Injured Packers Won't Be In Team Photo (UPDATE: Yes, They Will)

Here's a controversial move: the Green Bay Packers have decided injured players won't be in the NFC team photo.

According to a team spokesman, "It was a team decision driven by the sheer number of players on IR. Our primary focus is to get the team ready to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. Every decision we make is about trying to win a world championship."

UPDATE:
The Packers have just reversed their decision to ban injured players from the team photo, NFL.com reports, and will change the date of the photo to accomodate.

EARLIER:

The Packers have 16 players on injured reserve, per NFL.com. At least two players have said publicly they're unhappy with the decision. Both linebacker Nick Barnett and tight end Jermichael Finley took to Twitter to knock the move.

Barnett tweeted: "Kinda sad. Found out basically IR guys can not be in team picture. .. It's kinda sad to think.. Just goes you injured yourself you not part"

Finley tweeted: "I never trip (about) anything, but the way IR players are getting treated not cool."

ESPN.com contributor Ross Tucker argued getting to the Super Bowl is all about the team, which makes the decision absurd.

The team photo is expected to be taken next Tuesday at Cowboys Stadium in Texas, Yahoo reports. Green Bay will play Pittsburgh in Dallas on Feb. 6.

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Comments

[CANTHATBE]

11:37 PM on 01/27/2011

Didnt know the Packers were that classless. Let the IR players travel to the SB like other teams do. You mean they are so classless they can't pay for 16 players who left it all out there on the field to come to the SB.

[Seeitmyway]

08:09 AM on 01/28/2011

GB does not have a billionaire owner(s) like all the other teams. They do not have unlimited resources to cater to more injured starters and players than any other team that has made the Super Bowl. You want classless? Assault young women in public bathrooms while your bodyguard keeps watch.

[kidjudas]

02:00 PM on 01/28/2011

Green Bay is not owned by a group of millionaire good ol' boys nor is it owned by a billionaire with deep pockets. They do not have unlimited funds. Plus. to bring all 16 of them would require getting extra rehab time and extra medical staff and let's face it, they would be a distraction. Some of these injured players did not even go to Chicago or Atlanta but now they want to go to the Super Bowl? That's classless in and of itself.

[Jaskoen]

05:22 PM on 01/27/2011

This headline is dated and inaccurate. Huffpo should fix it or take this story down.

[Elbrando]

12:57 PM on 01/27/2011

First: GO PACKERS

Second: If you are going to make such a @#%$ move, why before the Super Bowl?

Third: GO PACKERS

[bcarb]

11:03 AM on 01/27/2011

This smells like a stupid ted Thompson decision. Not what the Pack needs at this time.

[Mary Karius]

03:15 PM on 01/27/2011

uranidiot

[bcarb]

10:47 PM on 01/27/2011

as are you

[cdiasmd]

10:10 AM on 01/27/2011

"This has never been a problem for the Steelers. Not only have they always included their players on injured reserve in the Super Bowl photo, those players are treated the same as all others. They fly on the team charter, which will leave Monday, and have the same accommodations. That is how it always has been."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11027/1120960-66.stm#ixzz1CFTkHD28

Go Steelers!!!

[blurredmolly]

10:50 AM on 01/27/2011

x2. I'm a Bear fan.

[JtownesquireAgain]

03:12 PM on 01/27/2011

That's because class never goes out of style...even when you are headed to Dallas looking for your 7th ring!

[RNAngel20]

10:00 AM on 01/27/2011

These guys have helped the Packers get where they are today- not just this season but for the past couple of seasons and to treat them like that is inexcusable.
Go Steelers!

[butchcliff]

07:06 AM on 01/27/2011

Didn't they get injured playing for the team? Aren't they part of the team?
Dumb decision

[Death to Crusaders]

06:52 AM on 01/27/2011

That just lost them the game. U read it here first, everyone.

[mikehart]

09:16 AM on 01/27/2011

OK?
I read alot of "U read it here first"
but don't believe I would trust anything from someone called
Death to Crusaders...

[matson]

11:35 AM on 01/27/2011

Before the Crusaders moved to "liberate" Jerusalem from Islam, Islam had been attacking Europe for 300 years and made it as far as central France and occupied Spain for centuries. So I would suggest that first one has to decide: which Crusaders? They still believe Spain should return to Muslim control and if you read the Koran, as I have including the Hadiths, any land once conquered by Islam must remain in or be returned to Islam. Just some thoughts here.

[plzchuteme]

06:46 AM on 01/27/2011

To exclude injured members of the team from the photo is pretty cheesy. Oh, I forgot. In Wisconsin, that is a good thing.

[kapalabhati]

06:31 AM on 01/27/2011

Team too large? Ever hear of a fish eye lens?

Packers' W T F moment. More to follow?

[roads]

02:51 AM on 01/27/2011

GO STEELERS !!!

[Ryan Schmidt]

01:34 AM on 01/27/2011

Good thing they reversed this decision. IR players already feel like they aren't apart of the team being injured.

[opprobrious]

01:19 AM on 01/27/2011

"Not cool" sums it up nicely.

[Dr Confuso]

11:31 PM on 01/26/2011

The executive 'brains trust' who make these foolish decisions must need oxygen.

[mediamarv]

01:03 AM on 01/27/2011

I think you're being generous with the term "brains."

[Rush 2112]

06:10 AM on 01/27/2011

LOL

Don't be a b!tter Bear Fan.

[kapalabhati]

06:32 AM on 01/27/2011

Seems to me marv is making an indictment against the suits on the front office, not your beloved Pack. A little sensitive?

[The Iron Cage]

10:11 PM on 01/26/2011

Owners and management view players as nothing but property. The second you can't perform, they take you behind the barn and do away with you. Athlete unions should have more sway, if you ask me, or at least get their priorities in order.

[Dr Confuso]

11:33 PM on 01/26/2011

The strike/lockout should be interesting. The millionaires vs. the billionaires.I hope it goes all year long.

[kapalabhati]

06:40 AM on 01/27/2011

Do you live in a city with an NFL team? Do you live in a city which employes thousands of people who support the NFL teams, either at the stadium concessions, local restaurants, hotels, gift shops, etc? What about the general economy of the cities whose income tax revenue rely on the teams' presence?

You must not, because all you see is the small picture. Your clever indictment of the "Ms" versus the "Bs" misses the larger picture. "Thousandaires" whose lives and families' lives will be adversely affected by this. For them, I hope the figure this $h!t out in the off-season. (FYI: If there's a strike or a lockout, I'm a winner. I save over $2-3k next year in tickets, food, beverages, gas, parking, etc.)

[The Iron Cage]

09:42 AM on 01/27/2011

A lot of players aren't millionaires. How many long snappers can you name?

[ManwithaParachute]

01:19 AM on 01/27/2011

The owners of the packers are basically the county residents and the team is a non-profit organisation as the shareholders receive no payments. So, in this case, the owners would not stand for this cr@p and some middle management individual is looking quickly for a soft landing.

[The Iron Cage]

09:41 AM on 01/27/2011

Right, so the Packers are the exception. I was speaking more generally, I guess.