The one area the Green Bay Packers are clearly flying by the seat of their pants is at running back. With holdover Vernand Morency and rookie Brandon Jackson ready to duke it out for the starting job, the Packers’ success on offense hangs in the balance. Both have serious questions about them but in this corner it is clear it is Jackson’s job to lose. Morency couldn’t stay healthy if you threw popcorn at him. Jackson has an injury history of his own, just not yet in Green Bay.The Packers drafted Jackson in the second round of this year’s draft even though he was never a full time starter at Nebraska. He did lead the team in rushing last year and came out as a junior. Jackson may be better suited to the Packers one-cut and go scheme installed last year than Morency will ever be. You can bet he will be given every opportunity to be the starter.Other pretenders for running back are P.J. Pope and Noah Herron. Actually, Herron is a pretty good ball player and it would surprise me if he lost his third-down back job. Rookie DeShawn Wynn can pretty much book his ticket out of town after a horrible opening of training camp that followed a horrible OTA session in June. This time he couldn’t practice because of a tummy ache, then when he did practice he cramped up and had to be hauled off. What a joke this guy is. I can’t believe general manager Ted Thompson wasted a seventh-round pick on this loser. Every pre-draft sign said he was a loser and yet Thompson gobbled him up. Go figure?At fullback the Packers appear to be going with Brandon Miree giving the Packers their first all-Brandon backfield. Miree will face little competition from newcomers Korey Hall and Ryan Powdrell. Long gone is Packer legend William Henderson, who will be sorely missed in the locker-room, but not so much on the field. Henderson did his best last year but 12 years of banging heads will take it’s toll on the best of men, and Henderson was the best of men.There are those who say with this blocking scheme it doesn’t matter who runs the ball, the holes will be there. If only it was that simple. This is not the Atlanta Falcons or Denver Broncos who have running this scheme for years, plus, now days teams have more experience defending the scheme making it that much harder to implement.On paper the Packers have probably the worst stable of running backs in the NFL. Quarterback Brett Favre should be much more worried about this group than he was about the Packers not getting Randy Moss. If the Packers take a step back this year it will be because of the lack of a consistent running game, not the lack of receivers. Look for Favre, if he stays healthy, to throw over 600 times again this year. Not exactly the key to success in the National Football League.My guess is Jackson is the opening day starter but it pretty much ends up a sharing deal because neither Jackson nor Morency is capable of being “the guy”. In all reality, Herron probably should be the starter. If only he had more speed.Next up is receivers. I think the Packers have some real potential there.
by Al Davis