Green is key to the Packers' stretch drive

Sporting News, The, Dec 17, 2001 by Dan Pompei

In upper Wisconsin, not an ear is exposed. The ice scrapers are in the back seat. The snow blowers are gassed up.

And the ball is nestled between the crook of Ahman Green's arm and his lowest rib.

The performance of the Packers' running back never has been as important as it is at this moment, during a potentially frigid stretch drive. The Packers' remaining schedule includes two home games, two away games (against the Titans and Giants) and, very likely, the playoffs.

The significance of the running game typically increases as the temperature decreases. Against the Bears' third-ranked run defense at chilly Lambeau Field on Sunday, Green had 125 rushing yams on a day when Brett Favre was merely ordinary. It was Green's running that gave life to the Packers' offense, and took it from the Bears' defense in a 17-7 Green Bay victory that looms large in the playoff picture. "They were riled up the first and second quarter, running their mouths," Green says. "We keep pounding the ball, they wear out and keep quiet."

Green is a legitimate Pro Bowl running back with the third-most rushing yards in the NFL and a flashy average per carry of 4.7. "We feel Green is a tremendous downhill runner," Falcons defensive coordinator Don Blackmon says. "If he gets started, he has the ability to go the distance."

Green is not your typical Packers mudder. More Ferrari than four-wheel truck, Green is a big play waiting to happen, a low blur straight up the gut that no defender can get a hand on. He has 29 rushes of 10 yards or more, including a 12-yard touchdown that put away the Bears.

Yet according to STATS Inc., 50 percent of Green's carries this season have been for two yards or less. So what he is not is a grind-it-out, move-the-chains type of back. His average per carry is not an accurate reflection of what he can be expected to produce on any given rush.

This is not the problem for the Packers that it would be for many teams because Favre routinely bails them out of second-or third-and-long situations. Bears defensive coordinator Greg Blache jokes that he's not so sure he'd rather see the Packers in third-and-3, with a possibility of a run, than in third-and-long knowing that Favre will be dropping back and slinging it.

So because the Packers are not dependent on Green to move the chains, he is the perfect complement to Favre. Green also helps Favre see fewer blitzes because defenses fear getting one or two defenders caught in the open field with Green.

Favre, on the other hand, would be the perfect complement to just about any running back. According to coaches from other teams, defenses play less eight-in-the-box against the Packers than they do many offenses, which testifies that Favre is of greater concern than Green. The Falcons, for instance, played eight in the box about 20 percent of the game against the Packers in their Week 10 win, down 15 percent from what they usually play, according to Blackmon. Offenses that can't pass might well see eight in the box up to 75 percent of the time.

"They have too much firepower and speed and skill at receiver, and he has too strong an arm to line up and play a lot of eight in the box," Blache says. "They're too good at throwing the ball downfield."

This is a tremendous advantage for Green because the Packers' running game is sometimes eight men against seven for the first 5 yards or so. For someone such as Jerome Bettis of the Steelers, it's almost always eight against eight.

Against the Packers, many defenses have opted for a healthy dose of cover 2, with both safeties responsible for the deep halves of the field, or quarter-quarter-half, which puts two defensive backs on one side of the field and two on the other. Both defenses are deployed with the pass in mind.

The Packers don't rely on the run the way many teams do. They run the ball almost as a distraction, the way a pickpocket might spill a beverage. Understand this: 70.8 percent of the Packers' yards have come through the air. Part of the reason for this, as Favre has pointed out, is the Packers sometimes are quick to abandon the run when they aren't leading. Green has averaged 21.2 rushing attempts in the Packers' nine victories, and 14.3 attempts in their three losses.

The fourth quarter, which is usually a good back's most productive quarter, has been Green's least productive. He has 137 fourth-quarter rushing yards. Among players with more fourth-quarter rushing yards are Dominic Rhodes of the Colts, Donovan McNabb and Correll Buckhalter of the Eagles and LaMont Jordan of the Jets.

The beauty of Green is that many of his receptions (he leads the Packers with 51 catches) are really just runs with fancy handoffs. The Packers run the screen as well as any team, and they frequently use the short pass in run situations.

Only five players in the league had gained more yards after the catch than Green, and for some of those yards, he needs to thank his quarterback. Favre makes the screen passes more effective because he sucks in defenders by waiting until the last possible second to throw. That clears air space for Green's takeoffs.