dex13

I'm going to ignore the whole contract aspect...when discussing talent, people normally don't bring it into a discussion unless they are trying to hamper the top guys...the ones who have a proven track record.

Pats RB stable is probably in the top 10 but at the lower end. Ridley is just showing his talent and we have yet to see if it holds ups. Bolden has had a few good games as well.

In comparison to some of the top teams though, Ridley is probably would be ranked in the top 10. When talking about the running game, you want to start with the top guy. I can think of a few players who you would take ahead of Ridley without hesitation (McCoy, Foster, Rice, Charles, Richardson, Lynch). Put Ridley in Turner, Murray, Spiller, Bush, Sproles 2nd tier level.

Overall, the Pats have a SOLID run game but it has yet to show that it is elite. You have to adjust for the Pats air game which doesn't allow teams to stack the box. If you swap any of the top RBs with Ridley, the Pats would be averaging 200 yards on the ground easily.

Ridley - 2nd tier top running back with some ball control issues to still work on.
Bolden - unknown quantity who could be something or could be a flash in the pan. He still gets stopped a lot behind the line.
Woodhead - good change of pace back but that's it. He's a Kevin Faulk but with less talent.
Vereen - seriously...in two seasons, you can count the number of games he's played in on using one hand even if you include preseason. talented but the Pats have had no return on their investment.

eagle eye

I think Ridley is pretty special, best young Patriots RB since Curtis Martin for sure and hopefully better when his career is over. I like Bolden too and what he brings to the table and he could be anything, guy is a rookie.

Having said all that I'm gonna go back two seasons and say that one of the smartest moves that has been made in that time was bringing in Alge Crumpler. I think his presence helped Gronk and others learn how to run block. I've been hugely impressed with the run blocking from this team this season and last too.

Crumpler was in Tennessee for Y2K's 2k season. I don't think its any accident that Johnson never got near that again. I think when you have a great run blocking tight end it gives a talented RB that second level extra space which makes a huge difference.

To summarise, we have talented backs but lets not forget our great run blockers who make it possible.

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robertweathers

Right. Lets get rid of the the BUF game. That showed us nothing..

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dex13

this is the classic Barry Sanders or Emmitt Smith argument. Smith was a great RB and he the holes with authority as well as made defenders miss. Sanders never had any holes. In order to gain four yards he would have to run about 15 yards. All his yards came from making people miss and creating something out of nothing.

Ridley and Bolden his their holes and they can keep going after first contact but neither are known for making something out of nothing.

JJDChE

Yeah, he is.

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JJDChE

No, that would be stupid.

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PP2

By what metrics? Other than the one in your head because we obviously cannot understand that.

KontradictioN

Bolden is a rookie and has seen game action in four out of five regular season games this year and has only logged 37 rushing attempts. To this point, nobody on the planet Earth can make the claim that he's either great or overrated.

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JJDChE

By the metric that he's only carried the ball 37 times and most of his yards came when no one touched him until he was 10 yards downfield against a defense that was assuming we were going to pass 100% of the time. I'm going to wait until he regularly has to face guys in the hole and see how he handles that. In the Denver game he only avg'd 3.9 per carry, even with a 24 yd run. So 13 of his 14 carries netted 30 yards, not even 2.5 ypc on those carries. Meanwhile Ridley was gashing them all day for a buck fifty.

Even if he turns out to be an average back, that's pretty good for a second option. Most team's second backs are below average.

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JJDChE

Exactly, rating him at all on one good game is ridiculous.

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