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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- He'll take an injection. He'll try wearing a shoulder harness. He'll push himself through painful rehabilitation exercises.
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Anything to be back on the field for the Green Bay Packers.
Despite a sprained right shoulder that limited him to a light workload in practice Wednesday, quarterback Aaron Rodgers says he'll do whatever it takes to start Sunday's game against Atlanta at Lambeau Field.
And Rodgers says he doesn't face any extra pressure to push himself because of the ironman consecutive-starts streak put together by his predecessor, Brett Favre.
"Listen, I want to play every game," Rodgers said. "I don't need that, 'Oh, you've got to play because Brett played 250 in a row.' I don't need that. I have pride in myself. I've played with some serious injuries before, so that's personal pride. I don't need any extra fuel to play."
Favre started a quarterback-record 253 consecutive regular-season games for the Packers before he was traded to the New York Jets. Right now, Rodgers' prospects for starting five in a row look iffy.
Rodgers sprained his right shoulder in last Sunday's game at Tampa Bay, and was limited to handing off a few times in practice Wednesday. Rookie backups Matt Flynn and Brian Brohm got most of the work in practice and Flynn will start if Rodgers can't.
Rodgers said the pain is getting better, but the main factor that will get him back on the field is regaining the strength in his shoulder.
"Things are, at least in the big picture, getting better," Rodgers said. "The swelling's going down. But now really, it's really about the strength. If I get the strength back, then I can throw. I'll be able to play."
The Packers are hurting beyond Rodgers' injury.
Green Bay placed defensive line standout Cullen Jenkins on injured reserve Wednesday after he injured a chest muscle Sunday. Jenkins was one of a whopping 14 players listed on the Packers' injury report Wednesday -- a list that also includes cornerback Al Harris, who is out indefinitely with a spleen injury, and cornerback Charles Woodson, who continues to play through a broken toe.
The mounting early season injuries are an unfamiliar problem for the Packers, who were relatively healthy in their first two seasons under McCarthy.
"It's just another challenge, frankly," McCarthy said. "Challenges come at you so many different ways. You have to overcome it."
