From todays JSOnline -
Green Bay - As productive as Noah Herron was running the football Sunday against the St. Louis Rams, the Green Bay Packers figure they could have been significantly better had Ahman Green been taking those carries.
Coach Mike McCarthy and offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski both praised Herron for getting every yard he could in his 20-carry, 106-yard performance but they also wondered how many more yards Green would have gained on a day when the run blocking finally came together.
Herron navigated well through the holes the line created, but he managed only two rushes of more than 10 yards and had a long carry of 19. It was the first time this season that the zone blocking system the Packers are employing worked close to the way it is supposed to.
Missing from Herron's performance were the big gainers that break a defense's back and force it to start employing more defenders near the line of scrimmage.
"Some of those 12-yard runs could be 40-yard runs," offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski said. "He (Herron) ran really hard and got everything he could. But we left some yards out there."
It's no secret that Herron isn't the same athlete Green is, so it's not surprising the Packers feel that way. What is somewhat surprising is that they feel as if Green could make people miss the way he once did even though he really hasn't done that all season long.
The last two games, Green has sat on the sideline nursing a pulled hamstring and before that he averaged just 3.7 yards per carry. No one knows for sure if he would have made a difference in the Packers' crushing 23-20 loss to the Rams, especially given he's coming off a torn thigh tendon suffered last year and hasn't really had his speed tested in a game yet.
But it's clear the Packers want him to be the one navigating those holes that suddenly appeared Sunday.
"We have to get Ahman back on the field," Jagodzinski said. "That's going to be the key. I believe that once he gets back on the field when he's healthy, he will be fine because now these guys (the offensive linemen) are starting to see it. They're starting to get it."
The Packers went into the game ranked 26th in the National Football League in rushing. Despite their 127-yard performance, they didn't move up, which is a pretty good indication they're still not keeping pace with the rest of the league in the running game. On two series - one in the second quarter and one in the fourth - they had excellent field position but weren't able to get any points, in part because they lacked a big play.
In this system, the payoff is supposed to come every 10 carries or so when the defense gets tired of picking itself up off the ground from the cut blocks the linemen use and a lane opens up that leads straight to the secondary. Jagodzinski has remained patient waiting for backside cut blocks to occur and linemen sliding off double teams at the just the precise moment to pick off a linebacker.
"It's going to get faster and it's going to get more fundamentally sound," Jagodzinski said. "There were some nice holes that guys did a nice job up front of run-blocking yesterday.
"But that's what we do. I've (said) it's going to come along and it's starting to (but) we left some yards out on the field again, some giant holes in there, and we've got to break out to that secondary."
It just so happened the offensive line was responsible for quarterback Brett Favre fumbling as the Packers were marching in for the tying or winning score in the final minute. But before that, especially when rookie Jason Spitz was in the lineup - he did not play in the second half for medical reasons - the Packers were opening holes they hadn't before.
Not being able to take advantage of their newfound ability deepened the hurt the Packers felt and left them 1-4 going into the bye week. But McCarthy and Jagodzinski think there might have been a breakthrough in the running game and want to see if Green can make an even bigger difference.
Provided, that is, that he can get back on the field.
"He's got a lot of football left in him," McCarthy said. "I believe he's a difference-maker when he's in there. We need to be real about what's going on here. Are we talking about accountability and availability? And right now, his availability hasn't existed the last two weeks.
"So with that the other guys have had opportunities and have done well. So the combination of the three is, as we move forward, something we'll look at."
McCarthy couldn't say for sure whether Green would be available after the bye week when the Packers travel to Miami, but he'll have all of this week and part of next to heal and the assumption is he'll be ready. If he isn't on top of his game, then Herron might take some of his snaps.
"I don't think you can look past Noah's performance yesterday," McCarthy said. "My thing with Ahman is more his health because if it's going to be 20, 25 carries a game, and we have to go through this process (not having him for two weeks), then that's probably not that smart.
"So if we have to cut that (snaps) to 10 or 15, we will. But time will answer that question."
