Injury bug bites hard in Week 1

The Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers already have serious injury problems after one week of the season.

The Packers lost their top wide receiver, Javon Walker, for the year, and the Panthers will be without their best defensive tackle and run stopper, Kris Jenkins. Both tore knee ligaments in losses Sunday.

Walker will need an operation once the swelling subsides to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament and will require between eight and 12 months of rehabilitation.

Walker was hurt in the third quarter of the Packers' 17-3 loss at Detroit when he pushed off safety Terrence Holt on a 55-yard catch that was negated by his offensive interference.

With Walker down, Robert Ferguson will start alongside Donald Driver, who will move from split end to flanker. Ferguson is the Packers' best special teams player, but might be taken off those units now.

Jenkins missed all but four games last season with a shoulder injury that required surgery. Now, the 2003 All-Pro is gone again, with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

Although he was injured in the first quarter, he said Monday he didn't realize the severity and briefly returned to the field in the third quarter before leaving for good.

"I didn't think it was that bad ... it felt like I had hyperextended it at first," he said. "I could still run on the thing. I know that's a little odd.

"When I went back out there, I realized then I had torn something big."