GREEN BAY — The fractured tibia in Randall Cobb's right leg is healed, but the Green Bay Packers wide receiver has not yet gotten the all-clear to return to action.
Cobb, who suffered the injury Oct. 13 at Baltimore, practiced for the first time on Wednesday, but he remains on injured reserve with the designation to return and appears unlikely to play Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"I believe everything's healed, just [a matter of] getting back into football shape and trusting myself," Cobb said after practice Wednesday. "I have not [been fully cleared]. I've been cleared to run and cleared to practice."
If and when Cobb is cleared for game action, the Packers would have to make a move to get him back onto the 53-man roster. On Wednesday, Cobb was just happy to be back on the field.
"I was very grateful to be able to go back on the field," said Cobb, who was leading the Packers in receptions (29) at the time of his injury. "Everybody was making fun of me because I was smiling from ear to ear, from getting my helmet back, getting a new pair of cleats and just being at practice. It's a very good day for me, I'd say.
"Right now, we're taking it day to day and we'll see whenever that time comes. (When) I feel ready and the coaching staff feels ready and the personnel department [feels I'm ready], we'll probably make that move."
Cobb was cleared to begin running last week and said it's "kind of like re-teaching myself to run routes again" at practice, and that he's working on "little bitty" details of cutting and running in different directions.
But he also acknowledged that he has to overcome not only the physical but the mental before being ready to play.
"Definitely there's a mental block that I've got to run through. It's kind of like letting a horse out of the gate and letting him run into the wilderness a little bit and get himself back," Cobb said. "I'm at the point where I have to continue to work and continue to trust my body and trust that I'm healed."You've definitely got to get over it. You've got to be fearless playing this game and I have to get to a point where I'm not thinking about my knee and I'm worried about what I'm doing on the field."
Jason Wilde  wrote: