Packers Hoping For A Breakout Year From RB James Starks

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The Green Bay Packers under coach Mike McCarthy have been known as a passing team but they hope this year to have more balance according to Rob Reischel of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. That's because third-year back James Starks appears capable of a breakout season and the key with Starks, as always, will be health. Starks has the physical gifts to be the best back McCarthy has coached in Green Bay, Starks ran the 40-yard dash in 4.51 seconds coming out of Buffalo in 2010. And while Starks hasn't been timed since, he insists, "I'm much faster today. I can just tell. I can feel it." "He looks great. Looks great," McCarthy said of Starks recently. "He had a breakout playoff run (in 2010). Some guys just hit that injury phase in their careers and just have to work themselves out of it. "Starks has some of that. He's had some tough challenges just getting hurt." There was the big 2010 postseason, and Starks led the Packers with 578 rushing yards last season, but staying on the field has been a six-year struggle now. "It is what it is. It's football," Starks said of his injury issues. "It's a physical game. People get hurt all the time. If you get down, you're going to stay down. I'm going to get right back up. I'm going to pray. And I'm always going to be a driver and striver. "Last year is in the past. I don't think I had a horrible year or anything, but sometimes things don't go your way. I've bought into the system here, and things are going fine. We're winning games with how much I've been doing. You never know what's going to happen. God willing, things will go my way."

Source: The Redzone