players on the injury report.
"All those guys will work in either the rehab group and move to limited or start in limited or move to full," McCarthy said. "Today is a response to Saturday night and the late return. We have a lot of work to do ourselves."
Starting tackles Bryan Bulaga (ankle) and David Bakhtiari (hamstring) sat out of Sunday's game against the Falcons. Receivers Jordy Nelson (quad) and Randall Cobb (shoulder), defensive backs Kentrell Brice (groin) and Davon House (groin), and defensive tackle Mike Daniels (hamstring) also exited from the game.
"I think it's important when you look at the injuries, you have to gather all the information," McCarthy said. "Every injury is evaluated. The video, our trainers look at the same video as our coaches and personnel departments. There's an evaluation that goes on and a ton of data that's collected throughout every individual's training each and every day.
"I think you have to watch yourself that you jump to conclusions. Behavior patterns are important in all aspects of training a football team and we're aware of it. With that, we deal with it, but trust me, if it was one thing causing these injuries, we would've stopped it a long time ago."
