Bishop, Hawk could play against the Giants

GREEN BAY, Wis. As Packers linebacker Desmond Bishop stood on the sideline on crutches during the second half of Green Bay's 27-15 win at Detroit on Thanksgiving, his calf strain seemed like the type of injury that could have been fairly serious.However, coach Mike McCarthy said on Friday that, while more information won't be known until Wednesday, Bishop has "a chance" to play in the Packers' next game at the New York Giants on Dec. 4.The same exact scenario is true of fellow linebacker A.J. Hawk, who also suffered a calf strain in the win over the Lions. Like Bishop, Hawk has "a chance" to play next week.The news was not as good for offensive lineman Josh Sitton, who suffered a knee sprain and, according to McCarthy, would be "hard-pressed" to play in that game.McCarthy added that Sitton will be back this season.Sitton had been on the injury report in recent weeks with a knee injury, but McCarthy said this was "a new injury."The update on veteran left tackle Chad Clifton who has been out since Week 5 with a hamstring injury is not good."He's not as close as I thought he was a couple weeks ago," McCarthy said. "I don't see Chad Clifton playing in New York."If Sitton is unable to play against the Giants, it is likely that Evan Dietrich-Smith will step into that spot as he did on Thursday."Evan played OK," McCarthy said. "It's a tough spot to be put into. You don't have a lot of reps during the course of the week. We did not have to deviate from anything we had in the game plan and that's a credit to (him)."In the event that Bishop and Hawk are unable to play at New York, Robert Francois and rookie D.J. Smith will see increased playing time. McCarthy awarded both of them with game balls following their performances against the Lions, which included an interception by Francois."Those two really stepped up," McCarthy said.The Packers are now off until Tuesday.Follow Paul Imig on Twitter