GREEN BAY — Mark Tauscher does not have pleasant memories of the Louisiana Superdome. In fact, he doesn't really have any memory of it.

The Green Bay Packers veteran right tackle has effectively blocked out what happened the last time he was there, on Sept. 15, 2002: He blew out his left knee in the second game of the season, forcing him to miss the final 14 regular-season games and the playoff game against Atlanta.

"If no one brought it up, I probably wouldn't have thought about it," Tauscher said when reminded that the Packers' game against the New Orleans Saints on "Monday Night Football" will be his first trip back to the stadium since the injury.

"It was just an obstacle. It was obviously something that was a big deal and it took a lot of time and energy (to come back from). I can't say enough about (assistant strength coach) Mark Lovat, (athletic trainer) Bryan Engel, the people who helped me get through it, because it was a tough time. And it mentally just wears on you. So you have to be mentally up for the challenge to come back from it."

Tauscher did, and he has missed just five games since 2002. He also ended up signing a contract extension two months after the injury, and that contract runs out at the end of this season. While Tauscher acknowledged that he has played "pretty well" this season, he said it would be "foolish" to talk about his odds of remaining with his home-state team after this year.

"I'm not going to talk about it," said Tauscher, who attended Auburndale High School, played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin and makes his home in Sun Prairie. "I'm optimistic that something will get done."

Health watch

The Packers added backup guard Josh Sitton (ankle) to the injury report as questionable Saturday and downgraded defensive end Jeremy Thompson (groin) to questionable after coach Mike McCarthy said Thompson experienced "fatigue" in the muscle as the week wore on.

"After meeting with the doctors today, they feel his chances of potentially playing Monday have lessened," McCarthy said.

Thompson, wide receiver James Jones (knee) and special teamer Jarrett Bush (ankle) will all work out before the game for the medical staff in hopes of playing, but none appears promising. All three are listed as questionable.

Meanwhile, McCarthy said Thursday's surgery on the torn ACL in linebacker Nick Barnett's right knee was "very positive."

"Hopefully he'll be ready to go next year," McCarthy said. "We haven't sat down and gone through the month-to-month targets and goals."

For New Orleans, running back Reggie Bush (knee) returned to the practice field Saturday but was still limited, meaning he could miss his fourth straight game.

Saints coach Sean Payton said after Saturday's practice that he was optimistic about Bush's possible return, but Bush missed Friday's practice and was limited on Thursday and Saturday.

Bush said Saturday that he was optimistic about playing Monday but added: "We'll see what happens. Day by day."

Shoe fetish

Remember last year, when the Packers defensive backs wore bright yellow shoes in honor of Charles Woodson's birthday and ended up getting fined $5,000 apiece by the NFL for violating the uniform code? Well, they group is at it again, sort of — but this time, they're legal.

The unit is wearing black shoes with bright yellow accents this season, and safety Nick Collins said the shoes do comply with league rules because the Packers changed from wearing all-white shoes to wearing all-black shoes this season.

"The difference is, we're a black-shoe team now, and last year, we were a white-shoe team. So that's how we got fined," Collins said. "Being a black-shoe team, you can have a little color. You can't have multiple colors but you can have some color."