Eagles rule Ryan Mathews out with knee injury

The Eagles will be without their leading ballcarrier on Monday night, and potentially for much longer.

Philadelphia ruled running back Ryan Mathews out for their weeknight tilt against the Packers after he did not practice all week with an MCL sprain.

Eagles coach Doug Pederson initially said after Mathews suffered the injury in Sunday's loss to the Seahawks that the lead back was day-to-day. But now that Mathews is slated to be sidelined for at least one week, Pederson has changed his tune.

"There's always that fear, especially with the knee. We just want to make sure that it's 100 percent before we put him back out on the practice field," Pederson told reporters Saturday. "There is a concern that it could linger because now we will be coming off a Monday night game into a short week and going back on the road, so we've just got to find out next Wednesday where he's at."

With Darren Sproles "good to go" despite an ailing rib, the Eagles should be fine without Mathews in the short term. Philadelphia has gone away from Mathews often in big games, choosing instead to utilize Sproles and rookie back Wendell Smallwood, who has 118 yards in his last two games. Philadelphia will miss Mathews in the red zone -- all eight of his touchdowns this season have come from inside the 8-yard line -- but don't expect a massive game plan alteration in the run game.