The Green Bay Packers had a bit of a weird schedule this week while practicing on Monday, taking Tuesday off and then returning to practice again on Wednesday. That seems to be the norm coming off a bye week, though.

The good news is that when they returned, so did most of the injured players.

The defense in particular stands to get a boost from several players returning to action. Atari Bigby participated for the first time since early in the regular season due to a hamstring injury. Unless he re-injures it, he should be ready to return. Bigby appeared to be close to returning before the bye week.

The Packers have missed Bigby's hard hitting ways, and they'll need him to help stop the powerful Titans run game when the defense will decide to put eight men in the box to bottle up the Titan tandem of Chris Johnson and LenDale White.

Also in the secondary, Al Harris returned as well.

"Harris was at his right cornerback position and appeared fit, fluid and fast," writes Greg Bedard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in regards to Monday's practice.

Harris stands to start, but it's possible the Packers could relegate Harris to a nickel role if they don't feel he's ready to go full-time just yet. With the way Tramon Williams has been playing, the Packers could afford to ease Harris back onto the playing field.

The defensive line is going to get a boost with both Michael Montgomery returning to practice. Montgomery hasn't been anything special, but he's been his best against the run. And the Packers need nothing more than a great performance against perhaps the best running team they've seen all year.

Fellow end Jason Hunter didn't practice Monday, but may return today. Hunter will play a few snaps on the base defense, but his bigger contribution figures to be on special teams where he led the team in tackles last season.

Ryan Pickett has started every game this season but had been banged up. "Pickett said he felt the best he has all season," reports Bedard.

And it should be the same for A.J. Hawk who's not expected to be limited by the same groin injury that minimized his effectiveness earlier in the season.

As for the offensive side of the football, wide receiver James Jones also returned to practice. Jones will provide another target and another threat. But his return also gives hope to seeing the return of "The Big Five," one of head coach Mike McCarthy's five receiver formations that was used effectively last season.

With a team returning to near full strength, the biggest choices the coaching staff might have this week is who to keep on the gameday 45-man active roster.