Carolina Sees Green in Loss

Ahman Green, the Green Bay running back who long has stood in the shadow of his more famous quarterback, made a compelling case before a crowd of 72,000 and a national television audience.

Maybe he, even more than Brett Favre, is the Packers’ indispensable man.

Then again, the Carolina Panthers could sure do without him. Green scored three touchdowns Monday and rushed for 119 yards in a career-high 33 carries, lifting the Packers to a 24-14 victory over the defending NFC champions at Bank of America Stadium.

Green scored on runs of six and three yards, and on a three-yard reception. It was the second three-touchdown game of his career, and it tied the second-most carries in Packer history. No running back in the NFL has gained more than his total of 5,804 yards rushing in the last five seasons. The only guy within 500 yards is Ricky Williams, and he’s out of the league.

Green, who goes by the nickname Batman, hit the Panthers like a Louisville Slugger to the midsection. He helped the Packers control the clock and kept on their heels Carolina’s defensive linemen, considered by many the best front four in the business. He had no spectacular long runs, instead grinding down last season’s eighth-ranked defense with pinballing gains up the middle.

Favre, who turns 35 next month, has three most-valuable-player trophies and a Super Bowl ring. He has graciously stood by as the Packers have gone through an inevitable transformation from a passing to a running team.

Green seemingly has flown under the radar in recent years, getting less attention than such backs as Jamal Lewis, Priest Holmes and Marshall Faulk.

“Let him keep flying under the radar,” Favre said. “I don’t know if teams are overlooking him. I can’t see that happening. But he’s as fine a football player as there is.”

The Panther players said they knew what to expect; a glance at Green Bay’s video told them all they needed to know.

“We knew we were going to get a heavy dose of him,” said safety Mike Minter, who called Green the best back in the game. “We were trying to get him out of the game plan; stop him first and then let Brett Favre do his thing.”

That the Packers have kept their offensive line intact is a huge factor in Green’s success. They join Seattle and Jacksonville as the only teams with all five offensive-line starters back and playing the same positions that they did last season.

“Especially in this day and age of free agency, to keep all five of us together for as many years as we have is an anomaly,” center Mike Flanagan said. “We’ve taken advantage of every little bit that we can, and we keep getting better and better.”

Carolina center Jeff Mitchell is the only player on the Panther line who has returned to the starting lineup in the same position he played last season. And Monday it showed. Carolina rushed for 38 yards in 13 carries, and quarterback Jake Delhomme was hassled and hurried all night. He was sacked twice, and often found himself running from a flood of blitzers. Put simply by Coach John Fox: “We were outplayed, out-coached and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

They will be doing that without the services of Delhomme’s favorite target, receiver Steve Smith, who suffered a broken lower left leg in the second half.

The Panthers got the crowd into the game by mounting the first touchdown drive of the game, a 60-yard march aided by two 15-yard facemask penalties on the Packers. But Green Bay responded by controlling the clock with the running game and putting things out of reach with Green’s three touchdowns.

Carolina scored with less than five minutes left when Muhsin Muhammad caught a 30-yard touchdown pass. It was one of the few offensive highlights for Carolina, which had an interception and lost one of two fumbles.

“We made things hard on ourselves,” Delhomme said.

In terms of getting the attention he deserves, Green also makes it hard on himself. He stayed in the showers longer than any of the Packers after the game, and reporters eventually were told if he stayed to talk the team would miss its charter flight. Another night under the radar.

It’s getting tougher.