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Green Bay - Earlier in the week, without any solicitation, Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy brought up rookie running back Brandon Saine's name.

McCarthy isn't prone to meaningless praise, so when he said he was looking to get Saine some action in the offense, it likely wasn't an idle proclamation.

To date, Saine has been limited to special teams, but since the day he signed as an undrafted free agent in August, he has raised an eyebrow or two inside the organization. When third-round pick Alex Green went on injured reserve three weeks ago, Saine was promoted from the practice squad and his opportunity to run the team's offense - and not that of that week's opponent - increased.

"He's impressive," running backs coach Jerry Fontenot said. "He's not going to get out of position (as a blocker). He's very efficient in his running skills. He's obviously got speed; he tested well at the combine. He's got all those things you want and he's not afraid to get in there and get his nose dirty."

Saine ran the 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds at the scouting combine at around 219 pounds, which is very impressive. However, he played more as a finesse back who was used all over the field and most scouts didn't project him as an every-down back.

But once he got into training camp, Saine picked up the Packers' offense quickly and showed more power than he had at Ohio State. When Green tore up his knee at Minnesota, Saine moved up the chain.

When Green got hurt, the coaches were looking for ways to get him the ball in specific situations, and now the same holds true for Saine. A more polished runner than Green, who played in a spread offense in college, Saine has very good hands and solid blocking ability, so he could see some time on third downs, possibly this Sunday against Tampa Bay.

Fontenot acknowledged that it would be tough to find a lot of snaps for Saine because of James Starks and Ryan Grant are ahead of him. The team remains committed to Grant, but given McCarthy's comments it's not hard to see that Saine will get a chance to show what he can do sometime soon.

Fontenot said he's excited to see, too.

"Yeah, absolutely, because most of what I've seen in live action has been in four-minute (run-out-the-clock time) in preseason games. He never ever really got a chance to open it up and see what he can do in down and distance and third down.

"It will be fun. I want to see him get a chance to open it up."

Shells game: McCarthy said his schedule had called for Thursday to either be in pads or in shells because he wasn't sure how fresh the players would be coming out of the Monday night game.

He decided to go with the lighter shells. He will not use pads during the short week before the Thanksgiving Day game against Detroit, so he will have gone two weeks without pad work.

"I thought yesterday's practice was a solid practice," McCarthy said. "I felt the energy level was what it needed to be, so I took the pads off. This was probably as good of a Thursday practice as we've ever had. The speed and the tempo was outstanding."

Choosing not to practice in pads will cost McCarthy. He gets only 14 padded practices all season due to new collective bargaining rules and 11 must be in the first 11 weeks of the season.

Since he won't be using one this week or next, he'll lose one of the 11.

McCarthy took the team outside to practice on a 31-degree day with a strong wind adding a significant wind chill. Temperatures are expected to be slightly warmer Sunday, but it might be just as windy.

"It was good to get out there and throw the ball in 18 mph winds," he said.

Dampened spirits: When the Packers lost to a previously winless Buccaneers team two years ago, McCarthy said it was one of the worst days of his coaching career and not just because of the result.

"I'm standing outside the training room in the visitors' locker room, and a hot-water pipe running right by my head exploded," he said. "It didn't get much better from there. It was crazy. Water was flying all over the place; it took them about 20 minutes to turn it off.

"The locker room was flooded. Guys were out in the hallway getting taped."

McCarthy said he wasn't happy with the way he coached that day either. He said he felt he should have been able to get his team to finish after a good start.

Early arrival suggested: The Packers are reminding "Gold" or Milwaukee season ticket holders that they might want to arrive early because of enhanced security procedures that slow down entrance into the stadium.

The enhanced screening was first implemented Oct. 2 against Denver and caused massive delays. That was the first of two games for Gold package ticket holders.

Returners: Grant, linebacker Desmond Bishop and guard T.J. Lang returned to practice.

Grant was out Wednesday with a lacerated knee. Bishop was excused because of the death of his grandmother and Lang was excused because of a serious illness with his father.