It was not the Green Bay Packers night when they took on the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field to kick off Week 4 on Thursday Night Football. The Packers were beaten handily by their NFC North rivals, 34-20.
The loss dropped their record to 2-2 on the season, but that was the least of their concerns. As soon as Green Bay had their full allotment of skill position players available to them, another player went down with an injury.
This time it was rookie tight end Luke Musgrave. Musgrave was forced to leave the game in the first half after catching one pass for one yard. He was evaluated for a concussion and was officially ruled out in the third quarter of the game.
Unfortunately, that evaluation did confirm that Musgrave suffered a head injury. He will now be entered into the league’s concussion protocols and will need to pass through their steps before being cleared to return.
Luckily, he will have plenty of time to recover and get cleared. The Packers are going to have a mini-bye week, as they won’t be playing again until Monday Night Football in Week 5 on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders.
That is about the only positive to Musgrave suffering the injury when he did. The second-round pick out of Oregon State has been an integral part of the team’s game plan in every week of the season.
He is top-10 in the NFL in routes run by tight ends and has an average target share as well. The potential has been on display week in and week out as he and Jordan Love haven’t been able to get on the same page, but the opportunity for big plays has been present.
In place of Musgrave, the Packers turned to fellow rookie Tucker Kraft. He caught his first career pass in the NFL on the opening drive of the third quarter, which went for six yards. Should Musgrave not exit the protocols in time, Kraft is likely who the team would turn to as their pass-catching tight end.
