Grant, Starks Will Split Carries

Starks won't start, but will get his carries.

Even though it looks like [intlink id=”64″ type=”category”]Ryan Grant[/intlink] will be the Green Bay Packers starting running back, [intlink id=”1038″ type=”category”]James Starks[/intlink] will reportedly receive an equal number of carries.

“They’re both going to take pretty much all situations in the game,” running backs coach Jerry Fontenot said. “Evenly dispersed? I can’t guarantee it. But I’m certainly going try to get each one of those guys an equal amount of opportunities to carry the football, to hold onto the football and to control the clock for us.”

There was some question how much the Packers would use Starks after he received just four carries during the preseason. The Packers also looked at the second-year player as a third-down back.

Although he didn’t get much action in the preseason games, Starks looked like the better back during training camp.

Even though the stated goal is to give both backs an opportunity, the Packers left the door open to going with the hot hand.

“There’s a place and time for riding the hot hand if that develops,” offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. “If they have a hard time tackling one guy, we may stick with one and not worry about it.”

It will be interesting to see how things work out. In a pass-heavy offense like the Packers have, neither back is likely to get more than 20 carries a game.

That may hurt Grant more than Starks, considering he usually does his best work late in games after the defense is worn down.