 |
| Vikings CB Antoine Winfield will play Saturday vs. the Packers with a hard cast on his broken hand. (US Presswire) |
Vikings CB Antoine Winfield broke his hand two weeks ago in Texas, and missed half the game last week with the Packers when he re-aggravated it. Winfield missed practice all week, but said Thursday that he will definitely play on Saturday against the Packers.
“No, not at all,” Winfield said of the possibility of missing the playoff game. “I have the whole offseason to heal up. I will definitely be out there on Saturday night.”
Last Sunday against the Packers, Winfield wore a glove with a small pad on his hand to protect the fracture. But at one point, he was in press coverage against WR Greg Jennings and made contact with him. It pushed his hand backwards and the pain was too much for him to continue -- leaving the hand very swollen after the game.
This week, he was fitted with a harder, flexible cast for the game and tried it out on Thursday, saying he it should better protect him.
“This week I will definitely be wearing a cast where my fingers and my thumb will be out,” said Winfield. “It will have a hard protection over the area that I broke. It’s a little flexible at my wrist. I can do all the movements, and it’s hardened right over the area where I fractured the hand.”
Coach Leslie Frazier said that Winfield did not participate in practice Thursday, only doing a few things on the side of the field, testing out the cast. He hit some dummies with the hand, and Frazier said it gave Winfield a comfort level with the hard cast. Seeing Winfield do the work increased the coach’s comfort level, as well.
“He makes a difference, there’s no question about it,” Frazier said about having Winfield in the secondary. “So it was encouraging that he felt better today. His leadership -- along with the fact that he’s a had a very, very good year for us -- he’s hard to replace.”
For more Vikings news and notes, follow Joe Oberle on Twitter @CBSVikings and @joeoberle.
