Title

Packers to leave injured players out of Super Bowl team photo

By ArtieFufkin

Well this kind of sucks for Jermichael Finley (Photo: SI.com)

UPDATE: The Packers have apparently caved to public pressure. Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette has been told that the Packers’ Super Bowl team photo has been moved to Friday, so that all of the players on IR will be included.

Whew … our long national nightmare is over. That was almost the non-story of the year.

___________________________________

In a move that has caused confusion and frustration among its players and around the league, the Green Bay Packers have elected not to include players on injured reserve in their official team photo, to be taken next Tuesday prior to Super Bowl XLV. Among the players listed on IR are some guys who have been major contributors to the Packers’ success this season, including TE Jermichael Finley, LB Nick Barnett and RB Ryan Grant.

For their part, Finley and Barnett aren’t too happy about the decision, and took to Twitter to express their feelings:

According to a Packers team spokesman, the decision was “driven by the sheer number of players on IR”, so that the rest of the team can focus on preparing for the big game. As the second-most injured team this season, Green Bay has made liberal use of injured reserve list, with FIFTEEN players out for the year. One of the main factors in the decision (according to the team) is the limited medical space available while on the road to team trainers, who will need all of that space to care for active injuries next week. So instead, the 15 Packers on IR will be flown to Dallas on Thursday, at which time the will get to participate in the full Super Bowl experience, including standing on the sidelines during the game.

Seems like a cop out to me. It’s fully ridiculous to leave core players like Finley, Grant and Barnett out of the team photo … especially when back-up scrubs who signed with the team two months ago will be included. It’s not like these IR’d players are going to come down to Dallas and distract their teammates from the goal at hand. Do the Packers’ brass really think that Finley is going to hop on the training table in front of Aaron Rodgers to get ultrasound treatment? Please. And it’s certainly not unreasonable for players to want to be included in such a historic team photo, and to feel a little bit hurt at being left out.

Later, Barnett apologized for his earlier outburst:

• “I was not trying to be a distraction nor was I downing the organization they have done so much for me over last 8 years. … Just saying I am sad that it worked out the way it did. This game is bigger then my feelings and my body of work. It’s about “One Goal!”

These guys are professionals, and should be treated as such … as it is now, Green Bay may not exactly be stacking the karma deck in their favor for this game.

Related posts

• General Larry Platt sings "Pants on the Ground" for Vikings (video)
• Kerry Rhodes and Rodney Harrison: One, Two, Three, Four, I declare Twitter War!
• CJ2K vents at Titans fans with 'regular jobs'
• The Steelers throwback uniforms are fairly ridiculous (PICS)
• Jeremy Shockey scoffs at LeBron James' football-playing abilities
• Hakeem Nicks splits Falcons D en route to 72-yard touchdown (VIDEO)
• Reggie Bush says what a lot of players are probably thinking about the lockout (PIC)
• Ochocinco takes Twitter fans out to dinner
• Oh yeah, the Pro Bowl is today (LINKS)
• Did the Refs Cost Arizona the Game on Victor Cruz' fumble/non-fumble? (VIDEO)