

In Lacy's defense, the Packers have gone up against some stingy defenses since he scored his only touchdown of the year and accumulated 99 yards from scrimmage in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt there for now, but it's a factor to consider if he continues to struggle and lose ground to Starks. In the same breath above, McCarthy denied that being an issue, and there's no actual evidence that the already hefty Lacy gained weight in the offseason or came into 2015 out of shape. There have also been questions regarding Lacy's conditioning. In other words, we may be witnessing a bit of a Wally Pipp. We went with James first just because he's been playing extremely well, and Eddie has been a little banged up." "It's really no different than the way we operate. "We're a one-two punch team," McCarthy said of the duo after Starks seized the primary role Sunday by rushing for 91 yards in the first quarter, per Michael Cohen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The major difference this year might be that the Packers are really feeling the 29-year-old Starks, who had 24 touches and 106 yards from scrimmage in relief of Lacy in Week 2, carried the ball 17 times the next week against Kansas City and was too hot to leave on the bench Sunday against San Diego. Even if you remove Week 2 from the equation, he's averaging just 35.4 offensive snaps per game, which is well below his averages of 49.3 from 2014 (when he was limited early by a concussion) and 48.4 from 2013 (when he was hampered by another concussion as well as a balky ankle). Still, being banged up is part of the job, and that hasn't stopped Lacy in the past.

He did miss the vast majority of Green Bay's Week 2 victory over the Seattle Seahawks due to an ankle injury and had only 10 carries on 31 snaps the next week against the Kansas City Chiefs, so it's fair to wonder if-despite his absence from the injury report -Lacy is far from 100 percent. He wasn't listed on the Week 6 injury report, which is bizarre because Packers head coach Mike McCarthy noted on Monday that Lacy is "beat up." What's going on with a guy whom many selected early in the first round of fantasy drafts but is now on pace to rush for fewer than 700 yards? Some possibilities.
