James Starks missed his senior year at the University of Buffalo has been a regular on injury lists since.
James Starks missed his senior year at the University of Buffalo because of injury and has been a regular on injury lists ever since.

This may sound strange, because James Starks broke the 44-game streak.

You know, that streak that was talked about nationwide because the Packers were finally able to tally a 100-yard rusher in a regular season game.

Starks has been in and out of the infirmary so much that he might need his mail forwarded. The injury problems were the reason Eddie Lacy and Johnathan Franklin were drafted in the first place.

But now that Starks is feeling the effects of the constant pounding, one has to wonder why Alex Green was not kept. He is currently the No. 2 back for the Jets.

Green showed a lot of burst before getting hurt. He’s the reason the Packers gave up a respectable third rounder for him. They liked his toughness and ability to hit the hole with buckets of energy.

The Packers rolled the dice by having just one healthy back available after Lacy and Starks went down at Cincinnati. And it’s quite clear that Franklin is scanning for the right answer on a multiple choice test when he is asked to pass block.

Starks gave his highlight of the season. Now his season will be truncated with even more injury news as he tries to salvage his playing career.

Now the Packers have added Michael Hill from the practice squad and even gave Green Bay Blizzard indoor player B.J. Hill an audition. Those two moves scream depth don’t they?

The scary thing is that the weather hasn’t even turned yet and the Packers’ running game still isn’t in synch yet.

With the Packers 1-2 and clinging to third place only because the Vikings are phenomenally terrible, Sunday’s game is of even more importance.

And the way Green Bay does that is by running the ball well. Lacy and Franklin were drafted to be the fire and ice combo that quarterback Aaron Rodgers so desperately needed.

After playing through a minefield in its first three games, the Packers can legitimately win its next four. The Packers lost both of its games by an average of five points and a strong running game will help to change that.

Starks was a huge gamble by Ted Thompson. If DuJuan Harris doesn’t get injured for the year, Starks is off the roster. Don’t get me wrong, Starks is a solid player, but there comes a time when players can no longer shake off the injury albatross.

Why else would the Packers draft two running backs fresh out of college not to just run the football, but also to catch passes and block for the best quarterback in football.

Starks was a solid running back at the University of Buffalo and I remember him knifing through defenses back then. However, with the Law of Diminishing Returns, it just doesn’t make sense to hang on to a guy that likely does not have any more lightning in his bottle.

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Cory Jennerjohn is from Wisconsin and has been in sports media for over 10 years. To contact Cory e-mail him at jeobs -at- yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter: Cory Jennerjohn

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