Eddy Lacy started the NFL season slowly but now he could be back
The Green Bay Packers have blown out back-to-back opponents, and finally received a big game from running back Eddie Lacy against the Minnesota Vikings last Thursday night. Lacy has had a very rough second season after blowing away expectations in his rookie season. Green Bay hadn’t had a consistent ground game since Ahman Green left town, but fully expected Lacy to come through with an even better sophomore NFL season.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case until he finally showed the type of play that the Packers were expecting against the Vikings. He carried the football 13 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns, and did that while also rotating each series with backup running back James Starks. Green Bay’s offense finally looked complete with Lacy pounding away on the ground, and it opened up the passing game in a big way for Aaron Rodgers.
That performance against the Vikings brings the question, of whether or not Lacy is back and will continue putting up big numbers throughout the course of the rest of the season.
Lacy has the talent to do whatever he wants to do, and he finally looked determined to make something happen against Minnesota. Head coach Mike McCarthy will never abandon the rushing attack, and that means that Lacy will continue getting plenty of carries each and every game. Switching out Lacy and Starks every other drive seemed to be a bit too much, but they were doing everything they could to get some kind of rushing game going.
Green Bay desperately needs Lacy to come through for the remainder of the season, or else the offense will go back to be extremely inconsistent. Lacy has always been able to figure things out in the past when going through rough circumstances, and this situation won’t be anything different than what he has seen in the past. Assuming he keeps his head down and his motivation up, the Packers should see a very productive Lacy for the remainder of the season.
It’s going to be very intriguing to see whether or not the Packers keep rotating Lacy and Starks, or whether Lacy receives extra carries after his breakout performance. The Packers are heading into a game on Sunday against a decent Miami Dolphins’ rushing defense. Lacy is looking to prove that his big performance against the Vikings wasn’t a fluke, and you can expect to see a very energized version of Lacy out on the field.
Perhaps the main reason for Lacy’s lack of production early on in the season was him folding under the high expectations. Maybe it was that he wasn’t locked in and focused. Another possibility is that he played against run defenses like the Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions, and New York Jets who have some of the best front lines of any defense in the league.
Rodgers made it very clear that Packers’ fans needed to calm down after the slow start, and that is a good way to look at the Lacy situation as well. He got off to a slow start, but there are a lot of players that get off to slow starts around the NFL. Expect to see Lacy continue putting up big numbers for the majority of the rest of the season.
To answer the question very quickly, yes, Lacy is back and will be a major factor for the Packers from this point on.