Edgerrin Cooper's injury is Packers' latest challenge in a season already full of adversity

Even when they win, the Green Bay Packers keep suffering major losses.

Matt LaFleur's squad got back to the .500 mark with a 17-14 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, but lost linebacker Edgerrin Cooper to an Achilles tendon injury in the process.

Cooper is expected to miss the rest of the season, the latest setback for a defense that is still awaiting the return of All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons as he works his way back after tearing his ACL last December. LaFleur said Monday that Parsons won’t return to practice this week.

“The guy is working his butt off to be out there, and I think we’ve made some ground in the last week,” LaFleur said. “But where and when he’ll be available, time will tell. But certainly, (we're) looking forward to that day.”

Parsons’ situation leaves the Packers without their best overall player. Now Green Bay must find a way to replace Cooper, who arguably was performing as well as any Packer through the first four weeks of the season.

Cooper had six tackles for loss and three sacks to lead the Packers in both categories. He had nine tackles, a sack and an interception Sunday before getting hurt in the third quarter.

“He’s a tough one to lose,” LaFleur said. “We all saw what he was able to do in basically a half of football, and the player that he is. My heart hurts for him and his recovery and what he’s going through, but it’s an opportunity for those other guys. (Isaiah) McDuffie’s played a lot of great football for us. I think (Ty'Ron) Hopper’s shown really well. So those guys will get an opp.”

The loss of Cooper represents the latest in a series of major injuries for the Packers (2-2).

Offensive tackle Zach Bako-Bewele (knee) and wide receiver Jayden Reed (neck) already had season-ending injuries. Left guard Aaron Banks has played in just one of Green Bay’s first four games due to knee and toe issues.

“We’ve been kind of hit with some type of curse, it seems like,” center Sean Rhyan said after Sunday’s game.

The Packers also have been playing all season without three-time Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs, who was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list after pleading no contest to two misdemeanor charges stemming from a May altercation with his then-girlfriend.

Without Jacobs, the Packers are last in the NFL in yards rushing per game (58.0) and next-to-last in yards per carry (3.2).

While there was nowhere to go but up in this regard, a reconfigured offensive line did a better job of protecting QB Jordan Love. Laken Tomlinson started at left guard less than a week after Green Bay signed him off Dallas’ practice squad. Travis Glover made his first career start at right guard. ... The defense sacked rookie QB Jalon Daniels three times and intercepted two of his passes.

The Packers committed 10 penalties, the third time in four games they’ve been in double figures. Green Bay has an NFL-high 86 penalty yards per game. ... Green Bay’s struggles to protect double-digit leads continued. After extending their lead to 17-7 in the third quarter, the Packers allowed a touchdown and then committed turnovers on their next two possessions. ... The Packers have dropped too many passes, something LaFleur referenced at his Monday news conference.

S Evan Williams intercepted a pass in the first quarter to set up a touchdown. He also recorded a sack after the Bucs had crossed midfield on their final possession. ... K Trey Smack made a 58-yard field goal. The rookie sixth-round pick is 6 of 7 on field-goal attempts. His lone miss was blocked.

RB Kaleb Johnson lost a fumble when Green Bay had first-and-goal at the 3 while trying to extend its 17-14 lead early in the fourth quarter. ... RB MarShawn Lloyd also had a fumble in the red zone earlier in the same drive, though Green Bay retained possession because the ball went out of bounds at Tampa Bay’s 16.

Along with Cooper’s injury, RB Chris Brooks hurt an ankle. LaFleur said Monday that Brooks is undergoing testing. CB Brandon Cisse also left Sunday's game, but LaFleur said that “I don’t think it’s anything long-term.”

20-8 — That’s the Packers’ record in the month of October during LaFleur’s coaching tenure, which began in 2019. The only NFL team with a better October record during that stretch is Baltimore (22-7).

After going on the road for three of their first four games, the Packers are home for three of their next four. That starts Sunday when the reigning NFC North champion Chicago Bears (3-1) come to town.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love speaks following an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur speaks following an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) is removed from the field after sustaining an injury during the second half of an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams (33) consoles his teammate linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) after he was injured during the second half of an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) is assisted off the field during the second half of an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

ITHACA, New York (AP) — Cornell students thronged a campus plaza to protest the university's response to allegations of sexual assault at a fraternity house, and the school's main administration building was splashed with graffiti and damaged overnight.

At a demonstration that overflowed the large space in front of the school's student center, students, faculty members and others wore purple ribbons and held signs with such messages as “support survivors, expel rapists” and “Justice 4 every Jane Doe" — the name by which the woman who reported the assault is known in court papers. Others watched from pathways, windows, and a nearby hill.

“Too often, we are met with silence, we are met with statements, we are met with procedures, but not enough support,” student Athena Holloway told the crowd. “How much does it take for our university to stand with survivors?”

Hispanic studies professor Julia Chang added to applause: “Rape should not be inevitable.”

Speakers faulted fraternities, the university trustees and Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff, saying he and his administration have prioritized protecting the university's reputation over students' safety.

“Kotlikoff, resign!” demonstrators chanted, among other slogans, as they marched to the damaged administration building to present a list of demands. They included changes to how the student code of conduct defines sexual consent, an overhaul of the student discipline system and expulsions or degree revocations for all students involved in the alleged 2024 assault of the woman known as Jane Doe, among other things.

Standing in front of the administration hall, students held a banner reading “Burn Down the Patriarchy.”

The Ivy League school has been trying to quell a firestorm — on campus and beyond — over its handling of the alleged 2024 gang rape. Early Monday, the university found signs of the anger on the very walls of its administrative headquarters.

Holes were knocked into one of the building's glass doors, and the walls beside them were marked with red-painted messages condemning patriarchy and the Ivy League school’s handling of sexual assaults, news media photos showed. Later Monday, the graffiti was removed and the door was boarded up.

Cornell spokesperson Kyle Kimball said in a statement that the university was investigating and that “damaging property is not the answer” to Cornellians' “frustration and strong emotions.” Campus police referred questions to his office, which declined to provide more detail on the incident.

The woman known as Jane Doe alleges that she was sexually assaulted by multiple Chi Phi fraternity members in October 2024 after being pressured into drinking and taking drugs. She was a Cornell student at the time.

The woman recently sued the university, seven former students, the fraternity and others. Her lawsuit said that she became fully incapacitated as fraternity members assaulted her, and that one man sent others a message inviting them to participate.

“I felt like bait. I felt like lions around me. It just was a totally debilitating place to be in,” she told Cornell investigators last year, according to records reviewed by The Associated Press.

Lawyers for two of the former students denied they participated in a sexual assault. Attempts by The Associated Press to reach the other men or their representatives have been unsuccessful. Court records show that some of the accused students, when interviewed by Cornell investigators, described the sexual activity as consensual.

Shortly before she went to Cornell police in November 2024, Jane Doe recorded a phone call with one of the men she says raped her, ABC News reported Monday, saying it had obtained the recording. The network played portions, containing only what it said was his voice, and recounted other parts of the conversation in writing.

According to ABC, the man told her that after dancing with her for five minutes or less, he suggested a three-person encounter. He maintained that she agreed to it, and that he then fetched the second Chi Phi member from the dance floor.

Her lawsuit says she was too intoxicated to give consent.

On the call, she tried to pinpoint who else later came into the room, ABC said. The man suggested both he and she might be misremembering something that's “not true,” but she countered that she recalled looking up and seeing “too many people” there.

“What y’all did would be classified as gang rape,” she told him at one point, according to the network, which said she had provided the recording to the university.

The suit has drawn national attention to what Cornell, its police force and the local district attorney did after she told the campus police in November 2024 she “can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”

No criminal charges have been filed. The Chi Phi chapter at Cornell was shut down, and the Ivy League university has said it expelled some students and suspended others. In a statement last week, the administration bristled about the “false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case.”

Students, however, have demanded more accountability and transparency, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has said Jane Doe was “failed by people and institutions" including the Cornell police and local District Attorney Matthew Van Houten.

Hochul appointed the state attorney general last week to take over a criminal investigation that Van Houten had reopened days earlier, and the governor called for an independent review of Cornell’s handling of the matter.

After the week's developments, Kotlikoff released an apologetic video Saturday, saying that Jane Doe's account “raises heartbreaking and troubling issues about sexual assault, dehumanization and aspects of party culture, alcohol and drug use.”

Kotlikoff reaffirmed his support for an independent review of the university's actions and vowed more transparency and a commitment to "finding the answers our community deserves.”

Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.

The Chi Phi fraternity house is seen at Cornell University, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Ithaca, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

A sign stands outside the Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Ithaca, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

The Chi Phi fraternity house is seen at Cornell University, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Ithaca, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

A sign is displayed on a door at Day Hall after damage and graffiti overnight was cleaned up at Cornell University, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Ithaca, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

A Cornell University police car is seen parked on campus at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)