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I understand your point - but I honestly don't think the running game would suffer THAT much with the release of Maroney. Honestly, I think it would send a great message: "we are not effing around this season!"
Just because fans don't like Maroney, doesnt mean he is effing around.
By all accounts he is a hard worker and takes his job seriously.
I don't think its a good message to send to the team that we cut players that fans who don't understand te game dont like.
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The 34-year-old is entering his 13th season in the NFL, and second with the Patriots.
He believes he still has something to offer as a feature running back. And he has 12 seasons of experience to draw upon.
But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t thought about the day that must come for every pro athlete. But that’s when Taylor offered an interesting perspective on Thursday.
“I really like playing football,” Taylor said. “It’s really hard to use that word ‘love’ like some guys do because at some point, I have to divorce the game or it will divorce me, so I really can’t say I love it, but I like it a hell of a lot.
“And the camaraderie with the fellas and just competing, that’s what it’s all about.”
Taylor is coming off a season that was greatly limited by a right ankle injury that required surgery in early October. He never regained his form or had a chance to show what he could still do. But even at 34, coming off ankle surgery, Taylor still feels he can not only win a spot on the roster but he can be a lead back among a group that still includes Laurence Maroney, Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk, BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Chris Taylor.
“I don’t focus on my age,” Taylor said. “I just go out there, compete and have fun. I definitely like to throw age out of that. I feel pretty good. I’m not going to say young but I feel very good. I’m ready to go, yeah.”
Whether 24, 34 or 44, anytime you make a mistake in practice when everyone is watching, your pride is hurt. Such was the case when Tom Brady looked over the middle on a third-down situation on Thursday morning and found an open Taylor. The veteran did something a lot of younger players do — he attempted to run without first securing the ball, dropping it to the ground for an incompletion.
“I’m pissed too,” Taylor said. “You want to be as close to perfect as you can. I hate dropping a pass but I work on it, I work at it and catching from the JUGS [ball-tossing machine] and doing what I need to do in that area. I always have. You want to be hard on yourself, not to the point where it carries over to the next play or the next practice but you do want to practice consistency in those areas that aren’t necessarily your strong points.”
Kevin Faulk has always excelled at keeping Tom Brady out of harm’s way. Laurence Maroney has looked very good in this drill during this camp. Meanwhile, veteran Fred Taylor last week talked about the approach running backs take.
”It’s getting out there, knowing the type of person you’re going against, whether it’s a safety, a corner, a linebacker,” Taylor said. ”It’s knowing whether they’re shifty, whether they have spin moves . . . or whether they’re bull rushers. So you have to know their tendencies, study it, then go up there and give it the best you got.”
Who makes the first move?
”You want to start by minimizing their options,” Taylor said. ”Take one side to start initially, then play off that.”
"This is probably going to be my new style for the year -- rough," Maroney said. "It's my statement. Rough, that’s how I've got to be on the field, rough. I can't go out there being all pretty because then you're all going to say I'm dancing, tap shoes."
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Anyway, the Patriots probably wouldn’t care if Maroney showed up looking like Carrot Top or Marge Simpson, so long as he improves upon last season's rushing output. Maroney totaled 757 yards and nine touchdowns, and he also had the best six-game stretch of his career, when he tallied 420 yards and eight touchdowns.
However, Maroney succumbed to a fumbling epidemic midway through the season that landed him on the bench. While he took a lot of steps in the right direction, he also found a way to move backward, and he enters 2010 with as many question marks as ever -- none of which truly involve his hair.
"I felt like I ran the ball harder than I ever ran it last year," said Maroney, who is entering the fifth and final year of his rookie contract. "I felt comfortable running the way I ran last year. I had some good success in games running the way I ran last year. It's basically taking what I did last year and taking it to this year and improving on it."
"I'm not trying to be on, what's that dance show they've got on TV? 'Dancing with the Stars?'" he said with his ever-present smile. "I'm physical. Downhill."
Maroney improved on that last year when, for the first time in his four seasons, he didn't miss any games because of injuries. He rushed for nine touchdowns but ran for only 757 yards and a 3.9 average carry in 15 games.
"I feel like I ran the ball harder than I ever ran," he said. "I felt comfortable running the way I ran last year, had some good successful games running. Now it's just basically taking what I did last year and bringing it to this year and improving on it."
If he had done that earlier — and avoided injury — the Patriots might not still be operating with a running back by committee.
Through this early stretch of camp, it has been challenging to get a clear read on how the Patriots plan to divide the carries among them. Like 2009, it will probably be a committee approach.
At times, Taylor has been the first running back in drills, although he isn't reading much into it at this point.
"Whether you're 1, 2 or 3, whenever they put me out there, an opportunity is an opportunity," said the 34-year-old Taylor, who was limited to seven games last season (including playoffs) because of a right ankle injury.
"It's great competition, very healthy. We're all friends," Taylor added of the running back corps. "We all still lean on each other. We all know we have to give it our all each and every day, and just trying to do the plays that we're given, the opportunity to run and try to make it look good."
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For those who believe teams develop a physical attitude in training camp, as well as the mindset that they will steamroll through opponents near the goal line, the first nine days of camp suggest the Patriots have work to do in that area.
"It's real physical going against those guys," Maroney said. "I look at it as if I can make some moves and get into the end zone on the goal line against our defense, with how good they are, I feel comfortable I can do it on any team."
"I have a lot of veterans in front of me, a lot of guys who have been in [the league] a lot of years and done a lot of great things that I can learn from," Maroney said. "I feel real comfortable coming into my fifth year, just getting everything I've learned and getting it to where I can put it in my game.
"We are definitely heading in the right direction. It's still early. We have to improve and still work on our patience and footsteps, just matching up with the line. It looks good. It looks like it's moving toward goodness.'"
No, no, no. Just go to any of the gameday threads last year and you'll see tons of posters that know beyond any form of argument that Maroney kicks ****ing *** and anybody that dares to calls him out doesn't know football.
Maroney sucks and the same knocks on him now were the same problems in college. Avoids contact like a Rams WR, inconsistent hands, poor vision, slow decision making, etc. There are several reasons why I stood up and booed at Radio City Music Hall when we drafted him. These faults aren't repeatedly raring their ugly heads because Maroney is a bad guy, not working hard or injured. He just sucks.
Wake the hell up. Maroney shouldn't be counted as a starting back in this league and its gross that he's still a feature part of our offense.
No, no, no. Just go to any of the gameday threads last year and you'll see tons of posters that know beyond any form of argument that Maroney kicks ****ing *** and anybody that dares to calls him out doesn't know football.
Maroney sucks and the same knocks on him now were the same problems in college. Avoids contact like a Rams WR, inconsistent hands, poor vision, slow decision making, etc. There are several reasons why I stood up and booed at Radio City Music Hall when we drafted him. These faults aren't repeatedly raring their ugly heads because Maroney is a bad guy, not working hard or injured. He just sucks.
Wake the hell up. Maroney shouldn't be counted as a starting back in this league and its gross that he's still a feature part of our offense.
he's the leading rusher on a team that has never gave him 200 att in a season... get over it the pats have not drafted or signed or will sign anyone who is better then him and when he walks as FA next year and the pats have Sammy Morris, and BenJarvus Green-Ellis, as the best RB's team there will be people wanting maroney back
Last edited by patsfan-1982; 08-09-2010 at 02:50 AM..
Kevin Faulk looks a lot leaner after dropping some weight during the offseason. How did the Patriots’ veteran running back go about slimming down?
The 34-year-old had a secret weapon, and he didn’t need any diet books, Jenny Craig or SlimFast. He had his wife Latisha cooking and monitoring his meals.
“My wife, she’s awesome,” Faulk said following yesterday’s morning walk-through. “She’s been working out for about two years now. Eating and working out is something she prides herself in. She cooked the meals, and they were healthy.” Did she keep him away from beef, and stick with chicken and fish? Or did she have something else up her sleeve?
“I’m from Louisiana, so I’m all over the food chain,” said Faulk, who’s big on cajun-style barbecues, “but there was no fried foods, mostly grilled, a lot of seafood, and eating in small proportions.”
During the course of last season, Kevin Faulk wasn’t looked to in key situations anywhere near as much as he had been in previous seasons.
One of the league’s premier third-down backs didn’t log as many catches or touches as in years past. He wasn’t able to bail out quarterback Tom Brady like he once did.
So what was going on with Mr. Clutch? Was this a by-product of age? During the offseason, Faulk took stock of the situation. Some members of the coaching staff had been suggesting he lose some weight, and that might help him regain a bit of quickness. After some reflection, Faulk, who turned 34 in June, agreed that was the best course of action.
“Once you get older, you do a little self-studying and self-scouting of yourself,” Faulk said yesterday. “You want to improve yourself as a football player.”
Basically, you want to be able to keep up with the kids. That’s the bottom line because, as fellow running back Fred Taylor so aptly stated the other day, football is “a young man’s game.”
Running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis:Seems like we’ve been here before. Green-Ellis was considered someone who was on the bubble the last two preseasons, but in each case, ended up doing enough to merit a roster spot, thanks in large part to some impressive production in the preseason. (In his defense, he’s also managed to put up some good numbers when called upon in the regular season — he rushed for 50-plus yards on three occasions in 2008, including a 105-yard performance against the Bills.) With four running backs in front of him on the depth chart (Laurence Maroney, Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk and Fred Taylor), his fate could be tied to how many wide receivers they decide to keep — if they go with an extra pass catcher, Green-Ellis could be on the outside looking in when cuts come down. He could also sneak in if the team feels Taylor isn’t durable enough for another 16-game season.
Re: Running Backs
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