What did Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy have to say about starting James Starks at running back over Eddie Lacy?
Essentially, that Starks earned the opportunity.
“It’s really always been the mindset, this isn’t really something new. It’s kind the way the numbers worked out. There’s stretches last year we did this too. We didn’t talk about it. Frankly, with James being out there on the first series was a product of the way he’s playing. I thought he played extremely well in San Francisco and he’s done some big things,” McCarthy said.
It wasn’t just Starks being the first guy on the field. He touched the ball 11 times to Lacy’s six.
That’s not much of a workload for either guy, but Lacy was an afterthought in the game plan.
There has been speculation that he’s out of shape. McCarthy said no.
“I mean Eddie, Eddie is pretty much like our whole football team. He’s beat up, this week will help him. I don’t see conditioning as an issue. I think you have to look at this no differently really than how we play on offense. James Starks is an outstanding running back, so we want to be a one-two punch. At this point, I’m not really interested in running one of my running backs 20-25 times in a game, I don’t think that’s the best thing for us. Right now, it’s not the best thing for them. The running back position is an extremely punishing position that can take a lot of hits. I think you have be conscientious of that, and Eddie has a bruising running style. You look at the numbers early last year. I forget who had him in fantasy football was beside himself every week because he wasn’t getting enough carries, but it worked out at the end of the year pretty good. Yeah, I’m not concerned there. Just really I like the one-two punch, and frankly if one of them gets hot in a game, then hey he may carry it 20 times. that’s how we talk as a staff.”
I think what’s important to note here is that Lacy has never started the season fast. He’s also never been asked to carry the load early.
Lacy had only one 90-plus-yard game in the first half last season. He didn’t carry more than 20 times in a contest until the 11th game.
And if you recall, Lacy was a boss down the stretch.
A big reason for that is because he didn’t get a lot of mileage in the first half. The plan appears to be exactly the same this year.