Thread: Green Bay Packers' running game sluggish without Ryan Grant

But but, according to evernight , it was "no big deal" losing grant and it was a position can lose him.. hmmmm

Green Bay Packers' running game sluggish without Ryan Grant

If Sunday’s game was any indication, the thing the Green Bay Packers’ running game is going to miss most without Ryan Grant is the explosive run.

In the first game since Grant was lost for the season to an ankle injury, the Packers had only one explosive gain by a running back — a 12-yard run by backup John Kuhn in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 34-7 win over Buffalo. Even that run was flawed because Kuhn fumbled but recovered.

In two quarters before he got hurt in the season opener at Philadelphia, Grant had two explosive runs — a 13-yarder and an 18-yarder (the play on which he was injured). The Packers define an explosive run as 12 yards or more.

Grant’s replacement, Brandon Jackson, didn’t have a run longer than 6 yards.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers had the only other explosive run against the Bills, a 12-yard scramble.

In all, the Packers rushed for 91 yards on 27 attempts (a 3.4-yard average) in their first game without Grant.

“Our standards never change as far as what we’re looking for as far as explosive gains,” running backs coach Edgar Bennett said. “We certainly want more than one.”

Bennett said Jackson had at least two chances for explosive gains — one on an outside zone play and one an inside zone.

“He was looking more for the cutback instead of just putting his foot on the ground and taking what the defense gave him,” Bennett said. “He was predetermined to cut back instead of reading it the way he’s trained to read it. You look at those two runs, our blocking unit did a good job as far as putting us in a situation where we could have gotten to the second level and been extremely productive on those two runs.”

The Packers plan to continue to split carries between Jackson and Kuhn (a converted fullback) while mixing in recently acquired rookie Dimitri Nance, who carried twice for 6 yards in his debut after being signed last Tuesday off Atlanta’s practice squad.

“I think we’d all like to see someone get smoking hot back there and maybe get more (carries) than the other guy,” offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. “But I think that’s all to be determined.”

Coach Mike McCarthy called the running game “OK.” He said the front-side blocking was solid but there were missed opportunities on the back side as well as missed decisions by the running backs.
Surgery scheduled

Grant is scheduled to undergo surgery Tuesday in New York, he said during his weekly appearance on WSSP-AM radio in Milwaukee.

He said he will have two screws placed in his ankle.

“The tendon I stretched out is the one that holds your two ankle bones in place,” Grant said. “They put two screws in so that when the ligament heals, the ankle is in place.”

Grant said he sustained a fracture in his fibula but doctors told him it would heal on its own in a couple of weeks. That the surgery is in New York indicates team physician Dr. Pat McKenzie will not perform the operation. Grant said he had three doctors look at him and all three said it is a fairly routine procedure.

“You just have to stay off it for a while,” Grant said.