GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Jeff Janis knows what he would have done. He’s just not sure how he would have done it - or how effective he would have been.

If the Green Bay Packers wide receiver’s celebration of his miraculous catch of Aaron Rodgers’ Hail Mary throw at the end of regulation during the playoff loss to Arizona on Jan. 16 seemed muted, there was a reason for that. After snaring Rodgers’ desperation heave -- which, with the ensuing extra point, tied the game and forced overtime -- Janis landed squarely on Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson's knee and was in excruciating pain.

“If you go over the replay, you can kind of see me sitting on the bench, I could barely bend over,” Janis said Tuesday, in his first interview of the offseason following the Packers’ opening practice of minicamp. “I was hurting.”

But, Janis quickly added, he’d have stayed in the game had the Packers gotten the ball back in overtime. After all, he really wouldn’t have had a choice.

The Packers were down to only three healthy receivers at that point -- Jordy Nelson had been lost for the season to a torn ACL, Davante Adams was inactive with a knee injury suffered the week before in the wild-card game at Washington, and Randall Cobb had left the game in the first quarter with what turned out to be a punctured lung. That left Rodgers with only veteran James Jones, Janis and Jared Abbrederis at receiver.

Janis said the injury ended up being just a bruise but “just like anybody else who gets kneed in the back, it hurt.” The Packers ended up losing the coin toss and then in overtime without their offense getting the ball.

“I would have had to go out there. I don’t know how explosive I would have been, but I would have given it my all,” Janis said.

Janis actually made two huge plays on that drive, accounting for 101 yards on it -- mathematically impossible as that might sound -- having reeled in a 60-yard desperation throw from Rodgers on fourth-and-20 from the Packers’ own 4-yard line that set up the 41-yard touchdown.

Janis finished the game with seven catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns, and the Packers' hope is that those plays are a jumping-off point for him to become a bigger contributor this season, although he's still working to earn Rodgers' trust and play without overthinking things, to allow his natural ability to shine.

“It’s a work in progress, but still being a young guy and only having one year under my belt really playing, it’s going to take a while,” Janis said. “But I’m just going to keep working, keep trying to get better at that. Once you start playing that way without thinking, you can definitely play a lot faster.”