unoriginal

He has changed the scheme. They've learned zone blocking. But with zone blocking you either need big fat guys that can make or wall, or use a fullback with smaller guys up front to erase penetration.

Denver, when Gibbs was there, always used a fullback (Howard Griffth) with their small quick line, and Gibbs used Justin Griffith in the same role in Atlanta.

BB hasn't wanted to use a good fullback because its a liability in the passing game and our QB is our best asset, unlike Denver and Atlanta.

BionicPatriot

Been saying this since our SB loss. This line is soft. It's full of slow, big fat soft linemen. There's a reason the only time we pick up the critical 4th and 1 is when Brady throws the D off and takes it himself. We need to get the pink pussies off the OL and get some hogs.

__________________
Defense, defense, defense

BradyFTW!

I can think of at least a few other reasons that are more plausible than those, so that either/or is... not.

BradyFTW!

Morris danced an awful lot in the backfield on Sunday too, is he awful now?

Reality: a RB who is asked to carry the ball a lot of times in this offense will find, in many cases, that he's being met in the backfield. So he 'dances'.

Morris' carries against Denver:
1-10-NE 38 (11:00) S.Morris right tackle to NE 43 for 5 yards (K.Peterson).
2-5-NE 43 (10:21) S.Morris up the middle to NE 44 for 1 yard (J.Williams).
1-10-DEN 15 (8:20) S.Morris right end to DEN 15 for no gain (A.Davis).
2-10-DEN 15 (7:36) S.Morris right guard to DEN 8 for 7 yards (B.Dawkins, R.Hill).
1-10-DEN 43 (5:18) S.Morris right tackle to DEN 33 for 10 yards (R.Ayers).
1-10-DEN 33 (4:40) S.Morris right tackle to DEN 35 for -2 yards (B.Dawkins; K.Peterson).
2-4-NE 29 (1:44) S.Morris up the middle to NE 32 for 3 yards (R.Fields).
3-1-NE 32 (1:08) S.Morris right end to NE 32 for no gain (D.Williams).
1-10-NE 41 (11:09) S.Morris up the middle to NE 44 for 3 yards (D.Williams).
1-10-NE 15 (:22) S.Morris left tackle to NE 15 for no gain (A.Goodman).
2-6-NE 30 (13:59) S.Morris right tackle to NE 33 for 3 yards (V.Holliday).
1-10-NE 39 (12:20) S.Morris up the middle to NE 45 for 6 yards (K.Peterson).
2-4-NE 45 (11:46) S.Morris left guard to 50 for 5 yards (W.Woodyard).
1-10-50 (11:07) S.Morris up the middle to DEN 47 for 3 yards (B.Dawkins).
2-6-NE 25 (4:37) (Shotgun) S.Morris up the middle to NE 28 for 3 yards (W.Woodyard).
1-10-NE 30 (2:27) S.Morris left end to NE 49 for 19 yards (J.Williams).
1-10-NE 49 (2:00) (Shotgun) S.Morris up the middle to DEN 49 for 2 yards (W.Woodyard). FUMBLES

Ok, so let's parse those 17 carries down a little:
Fumbles: 1
Carries for a loss: 1
Carries for no gain:3
Carries for 1-2 yards: 1
Carries for 3-4 yards: 5
Carries for 5-6 yards: 3
Carries for 7-9 yards: 1
Carries for 10+ yards: 2

So, just to review, Morris had:

5 carries for a loss, fumble, or no gain
6 carries for 1-4 yards
4 carries for 5-9 yards
2 carries for 10+ yards

What immediately jumped out at me was how strikingly this resembled the typical stat line for Laurence Maroney as a starter. Obviously I don't want to draw too broad conclusions from such a small sample size, but it's one more data point among many that suggests that the offensive line may be the common cause behind the high number of negative plays. Anecdotally, Patriots' RBs sure seem to get hit behind the LOS a lot more than other teams'

In short, everything that we love to rip on Maroney for, Morris did the same thing when put in Maroney's position on Sunday. He got hit behind the line, he danced, and a lot of negative plays resulted. His YPC was decent only because he ripped off a couple of long runs, including a 19 yarder (subtract out that one and he had 3.06 YPC).

These criticisms may or may not be fair, but if Maroney had played the exact same game that Morris did, I guarantee you that the legion of detractors would be out in force this week. Since it's Morris, though, nobody's said a thin. Which is fine--I like Morris--but it's sloppy 'analysis' and it's definitely not fair.

patsfan-1982

when you only run the ball 20 time's a game and pass 40 time's the O line is all was back on there heels looking to protect the QB

runing the football is a attitude thing and if you dont run the ball a nuff the O line cant get that attitude

this is the same O line and same RB's that josh mcdaniels got a 159 yerd's a game from last year

maroney is only geting 6 att a game if they give him 20 att a game he would end the year with all most 1100 yerd's

so its not all on maroney they need to give him the ball

BionicPatriot

Good point as well. It's frustrating, it seems like they call Maroney twice and the second he is stuffed they just put him away.

__________________
Defense, defense, defense

mcsully

Pst.. I never said Morris.. I only mentioned Faulk and Taylor.. I'm not a big fan of Morris but the versatility in short yardage is helpful .. Love when he plays FB and he gets the quick hitch..

Funny fact, Morris carried the Rock more than our supposed lead RB this past week.. Between that and not returning kickoffs, I wouldn't be surpised to see LM less and less this year..

LM best year was his rookie year.. And I know a lot of people talk about the fact Dillion helped him out or this and that.. But one valid point a lot of people miss is we ran a two back set more than we do now.. Remember the Cinn Run.. I believe the longest run of his career.. Well he had a FB he followed and ran straight behind him.. LM is not suited for this style of offense.. And given his injury history, he'll never live up to being a #1 pick.. Especially on a team that has done so well with their #1's.

racicotm

I'm done making excuses for lomo he just doesn't have it im not sure the best OL would help him either. Just watching him play you can see an undeniable difference between him and most rb's that are even slighltly successful. Even the rookie Moreno looks lightyears ahead of maroney in his onfield progression. As much as Maroney is a nice guy and all, i won't be sorry to see him go next season.

PATRIOTSFANINPA

Maroney will only succeed as a 1,300 yard rusher when defenses decide to forget the run and play a 2 4 5 formation

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

BradyFTW!

Yeah, you're putting words in my mouth though. Faulk is irrelevant, since he plays a completely different position in this offense, and we saw so little of Taylor that, while impressed, I'm not drawing any conclusions. I'm simply pointing out that when someone else started in place of Maroney, that guy did all of the things that you guys don't like Maroney for: dancing in the backfield, making negative plays, and having a crappy YPC aside from 1 long run.

When Maroney was put in the position of just having a couple of carries in spot duty, which the other guys normally have, he looked pretty good, carrying for 2, 10, 1 and 5 yards. So maybe we should just acknowledge that it has a lot more to do with the offense than it does with Maroney.

Our OL allows way too much penetration in run blocking, so it's really just a numbers game, and if you get 10+ carries, there *will* be at least a couple where you get hit behind the LOS. And I can't emphasize enough that there probably isn't a RB in the NFL who can consistently perform under those conditions: MAYBE Peterson, but probably not even him.

I still think that Maroney has it in him to be a good RB. After spending more time watching our other RBs, I'm actually increasingly thinking that he probably IS a good RB, but is just stuck in an offense where RBs are unable to be much better than he's been. The OL just doesn't run block well enough, and we saw one more datapoint to suggest that when Morris, after getting the start, ran into all the same problems that you guys like to pile on Maroney for.