GREEN BAY, Wis. -- If this were a regular-season game, the Green Bay Packers would be awfully short on receivers.
Yet coach Mike McCarthy wasn't willing to rule out any of his injured pass-catchers -- Jordy Nelson (ribs), Davante Adams (ankle) and Geronimo Allison (hamstring) -- just yet for Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Atlanta Falcons.
"In the regular-season ... mindset, none of them would play," McCarthy said Thursday. "But obviously this is a different time. This is a different point where we are in the season. Everybody understands where we are here."
Nelson, who is less than two weeks removed from suffering broken ribs, went through some drills on Thursday, but not in pads like the rest of the team, which likely means he's not cleared for contact.
He did some on-field work with the rehab group in practice on Wednesday, when he did some light jogging and caught a few passes. A source told ESPN earlier in the week that Nelson had only a small chance of playing.
Adams and Allison were both injured in Sunday's divisional-round win over the Cowboys. Adams did not practice Thursday. Allison was in pads, but he didn't participate during the open portion of the workout.
Neither was expected to do anything on the field until Saturday's final session.
"Those questions, the answers to those questions, really the week will answer that," McCarthy said. "I'm not going to get into this and that. They're still working. They're mentally getting ready. This is an injury threshold all three of those guys have -- Jordy, Davante and Geronimo. They all have three distinctly different injuries."
Adams said he likely won't know if he'll play until game day, but he knows he will have to go through a running test -- whether that's Saturday or Sunday -- in order to play.
"It's unrealistic to say I'm not going to do any running up until game time, but with all that taken into consideration, even if it doesn't feel great Saturday, I know Sunday we'll still figure out what it's feeling like," Adams said.
Adams missed three games with the same sprained left ankle last season, although he indicated this one wasn't as bad.
"It's different, so it's hard to compare the two, but I guess it's similar," Adams said. "It's an ankle sprain, but other than that it's just in a different area. Just got to get some of that swelling [down], but for the most part it's just something that I've just got [to] continue to nurse."
Even when Adams returned last season, he struggled to get open because he wasn't 100 percent. He has credited his success this season to not having to deal with an ankle injury like he did all of last year.
"You trying to see if I'm going to play like last year because of my ankle?" Adams said. "I won't be playing like last year. We'll see how I'm feeling as we progress through the week."
McCarthy said the Packers don't plan to add a receiver to the roster this week regardless.
"Our plan is set," McCarthy said. "If these guys make it, it will be a bonus."
At this point, it leaves Randall Cobb, Jeff Janis and Trevor Davis as the Packers' only available receivers unless they plan to move Ty Montgomery back to his original position after switching him to running back early in the season. Even Janis was listed on the injury report with a quad injury.
Nelson led the Packers in all receiving categories during the regular season, while Adams has a team-leading 13 catches for 201 yards in the postseason. Allison has four catches for 54 yards in the playoffs.
Cobb leads the Packers with three playoff touchdowns -- all in the wild-card game against the Giants -- and ranks second to Adams with 12 catches and 178 yards. Neither Janis nor Davis has a postseason catch. In fact, Janis played only one snap on offense in the divisional playoff game against the Cowboys, and Davis, a rookie fifth-round pick, played just five. In the past 10 games, Janis and Davis have combined for two catches -- both by Janis -- for 15 yards.
"I'm not really concerned today, because you have to put the plan in," McCarthy said. "I'm not sure how we're going to line up or who's going to line up. We'll hopefully have a better gauge if we think these guys are going to make it. I don't think we'll really know until Saturday. We just have to do it like we always have. Get Trevor ready, obviously, Randall and Jeff are the three focal points right now."