Bennett Is a ‘90s Triple Threat

GREEN BAY, Wis. —  Mike Holmgren has tried to re-create his Green Bay Packers in the image of the San Francisco 49ers, the team for whom he toiled for six seasons as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator.

It’s a little fuzzy, a little inexact, but you can kind of picture Brett Favre as a young Joe Montana, Anthony Morgan as Freddie Solomon, Mark Chmura as Russ Francis, Robert Brooks as Dwight Clark.

And playing the part of Roger Craig: Edgar Bennett. That portrayal is dead on.

Craig, the multi-talented Pro Bowl tailback, was the best of the 49ers’ running backs of the 1980s, a great runner, receiver and blocker. Bennett, 26, the fourth-year back from Florida State, has shown himself to be a Craig double in this, his first season exclusively at halfback for the Packers after playing three years at fullback.

“I always felt like when you’re talking about being a running back, you ought to be able to do all three things,” Bennett said. “I don’t really like it when people talk about all these one-dimensional backs, like they’re so great, when all they do is run the football.”

Craig became a star by being a jack-of-all-trades. Because Bennett doesn’t slide all over the field, or have great elusiveness, or blazing speed, and isn’t a bruiser, he doesn’t neatly fit into a category. But he’s just what the Packers, who will play the 49ers Saturday in San Francisco, have been looking for.

Green Bay has tried so many players at halfback in recent years: Kenneth Davis, Brent Fullwood, Vince Workman, Reggie Cobb. All were found wanting. But this season Bennett gained 1,067 yards, the first Packer since Terdell Middleton in 1978 to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season. He was second on the team in pass receiving with 61 catches for 648 yards; his 1,715 combined yards from scrimmage were fifth in the NFC (ahead of such others as Ricky Watters and Terry Allen) and a franchise record. And as he is a converted fullback, he knew how to block.

He did all that after leading the league last season in receptions by a running back, with 78. And he has proven to be a tough guy. He played with a separated shoulder last season and has appeared in 69 consecutive games, including playoffs.

“I’m the first to say I’m not a Barry Sanders,” he said. “But I will be the first to say I’m a versatile back that can do all three things. Last year I think I did, and hopefully this year I showed I can.”

Favre noted, “I’ve said this all along, that he’s the best all-purpose back in the league. What more can you ask out of a back? And the most important thing we overlook is that he’s durable. The guy takes a beating. Some of those hits out there, I want no part of. And he takes them, one after another, and keeps playing.”

Sometime soon, Bennett will get the national recognition he deserves.

“Roger Craig, in my opinion, he was a star,” Bennett said. “He won Super Bowls. He was the only back in history to have a 1,000 and 1,000 [1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season]. He pretty much did his job. That’s how I look at it. That’s really all I want to do.”