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Packers looking for spark from Grant down stretch

Nov 18, 2008 - 10:32 PM GREEN BAY (5-5) AT NEW ORLEANS (5-5), 8:30 pm EST

NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- The Green Bay Packers finally saw a glimpse of the Ryan Grant who helped key their run to the NFC championship game last season.

Grant rushed for a season-high 145 yards in last week's 37-3 rout of the Chicago, and the Packers will look for more of the same Monday night when they visit the New Orleans Saints in a battle of 5-5 teams.

"Ryan Grant is like any other feature back," Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said. "He needs his touches. We were able to get him 25 carries and that's what we got in return, good production. That's the way we like to play every week."

Grant was a revelation for the Packers last season, rushing for more than 900 yards in just 10 games before running for a Green Bay playoff-record 201 yards in a 42-20 wild card victory over Seattle.

Prior to last week, however, Grant surpassed 100 yards in only one of his first nine starts this season. Even after running for 200 yards against the Bears, Green Bay still ranks only 19th in rushing.

"I think Ryan is seeing it cleaner, he's picking his knees up better," McCarthy added. "I think it's really the whole group. We were not crisp at the beginning of the year."

Despite their problems running the ball, the Packers enter the final six weeks of the season tied with Chicago and Minnesota atop the NFC North.

With quarterback Aaron Rodgers enduring an up-and-down season as Brett Favre's heir apparent, the Packers are still searching for consistency.

Green Bay has been unable to win more than two in a row all year, but neither have the Bears and Vikings. A 4-2 record down the stretch might be enough for any of the three teams to win either a very competitive - or mediocre - division.

"We like our chances, we like our football team," McCarthy said. "I'm not making excuses for the games we did not win, but I think our football team has played well."

Sunday's game is a homecoming for McCarthy, who spent five seasons as the Saints' offense coordinator from 2000-2004.

While the Packers conceivably could win their division at 9-7, the Saints are not as fortunate in the rugged NFC South, where a .500 record has them in last place.

New Orleans boasts the NFL's top offense as Drew Brees has passed for 3,251 yards - an NFL record through the first 10 games of a season.

However, the Saints have been even more inconsistent than the Packers, alternating wins and losses in their last eight games.

New Orleans' offense has been woefully one-dimensional as the Saints are just 28th in rushing, averaging only 91.8 yards per game.