rlcarr

This Pro Football Reference link (Team Game Finder Query Results - Pro-Football-Reference.com) is a table that lists the number of rushing yards every Pats team has had, in descending order.

I have to admit being surprised to find out the 2008 team was the #6 all-time Pats rushing team. Or that the 2003 championship team ran for 157 fewer yards than the 2011 team. Or that (as the subject line says) the 2001 team only ran for 22 more yards than the 2011 team.

WinstonSmith

2008 was one of Faulk's finest years running the ball; he averaged over 6 yars per carry.

They would have never lost If they only gave him the rock on every snap.

brdmaverick

I'm not quite sure what the perspective of the surprise is.......are you surprised that the 2001 only ran for the 22 yards more than the 2011 team because......

1.) You thought the 2001 team ran for more yards.

2.) Or you tought the 2011 ran more fewer yards.

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strngplyr

Because the common perception is that the championship teams were defense/run game oriented to an extreme degree.

IllegalContact

defense, yes......run game oriented, no

going out on a limb here, but I think the fact that the pats kept opponent under 20 point only 5 games including the playoffs in 2011 and only once in th elast 9 games. the 2001 pats kept the opponent below 20 points 14 times in 2001 including the last 9 games including the playoffs

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“ I think good coaches will coach with the personnel they have, and if you only have one (good) linebacker, you’re not going to play a 3–4. ”
—Hank Bullough, who installed one of the first 3–4 defenses with the New England Patriots.

BradyFTW!

The rushing attacks in 2001 and 2003 weren't especially good, is why. Some posters here have tried to rewrite history so that Antowain Smith was a legitimate #1 RB, but he never really was. Those teams won on the strength of the defense and Brady. 2004 was the only time in the Belichick era that the Pats had an overpowering ground game.

I think that there's been a tendency, at times, to underrate pre-2007 Brady around here. He did lead the league in passing yards in 2005, and even prior to becoming a stat-compiling monster, he was always a really good, really efficient QB who get a lot of yards without turning the ball over. His worst career TD-INT ratio was 1.5 (2001), and he's only been below 2-to-1 twice. 2011 was also the one and only year that he's passed for under 3,500 yards (obviously not counting 2008).

Deus Irae

Per the same site....

2011:
1050 combined run/pass attempts
438 runs
612 pass attempts
.417 run percentage
4.0 ypa

2001:
955 combined run/pass plays
473 runs
482 pass attempts
.492 run percentage
3.8 ypa

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Gostkowski for 3

Teams gain more yards per game now than they did in 2001, and they also score more points. The 2001 team was more balanced than it is now. A lot of people think balance is important. I happen to think the only thing that is important is the final score, and we seem to be pretty good at that.

borg

BB incorporated a risk free offense for his newbie QB in '01. That D allowed allowed BB to be patient often settling for a field position advantage....waiting for the other team to make the critical mistake. With Brady in, that team passed for less than 200 yds 7 times. And when they did pass....Troy Brown (101 catches) was the safe target.
Check out the turnover patterns for both the Pats D and O. The offense was coughing up the ball at a very high rate mid season but straightened that out in the back half and playoffs. The D gelled and became monsters retrieving the ball as the season progressed and into the playoffs.
The D set up the O....team ball...unlike now

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PatsSox363804

No one thought that about the 03 team, I think they had the worst season long running statistics to ever to win a Superbowl at the time. That's why we brought in Corey Dillon, the run game was the only "weak" spot on the team.

People don't believe me when I tell them how well the Pats ran the ball in 08 because they like using that year to crap on Brady.