If he controlled the checkbook, Packers coach Mike McCarthy might have paid to keep Ahman Green. Not the ridiculous amount the Texans paid, but something more than reasonable. “He’s a guy who should have retired a Packer,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy’s new plan was to have a committee of running backs. The top three in the rotation were going to be Vernand Morency, Noah Herron and second-round pick Brandon Jackson.

Well, McCarthy’s plan took a hit the first day of camp when Morency went down with a knee injury and now Jackson has a concussion. Herron has been a steady-eddie kind of back; he’s not a big-play threat. In the first three preseason games, the Packers are averaging 95.7 yards rushing, 19th overall.

DeShawn Wynn, a seventh-round pick out of Florida, missed 18 days of camp with a right thigh muscle strain. Wynn has untapped ability, but he’s always been an injury question.

There is no doubt that McCarthy wanted to lean on Jackson and Morency this season, but already you have to wonder about their durability. And with top receiver Donald Driver nursing a foot sprain until opening Sunday, Green Bay doesn’t have many weapons for Brett Favre to choose from.

Good thing Green Bay has a defense. This could be the lowest scoring team in Packerland since Mike Holmgren’s first team scored only 276 points in 1992.

It’s Preseason, Baby

Bucs coach Jon Gruden may complain about officiating, but he understands that preseason games can be a lot like the real thing.

“A lot of people are whining about all the blitzing this preseason, I’m reading and hearing. ‘There’s too much blitzing going on in the preseason.’ It’s a blitz league. People are blitzing 25, 35 times a game nowadays and blitzing from all over the place. Double-corner blitzes, all-out blitzes, zone blitzes – all kinds of blitzes. You either deal with the pressure or you don’t, and the preseason is a good opportunity to prepare yourself for the reality of this league.”

Edwards had no choice

The plan was to push Brodie Croyle into the starting quarterback role in Kansas City, but the second-year kid played so poorly in preseason that Coach Herman Edwards had no choice but to name injured Damon Huard, 34, as the starter in Week 1. The Chiefs wanted to be able to bring Huard off the bench when Croyle struggled and now it’s happened before the team even reached the regular-season. Now after 10 seasons as a NFL backup, Huard is the starter and he sounds like he has no intentions of giving up the job.

RV Living

Being a veteran, Titans center Kevin Mawae could have slept in his own bed during training camp. Instead, he chose to park his 36-foot RV near the main entrance to the club’s facility and spend his nights there. Mawae had simple reasoning. It takes him 30 minutes to drive home, but with the RV he was asleep five minutes after parking his body in bed.

Perfect words by Vick

Most who heard Michael Vick apologize on Monday for his guilt in the federal dogfighting case were impressed by his contrition and overall tone. It was the first big step toward rehabilitating his image. It’s simply too bad he didn’t speak truthfully with his fans from the beginning and with Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The other interesting development in Atlanta is who will take the fall for Vick’s huge contract and the team being unaware of the player’s off-the-field activities? Is GM Rich McKay under pressure from owner Arthur Blank? And what happens if an arbitrator or a judge rules that Blank can only recover $3 million of the $7.5 million signing bonus that was paid Vick in 2004?