Packers' Grant gains yards, starting nod
Reed Schreck
Brett Favre has a brand new friend, and his name is Ryan Grant.
Finally getting support from the running game, Favre's play-action became more successful Monday night in Green Bay's 19-13 overtime victory over the Denver Broncos.
Without being able to hand off 22 times to Grant, who ran hard for 104 yards (4.7 average), maybe that winning pass on the first play of overtime doesn't succeed.
Throw in Packers head coach Mike McCarthy among those just as pleased with Grant's step-up performance.
He didn't have to look at Monday's film to declare "it's safe to say he'll be our starter at Kansas City" on Sunday.
"He has the running style we're looking for," McCarthy said. "He just needed the opportunity."
Grant got that chance when starter DeShawn Wynn went down early with a shoulder injury. On Tuesday, the packers placed Wynn on injured reserve, with what McCarthy called "a significant shoulder injury."
The move ends Wynn's season.
In stepped Grant, acquired in the offseason in a trade with the New York Giants for a sixth-round pick.
All he did was set team season-highs for carries and yards and approach doubling the team's last-in-the-NFL rushing ranking of 65.7 yards a game.
That it came against the NFL's worst rushing defense — allowing 176.2 yards a game — didn't diminish any enthusiasm in the locker room afterward.
Veteran offensive tackle Mark Tauscher was as pleased as anyone because Grant's showing helped secure the team's sixth win — and it meant a change in Tauscher's postgame routine.
"It's been irritating," he said of always having to answer questions about the team's ground-game struggles. "But it's been deserved. What are you going to do but go out and do something about it? Otherwise, you're going to continue to answer questions."
Tauscher said the fact Grant did "a heck of a job" shouldn't be a surprise.
"They traded for him — there's a reason they did that," he said. "He's a talented guy."
A guy who does need an introduction.
He's 24, 6-feet-1, 224 pounds and played at Notre Dame. He spent 2005 on the Giants' practice squad and 2006 on injured reserve. He only had six carries for 27 yards and that same 4.7 average going into the Bronco breakout game.
"They made it real easy," Grant said of the offensive line. "They did a great job."
The most carries any Packer had before the Broncos game this season was 13 by Wynn. Green Bay finished with 27 carries, helping it to a slight time of possession advantage that proved beneficial the way the Broncos moved the ball at times.
The Packers never ran the ball in the first quarter, but they saw Grant total 89 yards on 18 rushes in the second quarter.
"We improved, but we still didn't finish the game like we hoped," Tauscher said. "But hey, we won the game and definitely took some strides."
Reed Schreck is the NFL writer for the Rockford Register Star. Contact him at 815-987-1381 or rschreck@rrstar.com.