The Green Bay Packers will succeed or fail on the right arm of Aaron Rodgers this season. Running back Ryan Grant certainly would have helped, though.
The Packers will be looking to maintain some offensive balance without Grant when they host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
A trendy pick to reach the Super Bowl out of the NFC this season, Green Bay endured a big loss on offense in Week 1 when starting running back Grant suffered a season-ending ankle injury. The 27-year-old Notre Dame product had gone over 1,200 yards in each of the last two seasons and was expected to carry a heavy load again in 2010.
Brandon Jackson took over after Grant left against the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday, finishing with 63 Yards on 18 carries. Jackson, who has never gone over 267 yards in three previous seasons, will get the bulk of the carries in the near future. Fullback John Kuhn, who rushed for a 3-yard touchdown on Sunday, will help as well.
While the Packers did manage to beat the Eagles 27-20, it was not an impressive performance by Rodgers, who completed 19 of 31 passes for 188 yards, two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions.
The third-year starter, who passed for 4,434 yards with 30 touchdowns and just seven interceptions last season, took the blame for his poor performance after the game but did not get much help from his offensive line.
After being sacked a league-high 50 times in 2009, Rodgers was taken down three times by Philadelphia.
One offensive performer who appeared to already be in midseason form last week was kicker Mason Crosby, who nailed field goals from 49 and 56 yards in the opener.
The Bills were picked by most to again finish at the bottom of the pile in the AFC East and did nothing to disprove that opinion in Week 1, managing an NFL-low 166 yards on offense in a 15-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Just 38 of those yards came on the ground from the combination of Fred Jackson, Marshawn Lynch and rookie C.J. Spiller.
Lynch, who played college ball with Rodgers at California, has been a rumored target of the Packers in a possible trade to replace Grant.
Trent Edwards, back at starting quarterback under new head coach Chan Gailey, passed for 139 yards and a touchdown.
Buffalo will be without starting middle linebacker Paul Posluszny for the next three weeks after he suffered a knee injury against the Dolphins.
The Bills and Packers have met only 10 times previously, with the last matchup coming in 2006.