The Packers spent nearly half the season and went through audition after audition with four guys. Better late than never, though, they found a way to keep Brett Favre's right arm from becoming unhinged.
Ryan Grant just might go down in team annals as the savior in an unbelievable season that could have an improbable ending.
"Ryan's making all the right decisions and reads," center Scott Wells said.
As the NFC North champion Packers (11-2) go to St. Louis this weekend, Grant has transformed in less than two months from low man on the halfback pecking order to most prolific back in the league. His 717 rushing yards since Week 8 are 49 more than that accrued in the same span by second-place LaDainian Tomlinson of San Diego.
Grant is coming off yet another personal-best performance. He rushed 29 times for 156 yards in the 38-7 destruction of Oakland on Sunday.
The 29 carries are three fewer than rookie Brandon Jackson had combined in the first two games of the season as the featured runner. Back then and up until Grant was summoned to carry the load Oct. 29 at Denver after a string of injuries to the other backs, the Packers had little faith in their running game.
As proof, head coach/play-caller Mike McCarthy went all in with Favre, having his 38-year-old quarterback throw the football an average of 41-plus times in the first six games.
Favre's career- and league-high 613 pass attempts last season aren't being threatened anymore. His per-game average has dipped appreciably to less than 31 in the last seven contests.
Such is the impact Grant has made. The nearly 21 carries he's been getting on average in this torrid stretch have been no less essential than his four 100-yard games have been a godsend for what was the league's worst rushing attack five weeks ago. The Packers have ascended to 23rd in the 32-team circuit.
"I think the attempts is probably the most important statistic outside of the actual production in the run game because when you're able to run the ball that many times, you're accumulating first downs," McCarthy said. "So, just to have the opportunity says a lot."
Grant's self-deprecating nature won't allow him to take the credit for pulling the run game out of a long hibernation. He doesn't consider the ample opportunities he's had to carry the football as evidence that McCarthy has more trust in him than the other backs.
"I just think good things are happening. From an offensive standpoint, we have to stick with it," Grant said. "We are starting to execute and starting to get on the same page across the board from an offensive standpoint. We feel when we do that, we are in a good position and it's hard to stop us."
SERIES HISTORY
90th meeting. Rams lead series, 46-41-2. St. Louis has won three of the past four meetings, including a 45-17 rout of the Packers in an NFC divisional playoff game in the 2001 season, when Brett Favre threw a career-high six interceptions. The Rams escaped Green Bay last season with a 23-20 win, thanks to Leonard Little causing a fumble by Favre in the final minute with the Packers down to St. Louis' 11-yard line. Green Bay hasn't won at St. Louis since posting a 24-9 decision in the Packers' Super Bowl XXXI-winning season of 1996.
