Thanks, Box. For me, the real shame about Maroney isn't even the fans posting on message boards. What gets me is the members of the media, especially the ex-players who should know better, taking the lazy route and just blasting Maroney instead of actually looking at the plays.
We may need a sticky for an "Analysis of Maroney's runs" thread come the regular season.
The real shame about Maroney is that nobody seems to understand what he actually is to this team.
He is a guy that plays a role for us, like Taylor or even Faulk. He is not our 'go-to' guy for this offense and he never will be if we don't have a dominant run blocking OL BECAUSE our offense is structured around the quick attack passing game. Our offense simply is not built around Maroney.
He and Taylor will both finish the season with 750 yards or so. Maybe more. But this is not shaping up to be a season that Belichick goes out of his way to highlight Maroney. Maroney is a role player in a pass attack offense.
All the endless discussions about Maroney are less than meaningful. He is a role player on our team that will share snaps with Taylor.
Maybe in some alternate universe he is running free and going to pro bowls behind a stout run-first blocking OL. None of us can say for sure. I personally think he looks great in the open field but I don't think he is anything like Corey Dillon in close quarters. Dillon used to carry defenders on his back and still run through somebody to get into the endzone. Corey was a friggin animal.
What I do know is that as long as he is a patriot he will be a role player and not likely to see enough carries to sniff a pro bowl.
Hypothetical projections by fans or the media just don't address what Maroney's role is in this offense. He will get some carries but not all the carries. He will be used much more at times when the pass game is not needed i.e. when leading a game or against a really strong pass defense that is susceptible to the run. He will get less than stellar run blocking at times. The mark of our OL is very good play at times and bouts of inconsistency at times, especially in the run game.
People can talk about Maroney until they are blue in the face and at the end of the day he is a role player and BB is not trying to put Maroney in Canton or even Hawaii.
What Maroney might have achieved if the Broncos drafted him or the Steelers for instance just will not happen in our offense.
A break out season for him in this specific offense that the Pats run would be about 750 yards, with Taylor getting the same. Unless he averages 8 yards a carry or something. He just will not get the touches.
It is not fair for the media or the fans to try to compare him to a probowl running back because Maroney won't really get the chance in our system.
People want him either to fail badly or to set the world on fire. BB just wants him to do his job. At the end of the day Maroney knows who signs the paycheck.
