GREEN BAY — While both kicker Brandon McManus and right tackle Zach Tom believe they’ll be good to go for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Lambeau Field, the Green Bay Packers listed both players — and four others — as questionable for the game on the official injury report Friday. 

In addition to Tom (oblique), the Packers also listed left tackle Rasheed Walker (quadriceps) and left guard Aaron Banks (groin) as questionable, along with backup center Jacob Monk, who is coming back from a hamstring injury and began practicing this week while still on injured reserve. Cornerback Nate Hobbs (concussion) is also questionable.

McManus, who suffered a quadriceps injury in his right (kicking) leg during practice on Wednesday, was at practice on Friday but it was unclear whether he did any kicking after the open-to-the-media portion of practice ended. McManus was not among the players who came through the locker room while it was open to reporters.

Head coach Matt LaFleur had termed the injury a “major concern” on Thursday morning, but later in the day McManus had downplayed its severity, saying he kicked through virtually the exact same injury in 2022 with the Denver Broncos and joking that LaFleur had a different “thesaurus” when it came to finding words to describe injuries.

LaFleur took a good-natured swipe at his kicker Friday before explaining why he in fact does see McManus’ injury as a significant issue.

“I’ve got to check my thesaurus, apparently,” LaFleur deadpanned. “But anytime a kicker [has an injury], I don’t care, [it’s a concern]. That’s what I was trying to tell him

“‘Yeah, you’ve dealt with this. Well, we haven’t, and I haven’t in my experience.’ If you’re a kicker and your leg is bothering you, that’s a problem. It’s no different than a quarterback that has something with their throwing arm or throwing shoulder. That is a concern. Whether or not you can work yourself through it, time will tell.”

Meanwhile, having 60% of your starting offensive line listed as questionable is less than ideal, although Tom, Banks and Walker were all listed as limited participants in Friday’s practice.

Banks has started two games and not finished either one, while missing the other two games. Tom, who originally damaged his oblique in the opener against the Detroit Lions, tried to play at Cleveland on Sept. 21 and lasted only one snap, experiencing excruciating pain when he collided with Browns star pass rusher Myles Garrett on the first play.

Unlike that week, when Tom took part on a limited basis in the Friday practice but didn’t do any in-pads work and didn’t experience collisions with pass rushers, he made sure he did so this week and said he feels more confident he’ll be able to hold up for the entire game.

“I felt pretty good [in practice], so yeah, I feel pretty good about Sunday. For sure,” Tom said. “Having the confidence that your body is going to be able to hold up is obviously huge for us as an O-lineman because you’re in there every play. So I feel pretty good about Sunday.”

Meanwhile, the Packers ruled out wide receiver Christian Watson, who began practicing this week for the first time since tearing the ACL in his right knee in last year’s Jan. 5 regular-season finale.

Watson made significant progress during the week and while he was able to return to the practice field after just 9 months and 1 day, the team decided it was too early for him to see game action.

LaFleur didn’t rule out the possibility of Watson playing in the team’s next game, on Oct. 19 at Arizona, however.

“He won’t play this week, but he has looked pretty damn good,” LaFleur said. “I’m excited for when that day comes. He’s definitely going to add an element to our offense.”

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