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Packers RB
Ahman Green
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GREEN BAY, Wis. — Ahman Green doesn’t profess to be a superhero. He’ll
leave that to the professionals — Superman, Spiderman, etc. But Green does see a
little Batman in himself — and on himself.
As a youth, Green had his barber shave the Batman symbol into the back of his head. Now
Green dons a tattoo of the logo. What’s his fascination with the Caped Crusader?
"When you really break him down, he’s not a superhero in the instance of
having superhuman strength," said Green, the starting tailback for the Packers.
"He’s a guy that’s going off pure, you know, revenge. He works hard at
karate, judo, jujitsu, all kinds of things that increase strength to help him defend the
City of Gotham.
"He gets beat up every now and then, but you always see him pop back up and ready
to go for the next villain."
In Green’s world, the Joker, Penguin and the Riddler aren’t the villains.
Tacklers are. And at his current pace, Green will dispense of them all.
In his fourth NFL season, second with the Packers, Green is nearing his peak. After
gaining 1,063 total yards in the final eight games of the 2000 season, Green earned
himself the starting RB job, not to mention a five-year contract.
He picked up where he left off to start this season, rushing for more than 100 yards in
each of the Packers’ first two games. Three games into the season, Green is averaging
108.7 rushing yards per game and a whopping 5.3 yards per carry.
"He’s a quality back who makes something when nothing’s there and a lot
when something is there," said Panthers pro scout Ted Plumb, who witnessed first-hand
Green’s 116-yard performance against the Redskins in Week Two. "He’s scary.
He’s like dynamite because he’ll explode at any time."
Apparently, that time is now.
A first-round pick for Brett Favre it is not. But Fred Vinson for Ahman Green just
might go down as one of the most lopsided trades in Packers history.
In April of 2000, the Packers sent CB Fred Vinson, the team’s second-round pick in
the previous year’s draft, to the Seahawks for Green. The teams also swapped
late-round draft picks.
Vinson was no creampuff of a corner. Entering the 1999 draft, he ranked fourth at his
position, held back only by a foot injury. But the injury continued to bother him in the
pros, and after one season, the Packers thought it best to move Vinson and receive
something in return.
Meanwhile, Green was struggling in Seattle. He was having a hard time learning Mike
Holmgren’s West Coast offense, and his fumbling problem was one Holmgren would not
tolerate. In two seasons with the Seahawks, Green, the team’s third-round pick in
’98, touched the ball only 64 times, including a mere three receptions.
So the Packers and Seahawks decided to swap problems. As it turned out, the Packers
were the ones to solve theirs.
Vinson was on injured-reserve all of last season and is no longer with the Seahawks.
Green has become the Packers’ savior at running back and is teaming with Favre to
form one of the deadliest 1-2 punches in the league.
"It was a blessing in disguise," Green said of the trade. "The guys
believed in me, coaches and players, to come in and get this team back to where it used to
be. It’s been a work in progress, and hard work in the offseason is paying off in the
regular season."
Green’s rapid ascent to NFL stardom has been stunning. After all, the offense
he’s playing in now is similar to the one run by Seahawks. So what gives?
"I think he’s a young runner coming into his own," Packers head coach
Mike Sherman said. "He still has a ways to go, but he’ll continue to get better
as a player. I felt he was a good player when we got him. He just needed to have the
repetition and the opportunity, and he got both. He actually got the opportunity first,
and then he got the repetitions, and he just kept getting better and better."
That opportunity came last season, when then-starting RB Dorsey Levens was in and out
of the lineup with knee injuries. Then in Week Nine, Levens went down for good, and Green
finished the game as the Packers’ featured back, gaining 94 yards on 15 carries.
But Green didn’t break new ground until three weeks later, when he recorded the
first 100-yard game of his career, a 153-yard effort in an upset of the Colts. Later,
Green broke the century mark in consecutive games with 118- and 161-yard performances.
His comfort level with the blocking schemes grew, and he developed a knack for cutting
back on runs and gaining big yardage. Green finished the season as the Packers’
leading rusher (1,175 yards) and pass catcher (73 receptions, which he turned into 559
yards), becoming the first Packer to do so since Barty Smith in ’77.
"Just in the time that I’ve been here observing the kid, he has a rare
combination of excellent physical skills and intelligence," said Packers RB coach
Sylvester Croom, in his first season with Green. "There’s nothing he can’t
do physically, and he’s a very smart football player."
Green is most known for his speed, which won him Nebraska prep titles in the 100- and
200-meter dashes. At the Indianapolis Scouting Combine, Green ran the 40-yard dash in 4.44
seconds, one of the top times of his RB class. He’s also very athletic, having
vertical-jumped almost 40 inches and broad-jumped more than 10 feet.
But what Green has taken to another level is his power running. At 220 pounds, Green is
very strong. He’s powerful in his shoulders, hips and legs, so he’s able to
break tackles and gain yards after contact.
"Seems like the more Green carries the ball, the better he gets," Plumb said
after the Redskins game. "He got hit a couple times at the line of scrimmage and
gained three or four yards anyway. One time he gained six yards after the hit."
At the same time, his agility, balance and quickness allow him to elude tackles in the
open field. Throw in a pair of improved hands, and you have the ideal running back for the
Packers’ West Coast offense.
"He’s a guy that does not have to come off the field in any situation,"
Croom said. "He can excel in every situation: first down, short yardage and goal
line, be able to come out of the backfield on third down and win one-on-one situations and
also be able to break backfield sets and put him out in space and still (have) him be able
to effectively run routes. That’s the ideal guy because you’re not limited to
the things you can do."
But as much as the Packers praise Green’s ability, they’re quick to point out
where he can improve. Green has long been criticized for his hands, both as a ballcarrier
and a receiver. One would think that catching a team-high 73 passes last season would
silence those critics. But it hasn’t.
According to Croom, Green struggles at times looking the ball into his hands.
Occasionally, Green will try to make the play too quickly and turn upfield before he has
the ball. As a runner, Green has been criticized for exposing too much of his body,
leaving him susceptible to hits that can jar the ball loose. But Croom does not worry.
"I have no problems with his ability to catch the football," Croom said.
"As long as he’s focused and looking it in, he’s fine."
Green also is still learning the intricacies of the West Coast offense, not to mention
the intricacies of football. Croom points, in particular, to knowing a play’s steps,
or the steps a running back takes from the time the ball is snapped to the time he takes
the handoff.
"Those first couple of steps are critical for a running back," said Croom,
who spent two years as former Lions RB Barry Sanders’ offensive coordinator.
"They have to be precise because they’re designed to help set blocks up and to
get him into the hole at the time the block is made, because the offensive linemen
can’t hold those blocks very long."
To Green’s credit, he’s fully aware his game is still a work in progress.
When asked what he believes he needs to improve, Green responded succinctly and honestly.
"What I gotta get better at is as a receiver out of the backfield and continue to
look the ball in," Green said. "My blitz reads, I’m getting better at
that."
In a little over a year, Ahman Green has gone from an afterthought in Seattle to a
foremost thought in Green Bay. Along the way, he’s turned into a complete running
back, or at least an awfully close one. But for all the improvements he’s made, Green
is quick to deflect credit to others while maintaining a humble attitude.
He points to his offense line, which has played a key role in his effectiveness. He
points to Favre, who has helped him learn the Packers’ system. He points to Sherman
and other veteran leaders who keep the team focused.
"Guys with outstanding ability sometimes are difficult to coach," Croom said.
"But this guy is very coachable. Sometimes it’s hard to describe because …
he’s just a good person, a real down-to-earth person, and the success he’s
started to have has in no way changed his work ethic. That’s the good part of
it."
The better part of it is, there’s more to come.
"He’s just a young player," Sherman said. "I think he’ll be
the first one to say that he just wants to keep getting better and better, and he will
because he’s willing and he wants to be the best."
Editor's note: To read more about the Packers, see the current print edition of Pro
Football Weekly, dated Oct. 8, 2001. You'll find Bob McGinn's profile of QB Brett Favre,
who is out to prove he can lead the Packers back to the promised land. You can buy this
issue at a local newsstand or bookstore near you, or you can subscribe and receive future
issues in your mailbox. Call 1-800-FOOTBALL (1-800-366-8225) to subscribe, or subscribe
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