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“We’ve always felt like we had two good backs. And that’s what people saw on Sunday,” Bennett said, referring to how Jackson rushed for 80 yards on just 11 carries, including a 32-yard run, after Grant left the game in the second quarter. “When Brandon got his opportunities, he made the most of (them).”
Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin was a bit less guarded about his excitement over the development of Jackson, who also gained 50 yards on 10 carries during the Packers’ victory over Chicago on Nov. 16, when Grant ran for a season-high 145 yards.
Philbin hinted that with Grant’s status uncertain for Sunday’s game against Houston, Jackson could be in line for extended playing time, even if Grant is able to play with a splint on his thumb.
“You’ve got to be impressed with what he did,” Philbin said of Jackson, who has carried 44 times for 242 yards (5.5-yard average) and a touchdown on the season and also has 27 catches for 178 yards.
“As a staff, we’re real comfortable with Brandon. He’s a good football player. We haven’t sat down and detailed the reps for this week at all, but he played well. We think he’s gotten better as time has gone on. He certainly took advantage of his chances Sunday, that’s for sure.”
Juggling act
Bennett understands the delicate nature of getting two running backs involved. While many NFL teams have tandem backfields — Carolina’s DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart is a good example — it can be a challenge juggling touches and egos. Essentially, the coaches want to Jackson more opportunities without taking them away from Grant, and that’s hard to do.
Bennett was the Packers’ starting halfback in the mid-1990s before Dorsey Levens burst onto the scene during the Super Bowl XXXI-championship season of 1996 — one year after Bennett became the first Packers runner to eclipse 1,000 yards in a season since Terdell Middleton in 1978.
Levens’ emergence, coupled with the ruptured Achilles tendon Bennett suffered in a 1997 preseason game, spelled the end of Bennett’s Green Bay career. While Levens went on to a Pro Bowl season in ’97, Bennett finished his NFL career with the Chicago Bears in ’98 and ’99.
Coach Mike McCarthy felt compelled to reiterate on Monday that while the Packers “have treated Brandon pretty much like a starter here” since selecting him in the second round of the 2007 draft, and the coaches “have no problem playing with Brandon, Ryan Grant is still the starter.”
“We’ll see how Ryan progresses this week with his injury, but we have no qualms about playing with Brandon in all of the situations,” McCarthy added. “But Ryan Grant is still the starter.”
‘We’re cool’
For their parts, Grant and Jackson said all the right things about the possibility of job-sharing.
“The only thing we can do is take care of when we’re in there. When I’m in there (I have to) make sure I’m ready to go,” Grant said. “I know when Brandon gets opportunities, he’s ready to go. I think we’ve done a pretty good job with that. We’re cool and we’re open to whatever the coaches want to do. That’s why they’re the coaches.”
Philbin and Bennett praised Jackson’s blocking in the passing game, and while Jackson admitted he’d been hoping for an opportunity, he said if he continued to serve as only the third-down back, he’d accept the assignment.
“It felt good getting out there, running the ball but also getting good blocks and chips,” Jackson said. “It’s whatever the coaches choose to do. I’m just on the sideline being ready whenever my number is called.”
Asked if that’s easy to do, Jackson paused, then replied, “It’s my job. It’s what I have to do. I come in on third down and when they call my number on first or second down, then I’m glad to go in. So far, ’RG’ being the starter, he takes those downs and those reps. My job is just to be ready.”
Philbin said Jackson’s three starts at the beginning of last season (38 carries, 97 yards) were not an accurate depiction of his abilities because “the line was a little disheveled, and what Brandon had to run behind early was not real pretty,” but Bennett said the lessons Jackson learned from the experience are paying dividends now.
“I think we all always want to do more, but I’ll say this: He’s a team player,” Bennett said. “When the opportunities came to carry the football, he broke tackles, he showed burst, he showed quickness, he showed patience, he showed vision. That’s the result of his preparation — some of the things he went through his rookie year and taking that information and putting it to good use.”
