The Packers to the national media and the general public are a passing team with relatively no running game. This is assumed because of Grant's injury, obviously, but as all who watch the games understand is far from the truth.

Currently, the Packers are 15th in rushing, with Brandon Jackson coming in at 22nd in yards per carry at 4.3. That 4.3 mark is ahead of Frank Gore, Rashard Mendenhall, Chris Johnson, and Ray Rice. Of course, the opponents of these teams expect the run due to the ability these backs have. Regardless, the Packers can run the ball. Jackson himself is 12th amongst Packers all-time in yards per carry at 4.1 -- minimum 250 carries.

For the defense, the Packers are leading the NFL in sacks and interceptions. CM3 has been on a tear, as everyone knows, but the rest of the team has contributed as well. The Packers have 12 players with sacks this season. There are eight teams with just 12 sacks altogether, so it is obvious that this team has been able to get to the quarterbacks.

The interception total is surprising because the usual suspects, Nick Collins and Charles Woodson, are not intercepting passes as frequently as they have over the past few seasons. The picks are likely up due to the pass-rush being more potent, as many have landed in the hands of linebackers.

Just thought I would post some interesting tidbits about the Packers this season that many outsiders haven't realized. I imagine most of you have noticed these things before, but looking back on the numbers really gives a great perception of how well this team has been playing in certain aspects.

Rankings may be a tad flawed due to the Packers playing a game more than a majority of the teams, but they are still telling.

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Nice points. Crazy to see Jackson is ahead of all those guys but still at 4.3 ypc. Is that right? How is he ahead of those big namers and still so far down the list?

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A few players have less carries, such as Blount, Ivory, Jacobs, Hightower, and others. Minimum 100 carries, Jackson comes in at 11th.

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It seems like Capers is doing a good job of cutting off the hot routes for the other team.

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McCarthy has been employing a reasonable run/pass balance so far this season. We've only had 4 games where we ran less than 20 times (subtracting out AR's runs). Three of those were losses (13, 13, and 17 rushes), with the Pack rushing 18 times in the win in that group.

The Packers are 15th in total rushing yards, but 20th in yards per game, which is the one that matters. That's pretty low, though it is good to see that the yards per carry is a respectable 11th.

Some of the team defense stats are indeed very impressive. That's where our best stats are this year.

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Actually, scoring is the only one that matters. They are 4th in scoring.

Which is actually better than our points allowed. Which is 6th.

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Scoring is definitely the most important, but it's not the ONLY thing that matters. Scoring is the result of doing other things well, whether special teams, defense (pick 6s, etc), passing, controlling the ball/keeping the opposing teams offense off the field, etc. It's doing those things well that lead to one team scoring more than the other.

And if you are suspect/vulnerable in any of those categories--including lack of a credible running game--then you risk the opposing team taking advantage of your vulnerabilities.

Well, if you want to get right down to it, scoring doesn't matter either--only wins and losses. The whole point of statistics is to analyze what teams are doing well and what they are not doing so well. If that's irrelevant to you, you'll have to find another thread.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/total/sort/totalPointsPerGame 

Maybe the ranking of 4th that you found includes defense and special teams touchdowns, and/or maybe it is not points per game but total points, which inflates the Packers' number because they are one of only a handful of teams that have already played nine games.

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Packers are 9th (24.6) in points scored and 2nd (15.9) in points scored against them.

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