A Little Paranoid

It hasn't even been 1 full game since Green Bay's trusty tail back, Ryan Grant, suffered a vicious, season-ending ligament tear in his ankle, and all the fair-weather fans are jumping right off the Super Bowl bandwagon. Articles like this one, by Tom Oates, only serve to fan the flames of paranoia. Listen up when I say this: The Packers will be FINE.

If you care to take a moment to read that article I've linked to, I'll wait for you so I can offer a rebuttal.

...All set? Ok.

Firstly, likening beloved RB Dorsey Levens to current back Ryan Grant is a little off-base. Let's compare their numbers from the season before each player went down. Last season, Ryan Grant posted 1,253 rushing yards and 11 rushing TD's. In 1997, the year before he went down in the 2nd game of the season, Dorsey Levens ran for 1,435 yards and 7 rushing TD's. However, Levens also chalked up 53 catches for 370 yards and 5 scores through the air. Conversely, Ryan Grant had 25 receptions for 197 yards and did not score a touchdown on a passing play all season. As you can see, Levens proves to be the more versatile, and thus much more valuable player, especially when considering the screen-happy play-book that then QB Brett Favre had at his disposal. Speaking of Favre, the article also goes on to point out that ol' #4, after averaging 14 INT's with a healthy backfield the previous 4 seasons, went on to toss 23 picks that season. Ok, listen. I, like all Packer fans in that era, spent a lot of time making excuses for Brett Favre and his many interceptions. The fact is, he throws a lot of them, and with his favorite screen target in Levens out for the season, he was forced to go downfield to a depleted WR corp led by a banged-up Antonio Freeman, Don Beebe, and who else? Oh yeah, Terry Mickens and Qadry Ismail. Awesome. My point is that Ryan Grant going down does not dampen QB Aaron Rodgers nearly as much as the Levens injury did Favre. Look for Rodgers to throw his typical low INT percentage simply because he's more careful then Favre ever wanted to be. Look for the Packers to bounce back. Look for second string tail back, Brandon Jackson, to do a fine job filling in for his fallen teammate. Lastly, look for a tall bottle of Miller CHILL the next time you find yourself hyperventilating because the Packers have lost their very reliable, yet very vanilla one-cut downhill runner. Grant is a good player, but so is Brandon Jackson.

Enjoy the game tomorrow.