Grant enjoys chance to face former ’mates

The Giants traded the
running back to Green Bay in the preseason.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Another player might spend the week building it up in his mind as the ultimate way to say “I told you so,” a chance to stick it to the team that traded him on the big stage.

But it doesn’t seem to be that way for Green Bay Packers running back Ryan Grant as he prepares to face the New York Giants in Sunday’s NFC Championship game at Lambeau Field.

A week before the start of this season, New York dealt Grant to Green Bay for a sixth-round draft pick. What a steal for the Packers?

While Grant admits he might be “a little bit” more fired up to play his former team, the trade worked out so well for him, how could he hold a grudge?

“It was nothing personal,” Grant said. “There were no hard feelings toward the organization in New York. I take the positive out of every situation, and there were a lot of things that I learned from there. And I feel like if I didn’t learn that, I probably wouldn’t be in the situation I am today.”

Still, Packers coach Mike McCarthy plans to pull Grant aside this week just to make sure his young running back isn’t getting too wound up.

“I think he’ll be fine,” McCarthy said. “I don’t think he’ll be one of those guys that will be so revved up that he’ll go the other way. I know this is a big opportunity for him. But he’s a focused young man.”

Grant took over as the Packers’ featured back in Week 8.

His emergence since has given the pass-happy Packers a two-dimensional offense. He was the leading man last week, rebounding from two early fumbles to finish with 201 yards rushing and three touchdowns in Green Bay’s victory over Seattle.

But even if Grant isn’t using revenge as motivation, Giants defensive end Michael Strahan wonders whether the move will come back to haunt them. Especially after New York struggled to stop the run in its playoff victory at Dallas on Sunday.

“I am upset Ryan Grant is not with us,” Strahan said. “He is a bull. He runs like a bull. We have our work cut out for us. We gave up too many yards (against Dallas) rushing. He is probably licking his chops with the opportunity to play against his former team. That’s one of those guys you look at and you think, we let him go and we let one get away.”

Grant said he was “shocked” when the Giants traded him, soon after telling him he had made the team.

But New York’s backfield was crowded with good players going into the season. Grant hadn’t played a regular season snap in his first two years in the NFL. So when the Packers called, the Giants listened.

Grant said his former teammates were stunned.

“I know that when they found out I had been traded, a few guys kind of said, ’What?” — kind of a reaction of ‘Why would you do that?,’ ” Grant said. “They didn’t know, and I guess they felt they didn’t want me to go. But they understood how it works.”

Giants running back Brandon Jacobs said Grant is a “tremendous guy” with talent.

“He’s done well for Green Bay,” Jacobs said. “I think that was a great move for him. I think that served him very well, and he’s done well for them. He rushed for over 200 last week, and he’s been playing very, very solid football.”

But Grant knows that support only goes so far.

“I’m pretty sure that will stop come Sunday,” Grant said. “I know it’s nothing personal and we’re competitors and I expect that.”