Greene light to rev up his workload

Shonn Greene isn't posting those crazy numbers that were projected by the fantasy football experts.

The 5-10, 226-pound second-year running back was supposed to pick up where he left off at the end of the Jets' stretch run during his rookie season, using his combination of speed and power that led the franchise to tab him as Thomas Jones' successor and serve as a formidable duo with future Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson.

However, Greene has run for 345 yards and a single touchdown and has only topped the 100-yard rushing plateau once in the first seven games of the season. That breakout sophomore year just isn't happening.

"It's hard to [do] when you don't have the opportunities," Greene said. "But like I've said, my main thing is just to try to help the team out as best as I can and take advantage of the opportunities I get when I get them."

And from this vantage point, therein lies one of the things that's plaguing the Jets' 15th-ranked offense, which posted that goose egg on Sunday and is averaging a modest 337.9 yards per game - a number that is even more disturbing when you see there are three quarterbacks averaging at least 312 yards all by their lonesome.

A suggestion: Start chiseling away by handing the ball off more to Greene.

We're aware the Jets feature the league's third-ranked rushing attack, gobbling up 153 yards per game. Tomlinson has definitely experienced a rebirth, ripping off five yards per carry. He's 13th in the NFL in rushing with 544 yards and has five touchdowns.

But the Jets' rushing game just hasn't been as dominant as it should. Other than pulverizing the hapless Bills in Week 4, they haven't had that battering- ram, in-your-face game where they've just kept handing the ball off and mashing the other team unmercifully.

Curiously, Greene isn't getting the ball much. He's averaging only 11 carries per game, four fewer than Tomlinson. Without a doubt, Tomlinson is the better of the two in the receiving department because Greene has inconsistent hands. He also lost a fumble in the season opener, which led to him being glued to the bench in that game.

Still, he's yet to be utilized as the featured back, failing to carry the ball more than Tomlinson in any of the seven games even though he's started twice. He's had single-digit carries in three contests, including last Sunday when he carried the ball six times for 22 yards.

In order to get this offense on track, the Jets have to get back to some ground and poundage. Even with their host of weapons, that's their staple.

"I believe so, too," Greene said. "I think that's our identity, but sometimes I guess we take a little bit of a different path and you've just got to deal with it sometimes."

Could it be because offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has so many different options?

"That definitely could be the case," Braylon Edwards said. "Maybe he's sitting back trying to make sure the ball's being distributed equally - make sure Dustin [Keller] has three, make sure Jerricho [Cotchery], myself, Brad Smith has his Wildcat packages. And maybe that's the case. If so, that's a tough job on the coordinator."

So then why not hammer away a little more, specifically with Greene? If the Jets can get their running game humming, Greene knows how much easier it would be for Mark Sanchez to get the ball to his perimeter playmakers.

"It'll open it up a lot because I think teams know what type of running team we are just from last year and they are loading the box," Greene said. "If we get the running game going and get those safeties coming down in the box loading, and we start hitting them off with the passes, it's light's out.

"I mean, this offense is going to be unstoppable."