When Green broke free, the celebration on the Green Bay sideline was something to behold. Offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski, who brought the zone run game to town in January, and assistant offensive line coach James Campen exchanged hugs and high fives. They weren't showing anybody up; it was just a show of spontaneous, unadulterated joy for an offensive staff that at times seemed to be barking up the wrong tree with its Alex Gibbs-inspired running game parked in 27th place among 32 National Football League teams.When the offensive line, with three rookie starters, got to the sideline, the group and the coaches saw the still photographs that revealed the magnificence of the play."The pictures showed everyone did a great job," guard Tony Moll said. "It was, like, 'Finally. The monkey's off the back now. We finally did it.' "The same probably could be said for Green, who finished with 118 yards in 18 carries. The last time that he had a carry for more than 35 yards was Week 7 in 2004, or 18 games ago. His last 100-yard performance was Week 9 of '04."No, I never doubted it," Green replied when asked if he wondered if there was still a breakaway jaunt in his 29-year-old, injury-battered body. "I didn't care how many times guys missed blocks or coaches went off on guys. With this offense, you've just got to be patient."Jagodzinski has been preaching precisely that in hundreds of interviews during the last nine months. You'll know the zone scheme is working, Jagodzinski has always said, when a string of short gains in the first three quarters become a gargantuan gain in the fourth."Eventually it will come out the back door," McCarthy said. "That's a great illustration of it. It's nice to see key components of successful football coming to life. This is a tremendous team win."Having trailed until Woodson's touchdown return early in the third quarter, the Packers were nursing a 20-16 cushion early in the fourth when they began a series at their 30. Two previous possessions had resulted in six plays, 11 yards and two punts. Battling cramps and tight hamstrings, Green's first 14 carries had resulted in merely 39 yards.McCarthy called his number one more time. The Dolphins were in their 3-4 defense, with a safety up in the box looking for just such a run.On the play side, left tackle Daryn Colledge and left guard Jason Spitz shoved the defensive end to the outside. Then Spitz came off to block middle linebacker Zach Thomas, who was trying to fill the hole hard in his hell-bent-for-leather style. Jason Taylor, standing up on the right side, was occupied by the tight end. On the back side, center Scott Wells and Moll double-teamed nose tackle Keith Traylor. When Wells broke off to cut off weak-side linebacker Channing Crowder, Moll went low and knocked Traylor down with a cut block.That left the strong-side linebacker for lead blocker Brandon Miree. When the free-agent fullback eliminated his target, Green dug deep for his famed finishing kick and easily out-sprinted free safety Renaldo Hill to the pylon."I've been just waiting for it to come," said Green, obviously a very happy man in what for him has been a very tough couple of years. "My line got me there. It was perfect. It was awesome."
The run counts obviously, but it's not a good indication of the success that Green was having running the ball overall. It's a good sign of Green being healthy, but it doesn't seem to tell the whole story.
