If you’ve been wondering where the Packers run game has gone, keep reading , because this could be a really fun game. The Chargers come into the game against the Packers has the #29 run defense in the league. And, there’s a really good reason for that.
The Chargers started out the 2015 campaign struggling right off the bat with the Lions running back Ameer Abdullah. Abdullah was all over the place and the Chargers found it impossible to stop him. On that day Abdullah averaged 7.1 yards per carry. While he amassed only 50 yards, it was only because he only carry the ball 7 times.
In the Chargers second game, against the Bengals, Bernard put up 123 total yards on the day and averaged 6.2 yards per carry. He did this in consistent fashion carrying the ball a respectable 20 times.
In game 3 against the Vikings, the Chargers met probably their most challenging running back to date. On that day Adrian Peterson generated 126 yards and averaged 6.3 yards per carry.
During the most recent two games the Chargers have “improved.” Against the Browns Crowell only gained 63 yards on the ground but he averaged 5.3 yards per carry. On Monday night vs the Steelers, Bell also averaged 5.3 yards per carry and generated 111 yards for the night.
If you take the average of the average yards per carry in those first five games, the Chargers are allowing 6.04 yards per carry . This should make things a lot of fun for both Eddie Lacy and James Starks.
Starks has had his ups and downs. He really had a big game when we needed him against the Seattle Seahawks. In that game he averaged 4.8 yards per carry. In the other games he’s been right around the 3.4-3.5 yard per carry mark. His contribute is enough to add to the offense, and has currently ranked #37 among ball carriers.
Lacy’s been his usual outstanding self. He ranks #21 it in running backs for overall yardage despite sharing the load considerably with James Starks. He had difficulty against the Rams, but still overall his average is 4.1 yards per carry.
It’s really exciting for Packer fans. When we meet the Chargers on Sunday, we really should run the ball quite effectively. For those of us who love to watch Eddie Lacy and James Starks break out for big runs, we should see plenty of that. Of course the Chargers know that that’s their weakness , and they will probably scheme to compensate for that. Also, San Diego it’s certainly not satisfied with that production in the run defense, and will do everything they can to improve in that category, starting with Sunday’s game.
However, I don’t think they’ll be able to stop Lacy and Starks. Look for both running backs to do a lot of damage out of the backfield and in short passing . And look for the Packers to walk away with their 6th to win of the season.
I still say that the Packers problems in the run game start with the O-line. They’re good at pass protection, look better than they actually are because of Rodgers’ mobility and timing for leaving the pocket, and terrible at run blocking. Lacy and Starks are often hit in the backfield, and rarely make it past the line of scrimmage without running into a wall.
Also not a fan of handing off from shotgun, which has the RB’s first step being east/west instead of north/south, making it difficult to read the blocks in front of them quickly and hit the line with momentum. Would rather see Lacy and Starks hit the line with a head of steam, from offset i, straight i, or single back sets.
So I’ll be surprised if our run game improves dramatically this week. We’re a pass first offense and highly efficient when we use the run game sparingly to keep Ds honest. But when we try to run too much, we put ourselves in tough spots and allow opponents to stay in the game.