Please don't bench Stevan Ridley

[Salva135]

Ridley looked forlorn after his fumble. I'm willing to bet he'll double down on his efforts to hold the ball for the remainder of the season.

Bolden coming in for the next series (after the Ninko forced fumble on McGahee) seemed to be part of 4 back rotation they were using yesterday.

It was pretty cruel of the cameras to continue zooming in on him on the sidelines, wasn't it? That said, agree with most of the posters here, Ridley is a stud, BB knows it, no worries. We all talked about the tradeoff between the non-fumbler with no explosiveness vs. the occasional fumbler with explosiveness during the offseason. Well guess what, even that non-fumbler now fumbles.

 

[brdmaverick]

I would prefer to see Ridley get the goal line carries. He always seems to be moving forward.

While Bolden is still an effective runner, I believe he was stopped for a loss of yardage at least three times yesterday.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

There is a difference between

1) not securing the football, resulting in a careless giveaway
and
2) meeting Von Miller in the hole, who forces a fumble

Sure you want to be aware of where the difference-makers are on D and you will want to avoid those hits, but riding the pine is overkill IMO in driving that point across.

 

[PP2]

There is a difference between

1) not securing the football, resulting in a careless giveaway
and
2) meeting Von Miller in the hole, who forces a fumble

Sure you want to be aware of where the difference-makers are on D and you will want to avoid those hits, but riding the pine is overkill IMO in driving that point across.

Von Miller didn't play him last week.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

reality check: Corey Dillon fumbled 5 times in 2004. He didn't get benched. Thank God.

Sometimes the other guy makes the play. That doesn't mean you stop trying to make the play also.

 

[BlueThunder]

I would prefer to see Ridley get the goal line carries. He always seems to be moving forward.

While Bolden is still an effective runner, I believe he was stopped for a loss of yardage at least three times yesterday.

The lack of blocking is a big mystery to me when Bolden gets the ball. He was smothered in the backfield with noplace to go on a few of his carries that yielded losses. I don't think Ridley would have faired much better on those plays.

 

[PATSNUTme]

Yesterday I was one who did not want to see Ridley benched. I still don't.

However after looking at some of his plays, every once in a while he does not tuck the ball into his body. You can see a small space between his body and the ball.

This must have been drilled into his head by BB and Fears. But he still does it, not all the time, but he still does it. So I think now that BB is not being harsh with him because of a couple of fumbles due to big hits or just the defensive player making a well timed hit with the helmet.

 

[RobertWeathers]

reality check: Corey Dillon fumbled 5 times in 2004. He didn't get benched. Thank God.

Sometimes the other guy makes the play. That doesn't mean you stop trying to make the play also.

That year Dillon fumbled once ever 69 times and carried the ball 345 times. Not great, but not awful.

Gotta look at the cirumstances and long term the player's track record for fumbling.

Short-term tells me that Rid has fumbled twice this year and twice in his last 60 carries but overall has fumbled once ever 51 carries. However, Miller made a great play and is a helluva player.

Long term tells us that hes fumbled 4 times in 121 career carries- every 30 carries. That is terrible.

My take- Jury is still out. If he fumbles vs SEA he goes on notice IMO.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Had Ridley fumbled the ball and then it was scooped up for a TD,I think a benching would have been more likely then a hard hit in a pile from one of the best LBs in the game today.

 

[Mix]

Long term tells us that hes fumbled 4 times in 121 career carries- every 30 carries. That is terrible.

My take- Jury is still out. If he fumbles vs SEA he goes on notice IMO.

He has 193 carries (87 last regular season + 4 postseason + 102 this year) so he has fumbled once every 48.25 carries.

I expect them to limit his touches to 18-20 going forward but I don't see them benching him after 2 fumbles when he brings so much to the offense.

 

[Bill B.]

I don't think Ridley should get more than 25 carries a game. Maybe less if we get in a blowout. We have enough running backs to spread the ball around. I would like to see more of Vereen running the ball earlier in the game. The more a back carries, the more tired and beat up he gets which leads to fumbles. Also, I don't want to burn Ridley out during the season. We will need him in the playoffs.

 

[Silver Blue&Red]

There was no benching at all. They ran Ridley to the ground all game long. He was a major factor to where they got at that point. He was done, and the fumble was a big indicator. I think I even saw BB patting the top of his head. Thats my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

 

[JJDChE]

The guy is a 1500 yard back. He ain't getting benched for fumbling it once every few games. We've been spoiled in that regard due to Green-Ellis' ball security the last few years, people are obviously got used to it, because in most of the time when you give a guy the ball 300 times a year he ends up fumbling a few. You want a reality check? Here are the fumble numbers in the first 3 seasons of the top 10 rushers of all time:

Emmitt Smith 19
Sweetness 30
Curtis Martin 12
Barry Sanders 19
LT 13
Bettis 14
****erson 37
Dorsett 27
Brown 14

 

[Froob]

Would much rather deal with Ridley and his fumbles than a non explosive back like lawfirm who doesn't(err didn't...). Just hope they don't overwork him. What's Vereen's deal is he not that good or are the other backs just plain better than him?

 

[JJDChE]

The guy is a 1500 yard back. He ain't getting benched for fumbling it once every few games. We've been spoiled in that regard due to Green-Ellis' ball security the last few years, people are obviously got used to it, because in most of the time when you give a guy the ball 300 times a year he ends up fumbling a few. You want a reality check? Here are the fumble numbers in the first 3 seasons of the top 10 rushers of all time:

Emmitt Smith 19
Sweetness 30
Curtis Martin 12
Barry Sanders 19
LT 13
Bettis 14
****erson 37
Dorsett 27
Brown 14

I should note that there was a pretty solid trend of guys drastically reducing their fumbles after their first three years.

Just looking at the top 5:

Player: touches/fumble yrs 1-3, touches/fum yr 4-end of career
Emmitt: 58 > 91
Payton: 31 > 61
Sanders: 51 > 111
CuMar: 90 > 172
LT: 97 > 149

 

[NewFeep]

The next time Brady throws an INT bench him for a few offensive series. After all, ball security is the end all, be all, to winning in the NFL. When he's picked off obviously he's "gassed" and unable to protect the possession of the ball properly. Sit the slacker on the bench!

No one, I repeat, NO ONE can be 100% perfect on every single play. The other teams is getting paid too.

Benching Ridley would be idiotic...... and he will not be benched.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

Ridley needs to give Kevin Faulk a call.
Kevin had a fumbling problem earlier in his career. A rather significant problem that killed the Patriots in at least couple of games. Ridley can learn how to overcome it.

 

[ausbacker]

The guy is a 1500 yard back. He ain't getting benched for fumbling it once every few games. We've been spoiled in that regard due to Green-Ellis' ball security the last few years, people are obviously got used to it, because in most of the time when you give a guy the ball 300 times a year he ends up fumbling a few. You want a reality check? Here are the fumble numbers in the first 3 seasons of the top 10 rushers of all time:

Emmitt Smith 19
Sweetness 30
Curtis Martin 12
Barry Sanders 19
LT 13
Bettis 14
****erson 37
Dorsett 27
Brown 14

I would be very surprised if Ridley put up 1500 yards rushing this season. My guess is he'll be closer to 1200 as BB works Bolden, Vereen and Woodhead through the season to keep all four "fresh" for playoff football.

 

[JJDChE]

I would be very surprised if Ridley put up 1500 yards rushing this season. My guess is he'll be closer to 1200 as BB works Bolden, Vereen and Woodhead through the season to keep all four "fresh" for playoff football.

I wouldn't be surprised if he put up 1500. He;s average 4.8 yds per tote right now. I think that's enough for Belichick to ride him to 300+ carries. It was for Dillon in '04 and Belichick has publicly stated he would give a guy that many carries again if he had someone capable (paraphrasing).

If Ridley kept at his current pace he'd only need to carry the ball 13.5 times per game to reach 1200 yards. Considering he's carrying it 20.4 times per game to this point, I doubt he'll only average 13.5 the rest of the way.

I wholeheartedly disagree with the notion that Belichick uses RBBC committee to keep guys fresh. He knows enough not to run guys into the ground, but he'll feed a guy the rock if he's producing.

 

[RobertWeathers]

He has 193 carries (87 last regular season + 4 postseason + 102 this year) so he has fumbled once every 48.25 carries.

I expect them to limit his touches to 18-20 going forward but I don't see them benching him after 2 fumbles when he brings so much to the offense.

I cherry-picked. 48 times per carry is better, but still not great