GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The crowd that surrounded Eddie Lacy at his locker late Thursday night had swelled considerably when someone pointed out the scene a few paces from where the Green Bay Packers running back held court.
There sat T.J. Lang and Josh Sitton, the Packers' starting guards, alone at their lockers with nary a microphone, recorder or notebook-toting soul within talking distance after the Packers' 42-10 destruction of the Minnesota Vikings on a rainy night at Lambeau Field.
"I think that sucks," Lacy said. "I really think it sucks, man."
Like any appreciative running back would, Lacy wanted Lang, Sitton and the rest of the blocking unit to receive credit for his first 100-yard rushing game -- 105 to be exact, on 13 carries (two of which were touchdowns) -- of the season.
But even Lang, who finally drew a few inquirers after Lacy finished talking, knew what was different about the running game on this night after four weeks of struggles had left the reigning NFL offensive rookie of the year frustrated with his lack of production.
"That's Eddie, man," Lang said.
Or perhaps more accurately, that was the Eddie of 2013.
The indecisiveness that Lacy showed early this season -- when his first four games produced just 161 yards and an average of 3.0 yards per carry -- was nowhere to be found. On the first carry of the Packers' second series, Lacy ran off right tackle and accelerated around the end for 18 yards.
On the next play, it was much the same, except this time it went around left tackle for 29 yards. On consecutive carries, he had his two longest runs of the season.
So what changed?
It might have started with a conversation between Lacy and running backs coach Sam Gash earlier in the week.
"One thing that I noticed that I did, and Coach Gash pointed out, was when I made my decision, I made it," Lacy said. "I just got my pad level down and just drove it and made whoever had to hit me make it a tough hit on their behalf instead of slowing down and hitting the air brakes, as he said."
There were cut-back runs, too, like his 11-yard touchdown in the third quarter. The play, on which Lacy ran into left tackle David Bakhtiari, looked like so many others early in the season that had gone nowhere. But this time, Lacy quickly changed his course and found a hole to the right.
"It was just a natural reaction just to run the other way," Lacy said. "I didn't know what was there or who was there, but it ended up working."
And then there was his final carry of the night, his 10-yard touchdown with 3:42 left in the third quarter. When he turned the corner on an outside zone play, he lowered his shoulder and drilled Vikings safety Robert Blanton with such force that Blanton's helmet flew off.
"It was just me and the safety, and it's a business decision on his behalf," Lacy said. "So I just lowered my pads, and we just went from there."
It was vintage Lacy, if the word vintage can be used to describe a second-year running back. Even though Lacy's best runs of the first month of the season had come on shotgun plays, all of his action against the Vikings came with Rodgers lined up under center. The fact that he gained 91 of his yards and scored one of his touchdowns on runs between the tackles, according to ESPN Stats & Information research, proved beneficial for an offense that had relied so heavily on receiver Jordy Nelson coming in.
The combination of Lacy and James Starks (46 yards on 12 carries) helped the Packers rush for a season-high 156 yards that nearly doubled their previous best of 80 yards (in both Weeks 1 and 2).
"It's important to get Eddie and James going," Rodgers said. "You have to have two backs in this league. Eddie didn't have a lot of carries tonight. We talked during the week about maybe 20 to 25 touches, but he had 13 efficient carries. He finished off his touchdown run the way he finishes off runs."
