Packers Limp Into Thursday Night Football With a Battered Defensive Line

Thursday Night Football is already a physical grind, and the Green Bay Packers are limping into this week's matchup against the Carolina Panthers with a defensive line held together by athletic tape.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Packers are officially listing wide receiver Matthew Golden, defensive tackles Devonte Wyatt and Anthony Campbell, and edge rusher Brenton Cox Jr. as questionable for Thursday night.

Golden is dealing with a combined shoulder and foot issue, which is basically the football equivalent of your check engine light and tire pressure monitor coming on at the exact same time. Meanwhile, Wyatt and Campbell are both nursing bad ankles, and Cox is working through a quad injury.

Green Bay is coming off a tight 20-17 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Turning around four days later to play a prime-time game is brutal enough without half your defensive rotation spending the week living inside the trainer's room.

The good news for the Packers is that they are hosting the Carolina Panthers. Carolina just got absolutely dismantled by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 43-13 blowout. If there was ever a week to survive with a banged-up roster, it is against a team that just gave up 40-plus points and looked completely lost doing it.

For anyone looking at the game lines or player props, this injury report is a massive red flag for Green Bay's run defense. If Wyatt and Campbell cannot go, the middle of that defensive front gets dangerously thin, which completely changes how you have to evaluate the trenches in this matchup.

We will not know for sure who is actually suiting up until the inactive lists drop 90 minutes before kickoff. Until then, expect the Packers to spend the next 48 hours aggressively applying ice packs and hoping for the best.