Packer Roundup: Is Collins nearing the end?

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GREEN BAY - Green Bay Packers’ safety Nick Collins underwent a battery of tests in New York yesterday on the neck injury he suffered last September.

His agent, Alan Herman, said he believes Collins should retire – and Packers’ coach Mike McCarthy and G-M Ted Thompson have said the same thing. But Herman says Collins still has a competitive fire in him, and he wants to play. Still, the agent says that if Collins finds problems in his test results, he promises to quit. A final decision is expected next week, after Collins meets with his agents and Packers’ officials. Collins suffered a devastating neck injury in Game-Two last season, when Carolina running back Jonathan Stewart tried to hurdle over him. The 29-year-old Collins has played seven NFL seasons, all with the Packers – and he’s a three-time Pro Bowler.

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The Packers voted for all the rule changes adopted by NFL owners yesterday, except the one which calls for a penalty against a offensive player who goes for a defender’s head on a crack-back block. Team president Mark Murphy did not explain why the Packers voted against that change. They supported the idea of having the replay officials in the booth review all turnovers – just like they did with all touchdown plays starting last season. Murphy said there was a concern that the touchdown reviews would drag out the games – but they only turned out to be an average of one second longer. The Packers also said yes to using the same overtime rules in the regular season as in the playoffs. Each team will get at least one possession in the OT, unless a touchdown or a safety is scored in the first possession. Owners also voted to penalize a team a loss-of-down for illegally kicking a loose ball, and making too many men on the field a dead-ball foul unless the extra player was in the process of heading to the sideline.

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