GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Few players have more locker room credibility than Jordy Nelson, especially after what the Green Bay Packers receiver did in his return from reconstructive knee surgery this season.

But after what Nelson did in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game -- when he returned just two weeks after he'd suffered broken ribs to catch six passes for 67 yards and a touchdown, all while he winced in pain -- that credibility went up another notch in his teammates' eyes.

A day after quarterback Aaron Rodgers actually choked up as he tried to say how proud he was of Nelson, there was more praise for Nelson’s effort as his teammates cleaned out their lockers on Monday, a day after the 44-21 loss.

“That’s Jordy Nelson, man; he’s a fighter,” defensive back Micah Hyde said. “Obviously, saw him all last season, not being able to play. You could see how much that hurt him, not being able to participate with his teammates, with his brothers out there. He was going to be out there regardless.”

Nelson played with a vest similar to a quarterback's flak jacket (although he declined after the game to say exactly what it was other than it was "padding") to protect his ribs, which were broken in the wild-card win over the New York Giants on Jan. 8. For most of last week, Nelson appeared to be a long shot to play after missing the divisional-round win over the Dallas Cowboys. But when Nelson did more than expected in practice last Thursday, the Packers became convinced he could play, which came as no surprise to his teammates.

Playing with broken ribs, an injury sustained just two weeks earlier, Jordy Nelson had a touchdown catch in Sunday's loss in Atlanta. Tom Pennington/Getty Images

“Everybody in this locker room knew he was going,” Hyde said. “That’s just the type of person he is, the type of player he is. He’s going to give his all for this football team. He’s definitely not the only one who would have [done] that. There’s a lot of guys in the locker room that put team first. I’m thankful that I got to play with him for the last four years.”

Nelson played 49 of the 68 offensive snaps against the Falcons. Rodgers went to Nelson on his two first dropbacks of the game, and they connected for 27 and 15 yards.

Afterward, Nelson said he “didn’t do anything special; I just went out and played football.”

When told he might be understating it, Nelson replied: “I’m not.”

Fellow receiver Davante Adams, who was limited by a painful sprained left ankle, disagreed. “He’s a tough guy and he cares a lot about this football team,” said Adams, who had three catches for 16 yards and a touchdown while playing just 27 snaps. “It takes a special person to go through what he did and come out and play and then play at a high level. My hat is off to him for that.”

Nelson was the quintessential teammate even in 2015, when he missed the entire season because of the torn ACL he suffered in the preseason. He remained in Green Bay the entire time, and in between rehab assignments he assisted the receivers in meetings and with film study.

Although it took Nelson the early part of this season to return to form, he led the Packers with 97 catches and 1,257 yards and led the NFL with 14 touchdown catches.

“It was no surprise,” Packers safety Morgan Burnett said of Nelson’s decision to play with broken ribs. “That’s what Jordy does every day. He’s going to give you all of him, no matter what, if it’s in the meeting room, weight room, the practice field. So there was no doubt in my mind. If Jordy can walk, I know he’s going to go out there and play. And that’s why I respect him a lot, just as a player and as a man.”

All the praise was little consolation to Nelson after the Packers were eliminated.

"Our goal is to get to the Super Bowl and win it," he said. "We put ourselves in the situation of being 4-6 and we had to dig our way out of it, and we did that to give us this chance. These aren’t guaranteed. We’ve been close a couple of times. We made it once. You just understand whenever it is that you lose when you’re this close, the only thing you’ve got to look forward to is the middle of April and starting all over. It’s not easy to get here, by any stretch of the imagination. If it’s getting here healthy, if it’s getting here with wins, so you’ve got to capitalize on it, and we didn’t do it."