Jonas Gray

The Patriots’ game-planning pendulum would figure to swing back in favor of the running game as they prepare for Sunday’s slugfest with the Packers.

That should mean more production, perhaps again of the dominant variety, for LeGarrette Blount and Jonas Gray. In this offense, either one of the ground-and-pound runners could emerge from obscurity to stardom and back again on any given week.

This matchup, though, shapes up as a feeding for the workhorses, even if they’re playing coy with the strategy.

“We’re just going to go out there and execute the game plan that we have in place and hopefully come out there with a win,” Blount said Wednesday. “If that entails running the football, then that’s what we’ll do. If that entails throwing the football, that’s what we’ll do."

Blount figures to get more carries after he ran well in Week 12, but Gray may emerge from Bill Belichick's dog house to see a few carries as well.