How long can the Patriots offense be 1 dimensional once it gets cold and snowy?

[PATRIOT64]

We saw that after his injury last year Maroney really struggled to dust off the rust from not playing and it was in the hands of Corey to do the ground work and keep the team winning and away from being too 1 dimentional.

While this offense is awesome right now in the mild weather and looking air coryell-like, I wonder if Morris is out for a longer period and if Maroney is once again slow to progress after his injury can we continue to be as dominant once the harsh weather starts to arrive?

Remember there will be very few nice and comfortable games all winter as the Pats will stay in the eastern part of the US where it will probably be cold and snowy so I just wonder if this offense remains 1 dimentional will there be trouble down the road where we will HAVE to have those grind em out games to keep the opposing D honest? - The running game really becomes an even more important issue right after Thanksgiving,I hope we have a productive RB situation by then and Morris and Maroney plays as they are expected to do in this offense and that is just to be a threat to the increased blitz schemes team will continue to throw at the Pats.

The running game in the winter months is definately a worry IMO

Besides I don't want to see Brady throwing 40+ passes every game,It puts him in danger every time he steps back especially with Blitzing teams good at it like Pitt,Baltimore and the Giants ect:,I would love the ground game to be a big insurance policy in december and beyond - I hope we have it because I don't think we will be putting up high 30s and lower 40s scores once the weather sours,We will have close games where the running game becomes crucial.

 

[Tunescribe]

Re: How long can the Patriots offense be 1 dimentional once it gets cold and snowy?

We saw that after his injury last year Maroney really struggled to dust off the rust from not playing and it was in the hands of Corey to do the ground work and keep the team winning and away from being too 1 dimentional.

While this offense is awesome right now in the mild weather and looking air coryell-like, I wonder if Morris is out for a longer period and if Maroney is once again slow to progress after his injury can we continue to be as dominant once the harsh weather starts to arrive?

Remember there will be very few nice and comfortable games all winter as the Pats will stay in the eastern part of the US where it will probably be cold and snowy so I just wonder if this offense remains 1 dimentional will there be trouble down the road where we will HAVE to have those grind em out games to keep the opposing D honest? - The running game really becomes an even more important issue right after Thanksgiving,I hope we have a productive RB situation by then and Morris and Maroney plays as they are expected to do in this offense and that is just to be a threat to the increased blitz schemes team will continue to throw at the Pats.

The running game in the winter months is definately a worry IMO

Besides I don't want to see Brady throwing 40+ passes every game,It puts him in danger every time he steps back especially with Blitzing teams good at it like Pitt,Baltimore and the Giants ect:,I would love the ground game to be a big insurance policy in december and beyond - I hope we have it because I don't think we will be putting up high 30s and lower 40s scores once the weather sours,We will have close games where the running game becomes crucial.

The artificial turf will make a difference for the passing game. The only real concern is wind and snow.

 

[PatsSteve1]

Re: How long can the Patriots offense be 1 dimentional once it gets cold and snowy?

In the 2001 Snow Bowl game passing went better than running. Wind can be a big factor. But just snow and cold alone I don't think has as much effect on the passing game. But whatever the weather, they have to have a run game that at least makes other teams have defend against it. Maroney has to come back and stay back with Morris back at some point. They can't go forever without at least one of them seeing there's not much out there in FA otherwise.

 

[LoveDemPats]

Re: How long can the Patriots offense be 1 dimentional once it gets cold and snowy?

Maybe I am in dream land, but I always wanted to see Eckel carry the rock for a bit. To me, the pass can easily set up the run with the pieces that we have. And, the two things that are important in the run game are patience, and blitz pickup.

Patience to allow the hole to open. I believe that the straight ahead bull like running of Heath and Eck could serve the pats just fine, (should Maroney not be back for a bit).

Blitz pickup is obvious. But, not everyone can do it, and I don't know if Eck can. We haven't seen him in that situation yet. He has been in there just to finish the game where no passing was done.

Eckel looks like one of those types of players who can handle the load. He could be a hammer ya know? I think the pats are fine. That O line is freak'n awesome, and with the passing game sooo powerful, teams are going to start to key big time for that. The run game will respond.

Remember, Wade stated that his game plan was to stop the run, and Moss. He said that blatently. People have laughed at him for it. It makes total sense that the pats would simply say, "ok, we'll throw to these other guys instead." And they did.

The run game, IMHO is going to be just fine.

 

[Pats726]

Re: How long can the Patriots offense be 1 dimentional once it gets cold and snowy?

Maybe I am in dream land, but I always wanted to see Eckel carry the rock for a bit. To me, the pass can easily set up the run with the pieces that we have. And, the two things that are important in the run game are patience, and blitz pickup.

Patience to allow the hole to open. I believe that the straight ahead bull like running of Heath and Eck could serve the pats just fine, (should Maroney not be back for a bit).

Blitz pickup is obvious. But, not everyone can do it, and I don't know if Eck can. We haven't seen him in that situation yet. He has been in there just to finish the game where no passing was done.

Eckel looks like one of those types of players who can handle the load. He could be a hammer ya know? I think the pats are fine. That O line is freak'n awesome, and with the passing game sooo powerful, teams are going to start to key big time for that. The run game will respond.

Remember, Wade stated that his game plan was to stop the run, and Moss. He said that blatently. People have laughed at him for it. It makes total sense that the pats would simply say, "ok, we'll throw to these other guys instead." And they did.

The run game, IMHO is going to be just fine.

I agree about Eckel..Evans in the cold..they are more the straight ahead runners that can keep on running in the cold..

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Re: How long can the Patriots offense be 1 dimentional once it gets cold and snowy?

Are you guys trying to find things to worry about?

The Patriots have 850 rushing yards this season. Do you know where that ranks among NFL teams? 1st out of 32 teams.

 

[DarrylS]

Re: How long can the Patriots offense be 1 dimentional once it gets cold and snowy?

I don't think they are one dimensional, they can use the short passing game interchangeably with their running game.. this team plays to its strengths and not worried one bit.

 

[SpiderFox53]

Re: How long can the Patriots offense be 1 dimentional once it gets cold and snowy?

Are you guys trying to find things to worry about?

The Patriots have 850 rushing yards this season. Do you know where that ranks among NFL teams? 1st out of 32 teams.

But it only ranks 7th on a per game basis. Oh the horror

 

[BrianPat]

Re: How long can the Patriots offense be 1 dimentional once it gets cold and snowy?

Let's not forget what we did with Antwain Smith as our running back. I think we're fine with a couple of downhill runners in Eckel and Evans. I like the mental pictures of safeties coming and meeting those two head on, especially Eckel !!

 

[MrTibbs]

INFO ALERT:


The Patriots have called I believe 204 passing plays and 202 rushing plays. If that isn't balance I don't know what is.


The Patriots are #1 in passing offense and #7 in rushing offense and that's without the teams #1 HB at that.

Somebody didn't take the time to research before they called the Patriots One Dimensional.


http://www.nfl.com/stats/categoryst...Type=REG&tabSeq=2&qualified=false&Submit=Find

 

[danny88]

We saw that after his injury last year Maroney really struggled to dust off the rust from not playing and it was in the hands of Corey to do the ground work and keep the team winning and away from being too 1 dimentional.

While this offense is awesome right now in the mild weather and looking air coryell-like, I wonder if Morris is out for a longer period and if Maroney is once again slow to progress after his injury can we continue to be as dominant once the harsh weather starts to arrive?

Remember there will be very few nice and comfortable games all winter as the Pats will stay in the eastern part of the US where it will probably be cold and snowy so I just wonder if this offense remains 1 dimentional will there be trouble down the road where we will HAVE to have those grind em out games to keep the opposing D honest? - The running game really becomes an even more important issue right after Thanksgiving,I hope we have a productive RB situation by then and Morris and Maroney plays as they are expected to do in this offense and that is just to be a threat to the increased blitz schemes team will continue to throw at the Pats.

The running game in the winter months is definately a worry IMO

Besides I don't want to see Brady throwing 40+ passes every game,It puts him in danger every time he steps back especially with Blitzing teams good at it like Pitt,Baltimore and the Giants ect:,I would love the ground game to be a big insurance policy in december and beyond - I hope we have it because I don't think we will be putting up high 30s and lower 40s scores once the weather sours,We will have close games where the running game becomes crucial.

If Morris is back in four weeks or so this is not that big deal at all. I think people forget the pats had a very good rushing attack up until the Dallas game when Morris was hurt.

Of course the morons who dont watch the pats think we never had a running game. We did and it ranks very high in the NFL.


Hopefully Maroney can stay healthy for once and run the rock with Faulk and Evans until Sammy gets better.

 

[Boston Boxer]

We will have Moroney back this week. I wish people would not under value Faulk. He is a stud and has ALWAY come up big when we needed him to. We are fine at running back.

and just remember, a three yard curl is the same as a RB dive for three yards.

 

[danny88]

We will have Moroney back this week. I wish people would not under value Faulk. He is a stud and has ALWAY come up big when we needed him to. We are fine at running back.

and just remember, a three yard curl is the same as a RB dive for three yards.

I am FINE with Maroney, Faulk, Evans/ Eckals. Maroney and faulk alone is a nice tandem. The durabilty is what worries me with those two.

 

[ATippett56]

Remember there will be very few nice and comfortable games all winter as the Pats will stay in the eastern part of the US where it will probably be cold and snowy so I just wonder if this offense remains 1 dimentional will there be trouble down the road where we will HAVE to have those grind em out games to keep the opposing D honest? - The running game really becomes an even more important issue right after Thanksgiving,I hope we have a productive RB situation by then and Morris and Maroney plays as they are expected to do in this offense and that is just to be a threat to the increased blitz schemes team will continue to throw at the Pats.

The running game in the winter months is definately a worry IMO

Besides I don't want to see Brady throwing 40+ passes every game,It puts him in danger every time he steps back especially with Blitzing teams good at it like Pitt,Baltimore and the Giants ect:,I would love the ground game to be a big insurance policy in december and beyond - I hope we have it because I don't think we will be putting up high 30s and lower 40s scores once the weather sours,We will have close games where the running game becomes crucial.

One dimensional huh?

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Category/10_Power_Rankings.html

Cold, Hard Football Facts: Patriots don’t run the ball? Guess that’s why they’re leading the league in most rushing yards on 1st and 10 (457). Balanced New England has attempted 204 passes and 202 rushes this year.

 

[FrontSeven]

Have you ever seen a game where weather shut down Tom Brady?

 

[shmessy]

Global Warming.

Problem solved.

 

[FortressX]

Global Warming.

Problem solved.

It really hasn't been bad weather wise the last 2 years.
Cool,Windy & Rainy is a more likely scenario.

 

[TomBrady'sGoat]

Let's not forget what we did with Antwain Smith as our running back.

Exactly. This team won two superbowls with Antwain-freaking-Smith and an inferior OL.

They struggled to run in one game where they were without their starter, lost their #2 RB, and the opposing coach admitted to focusing on stopping the run.

I'm not overly concerned.

 

[patsox23]

I disagree with the two main premises of the thread:

1) The Patriots are a one-dimensional team. They're not. AT ALL. They didn't run the ball last week but they ran it 29 times. And we're ranked 7th overall in rushing.

2) It's hard to maintain a passing game in the snow. In some ways it's EASIER to pass in the snow, especially if you're used to (and practicing in) the conditions. The Pats will have a big advantage in the passing game.

 

[Michigan Dave]

It shouldn't make a big difference. They are used to it, and the turf will allow better route running. When I was a QB, I liked the bad weather better, because my WRs knew where they were going. The DBs were the ones more apt to slip up and allow a big play.