Well, two seasons ago, virtually the same cast of characters (substituting Lamont Jordan for Fred Taylor) produced the 6th best ground game in the league. That they slid so far last season (12th?) is due to more than simply them being a year older. For one thing, Chris Baker turned in perhaps the worst run-blocking performance of his career (though Watson was way worse). For another, having only two legit receiving targets on the field most of the time made the offense extremely simple to figure out. And Light's/Kaczur's run-blocking effectiveness has seriously deteriorated. If Mankins is indeed gone and those two are together on the left side, there's liable to be a lot of "student body right". OTOH, there's always the possibility that Crumpler and Gronkowski can provide the blocking boost that the run game needs.
Another reason for the success of '08 - besides Jordan being >> Taylor & Morris - was that the Pats simply had to run more often, during all manner of down/distance situations, in order to keep defenses honest so that Cassel had as much time as poss. whenever he did throw.
But isn't it amazing what a serious committment to running the ball can produce?
That said, holy crap do we ever need some fresher, more durable legs back there!
OTOH, in the last four drafts, with the notable exception of 2008, there haven't been a lot of opportunities to snatch a decent guy.
The 2007 class was awful after Peterson and Lynch except for Bradshaw (picked at #250) and Pierre Thomas (UDFA).
At the time that Bill & Scott made that horrible legacy pick of Injustice Hairston, not only were Bradshaw & Thomas still avail., but so too were RBs with greater past production & poss. future potential like DeShawn Wynn, Darius Walker, Selvin Young, and - the one I wanted - Jason Snelling (from Al Groh's UVA), because of his combination of power running (thunder for LaMa's lightning), lead-blocking, and high character.
The 2008 class was rife with talent through the first two rounds, but they all went between our #10 (Mayo) and our next pick at #62 (Wheatley). This was also the last draft class that Pioli helped evaluate.
Instead of that awful pick of the injury-prone midget at 62, I wanted Bill & Scott to draft either DB Terrell Thomas (a CB with health, size & talent: what a concept), DE/OLB Cliff Avril(from DE-to-OLB factory Perdue), or - my first choice - RB/Returner Jamaal Charles, who is currently tearing it up for KC.
In 2009, there turned out to be only 4 or 5 guys who were decent, but, coming off that 6th in the league performance, the Pats had bigger fish to fry and did pretty okay overall.
Power Back Rashad Jennings would've provided exc. value as early as the end of the 5th round, where instead that pick was wasted on UDFA-talent George Busstey.
In 2010, also a fairly thin RB class, it seemed like the guys we could have used all went significantly higher than projected and just before the Pats picked (It was a conspiracy, I tell ya!). And we seem to have done pretty okay anyway (other than RB).
That shouldn't have stopped Bill from signing either Lonyae Miller (from FOB Pat Hill's Fresno State) or Andre Dixon (from UConn) as UDFAs.
So, I don't think it's a case of the FO "failing to address" the situation, but more a lack of opportunity plus other pressing needs. Outside of 2008, there's only been 10-12 RBs (out of 60-something drafted) who have (or could) make an impact.
