Starks emerges to help carry Packers' hopes

LOS COLINAS, Texas - The Packers knew they'd need some running back depth toward the end of the season, and like every other team in the NFL, they had a list of names to call.

Busts, flameouts, guys looking for third or fourth chances in the league. The supply of game-ready runners on the street is not very plentiful come November and December.

But what the Packers did have was James Starks, a player no one had really seen in action since the fall of 2008. Still, the team had taken a shot on him in the sixth round of the draft the previous spring. They owed it to themselves to see if that shot would pay off.

"It was my contention that our best bet was to move him to the 53 when that [PUP] time expired, and if he helped us down the stretch, that would be a plus," Packers general manager Ted Thompson said of the decision not to put Starks on injured reserve. "There was no one else, in our opinion, on the emergency board that could help us the way he could."

Starks did not disappoint. He ran for only 101 yards on 29 carries in three regular-season games, but once the playoffs began, he emerged as the team's best running back.

Starks has 263 rushing yards on 73 carries in three postseason wins in this Super Bowl run for the Packers - plus his first career touchdown in the NFC Championship Game against the Bears - and has taken some of the pressure off Aaron Rodgers and the team's pass-prominent offense.

Not bad for a kid who missed his senior season at the University of Buffalo because of a shoulder injury, then most of his first season in the NFL with hamstring issues.

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Now Starks will be playing against the Steelers for a championship. He might be the Packers' best chance of keeping the Pittsburgh defense from teeing off on Rodgers.

"They trust me," Starks said of the team. "They stuck with me through thick and thin. So I really respect the organization and I'm really blessed that they gave me this opportunity, and now I have the opportunity to play on one of the biggest stages of my life."

Starks was such an unknown when he came off PUP and made his NFL debut against the 49ers in Week 13 this season that even the Packers'coaches had no idea what they would get.

"We were kidding around before the [49ers game], at practice, 'Geez, we've never seen James Starks get tackled before,' " Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "We had never really seen this kid do anything . . . It was a little unique. Kind of a brave new world, sending him out there. But he has responded well."

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He'll have to respond to the Steelers, against whom his main responsibility might not be running the football but protecting Rodgers from blitzing linebackers and safeties. For that reason, Starks may cede some of his newfound playing time to veterans Brandon Jackson and John Kuhn.

"For us, it's all about protecting our quarterback," Packers running backs coach Edgar Bennett said. "You have to understand our scheme and what we are asking him to do. You have to understand the defense and be able to communicate with the offense . . . Protect the quarterback and protect the football. Then comes the running game and understanding his role in that."

Starks already has proven to the Packers that he's better than any of the options they once had. Now he's hoping to get the opportunity to do it again in the Super Bowl.