cloud34

...from a spread 'em out, 4 or 5 wides sets, to a power running team? The healthiest and deepest position on the team right now would be at RB,going 5 deep, the thinnest at WR, without Welker and possibly even Aiken. Could the offensive line, which has become more of a pass blocking unit the past few years become a snot blowing power running machine? I know this minimizes your best player in #12, but could a running game similar to the 2001 team be the best way to go at this point?

Box_O_Rocks

We'll be surprised and impressed.

__________________
"Avert thine eyes! You're not hot enough to be looking at me."
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

robertweathers

IMO they started moving in that direction already starting with the Carolina game. # of attempts out of the shotgun is way down from earlier in the season and the pass/rush % is about 52/48 .

Power-running team? No. More balanced? Absolutely.

__________________
“I'm not really concerned about the other 31 teams,” - Bill Belichick

"If a player has talent and doesn't succeed, that means that they either don't want to be successful or I have failed as a coach." - Bill Belichick

Mack Herron

Absence of WW will allow defenses to focus on the run, and the Pats were not a great rushing team before. I think they will have to prove they can still pass before they are able to run.

PatsFanSince74

power running games, with a premium on time of possession, usually go hand in glove with shut down d's and i don't think even quaffers of the Kool Aid would describe our defense in those terms this year. so, for now i think the pats will continue to focus on putting up a lot of points and hope that Pees' unit can hang on in the fourth quarter.

i think the biggest question was the one effectively posed by Brady on Monday when he said that the Offense would have to evolve back to where his favorite receiver was the open guy. that to me is what has to happen in the space of just a week if the pats are going to be a threat in the playoffs. a solid running game that complements that will be critical to his ability to do that, but I think that's where we're going to see the change to the team's "offensive identity" and not in the area of a makeover into a power running team.

i don't see the pats making that kind of a change as long as Brady is healthy and the franchise QB.

__________________
It is what it is. It wasn't what it wasn't.

dhamz

I'm not saying the offenses are similar in design or that this team is a running team but I think most would be surprised to know the Pats 2009 running game production is actually slightly more productive than the 2001 running game was:

2009 - 466 attempts 4.1 avg 120 ypg 19 tds
2001 - 473 attempts 3.8 avg 112 ypg 15 tds

In 2009 we ran on 44% of plays, 2001 was 49%.

I think people remember the 2001 and 2003 teams much differently than they actually were on offense. The 2004 team with Corey Dillon is remembered as the offense of all 3 title teams. It wasn't. Those first 2 title teams were both passing teams - just more of a controlled passing game than the current offense which relies on Moss deep and Welker's YAC.

I can certainly see the Pats going with more of that old Pats style passing game - for example running Moss on a lot of shorter routes. I'd be surprised if they came out and tried to run it 40 times.

Mack Herron

This is misleading because the 2001 team did not have the complimentary passing game. 2009 rushing yards were gained on defenses designed to stop Welker and Moss. Those players are now turned loose.

xmarkd400x

Let's go full T! We can have LoMo, Morris, and Taylor in the backfield. Multiple fake handoffs per play!

/s

102 Pat

I think by late afternoon on sunday, we'll be on here raving about Kevin Faulk's performance...just saying...

Still, won't this be the first game all year long where all the RB's are healthy and ready to play?

__________________

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


This offseason, it's almost like Belichick is saying, "I'm never going to let that happen again."

Mike Reiss 7/19/12

patsfaninpittsburgh

There are no shutdown defenses in the tournament this year based on objective measures of shutdown defenses. What's constitutes your concept, well......

The Pats lead the league in TOP, where exactly is that within power running?

After a decade of BB football, why is the concept of opponent specific gameplans so hard to fathom? In 2006, with Reche Caldwell, the Pats went 5 wide and spread the Vikings out. Against the Bengals in 2006, Maroney had his best game.

Besides half this board has complained the offensive woes were based on Bradt targeting Welker. Problem solved.