GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers wore the honor with a measure of pride on Wednesday afternoon when the Green Bay Packers quarterback was presented with this: He's the only player on the active roster with a rushing touchdown.
"I am," Rodgers said with a smile.
Before Rodgers' comments could even get transcribed or broadcast, that statement was no longer accurate. No, the Packers didn’t play a game no one knew about, but the addition of Christine Michael made that fact incorrect.
OK, so Rodgers is still the only player on the roster who has rushed for a touchdown as a member of the Packers. By claiming Michael off waivers from the Seattle Seahawks, Packers general manager Ted Thompson at least gave coach Mike McCarthy someone of note to work with in an effort to resurrect a traditional running game. Unless, of course, Thompson gives Michael the Knile Davis treatment. Davis lasted only two games -- and five carries for 5 yards -- after the Packers acquired him earlier this season in a trade from the Kansas City Chiefs.
In nine games before the Seahawks dumped him on Tuesday, Michael rushed for 469 yards on 117 carries (a respectable 4.0-yard average) with six touchdowns. That would easily make him the Packers' rushing leader. That title currently belongs to someone who hasn't played in a month, Eddie Lacy, whose ankle injury landed him on injured reserve.
The carousel of running backs in Green Bay this season has included Lacy, Davis, James Starks and Don Jackson (who was placed on injured reserve to make room for Michael). Through it all, the most effective runners have been Rodgers (who’s averaging 6.3 yards per run and has three rushing touchdowns) and converted receiver Ty Montgomery (who was the team's leading rusher in two different games this season).
It's no wonder the Packers have been so pass happy this season. They've passed on 71 percent of their plays this season, the highest of the Rodgers era according to ESPN Stats & Information, and they're the only team in the league to rush on fewer than 30 percent of their plays from scrimmage in the first half of games (they're at 27 percent).
"I always want to run the ball more, but I also want to throw it 55 times a game, too," McCarthy said Wednesday before the roster move. "That's the way games are. You have to run the football. Everything starts with running the football. You can't extend your offensive line and your pass-protection unit the way we have. Running the football is very important for a number of different reasons."
Michael likely won't get in enough work with the Packers to make much, if any, impact on Sunday against the Redskins since he'll have only a few days to get acclimated to his new team. Michael had two different stints with the Seahawks, who drafted him in the second round in 2013 (one spot after the Packers picked Lacy at No. 61 overall). As recently as this summer, he had earned praise from his teammates who said he was a different player than he was the first time around.
"He's been busting his tail the whole time he's been here," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told reporters on Wednesday. "Everything we've said about him has been true and real, and he made a great comeback with us. He was the only guy there for a while, and we're really grateful to the play that he gave us. He's a good kid."
ESPN's Sheil Kapadia contributed to this report.