Packers Kick Returner, Cornerback Exit With Injuries Against Bears

Less than one week after debuting their new return specialist, the Green Bay Packers briefly had to turn to another option during Sunday’s game.

Tyler Ervin took his opening punt return for 12 yards against the Chicago Bears but was injured at the end of the play, heading into the locker room with a member of the Packers training staff to have his hand evaluated further. He returned to the field with his helmet in his hand after missing one punt return, but he was back on the field for the next one.

Ervin is officially questionable, though, for the rest of the afternoon, which could see his status change if the hand injury is aggravated as he plays.

Veteran cornerback Tramon Williams stepped in to field the Bears’ second punt of the afternoon, but he was also shaken up after taking a hard hit from Cordarrelle Patterson — for which he was flagged for early contact, despite the replay showing his hit was legal. The resulting penalty gave the Packers field position at the Bears’ 35-yard line and scored on a fourth-down touchdown throw from Aaron Rodgers to Davante Adams.

Williams, who fumbled the ball after Patterson’s hit, was officially being evaluated for a concussion and is questionable to return to the game. He did, however, return to the field with his helmet in hand near the end of the first half.

There was a momentary scare with inside linebacker Blake Martinez where he appeared to take a shot to his face, but he didn’t stay out long and was back on the field for the next defensive series against the Bears.

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Ervin’s Debut Kept Packers From Horrible Record

Ervin was brought in ahead of Week 14’s game against the Washington Redskins as a replacement for the since-released Tremon Williams and was the latest tasked with generating, well, any amount of positive yardage for the Packers in their return game.

While that might seem like the standard expectations for return specialist, the Packers had struggled to find a consistent one through their first 13 games. They kicked off last Sunday against the Redskins with negative-8 yards on punt returns, in danger of setting an NFL record for the fewest punt return yards in a single season.

None of that stopped Ervin.

Ervin took four punts for 51 yards — now up to five for 63 after Sunday’s opening punt return against Chicago — and pushed the Packers beyond the record-low number total of 27 yards. Avoiding the ugly record, though, almost seemed secondary to the Packers finally finding an effective return man after spending most of the season searching for an effective option.

Trevor Davis was the first to take on return responsibilities for the Packers this season, but he was traded to the Oakland Raiders in mid-September — and has since been released and reacquired by Miami. The job then fell to rookie Darrius Shepherd until a fumbled return and a missed catch-turned-interception against the Dallas Cowboys effectively ended his tenure on the active roster.

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