Let's Put An End To the Maroney Madness(X3 Merged)

[Armen Da Pats Fan]

Laurence was, again, the only negative in an otherwise all-around positive night. I am afraid at some point this lack of a running game is going to come back to bite us on the arse.

I truly believe Laurence can develop into a nice third-down, change of pace type back, catching screens and picking up blocks, similar to what Faulk is now, after Kevin retires. His two catches for big yardage and first downs vs. the Ravens were beautiful and a glimpse of what he could become.

But to date, Laurence just has not shown me he has what it takes to be an every down back.

Yesterday, twice, he ran directly into the line, when he could have bounced out to his right a couple of steps and picked up 6-7-8 yards or more. He just does not see the field well.

The Pats are now well positioned to have a serious shot at Darren McFadden, because Miami is not going to draft him, seeing as how they already have Ronnie Brown.

I mean, I watched the Pats prefer to throw screen passes to Wes Welker for first downs (a play that works very well, by the way) as opposed to handing off to their "feature" back.

Belichick keeps defending Maroney, but I am convinced that is smoke and mirrors to keep Maroney's confidence up until he can find another solution.

 

[Tyler.Durden]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

I doesn't look like lawrence is the answer right now, and i doubt we keep the pick, i think we will try to get multiple picks to sure up the aging defence.

Perhaps we take a shot at Michael Turner?

 

[Armen Da Pats Fan]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

I doesn't look like lawrence is the answer right now, and i doubt we keep the pick, i think we will try to get multiple picks to sure up the aging defence.

Perhaps we take a shot at Michael Turner?

Trading the pick would be interesting, but McFadden is such a rare talent that I truly hope the Pats make a push to grab him.

He reminds me of Emmitt Smith @ Florida.

 

[borg]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

Consider LoMo's longest run consisted of a scrum aided by the OLine pushing him from behind for 10 yards, I will only examine his other 7 runs...7 carries for 8 yards...1.14 yds/carry....examination over. Can't wait for the excuse makers today.

 

[A.C Vegas]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

Ok i don't get it either he doesn't hit the hole hard enough or he can't bounce it outside which is it people. He carried the Ball 8 times that is it. and that was the coaches choice because Faulk didn't at all. Stop trying to find fault with this team already and jsut enjoy it.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

they only ran 8 times. For the rest of the season the Pats are gonna win or lose by throwing the ball IMO

 

[pats1]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

lawrence

Slick. It's always a good idea to spell a player's name right when you want to criticize him.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

Number One defense against the run.... maybe, just maybe, another team has enough talent in one area to effect how the Patriots play. You guys act like the Pats should be able to do anything they want, whenever they want. The run blocking was horrendous when they tried it mostly because Pitt was blitzing so many guys on nearly every play that they just jammed up the blockers - show me some plays where there were big holes LoMo missed.

As BB says, everyone could improve and LoMo's on that list for certain. But this is just another thread started by fans who apparently don't want to undertand that the Pats find something they can exploit and go for it. You could tell from the get go that running the ball was not something that BB had decided to focus on, evidently because he correctly estimated that Brady could burn Pitt big time with the pass. I mean, did you watch the game??????

 

[sebman2112]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

Trading the pick would be interesting, but McFadden is such a rare talent that I truly hope the Pats make a push to grab him.

He reminds me of Emmitt Smith @ Florida.

Really, I can't believe anyone would make this comparison. Entirely different styles, and body builds.

 

[FrontSeven]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

You guys act like the Pats should be able to do anything they want, whenever they want.

With a first round running back and a beaten defense on its heels in the fourth quarter? Yep. Is that like an unusual request?

 

[BradyToMoss]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

LM has the power and the skills, he showed it last year, we know what he can do, we've seen it, we just haven't seen it yet this season, he will show it, watch.

What frustrates me about him is, like people have mentioned, his reluctance to bounce a plugged up middle to the outside, I saw Willie Parker do that all night last night, the middle was plugged, he read it, then simply bounced the play outside to the gap and ripped off 20 yards. LM has the same speed and athletism of Parker, he just needs to have the wherewithall to do it and read it.

If we're sitting there at #2 overall in April, some team will trade their entire draft to us for Darren McFadden we can entirely revamp our defense, we can trade down to the middle of round one and pick up an extra 2cond or 3rd round pick to go with the 2-3rd rounders we already have, we can have a bonanza on draft day. And the rich get richer.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

With a first round running back and a beaten defense on its heels in the fourth quarter? Yep. Is that like an unusual request?

A beaten defense? We gave up 13 points, again- what game were you watching? I shouldn't even be continuing this thread....

 

[LiveShot]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

The Pats have proven this year that you do not need a great running game. Yards rushed and time of possession are two of the more overrated stats in the NFL. Don't forget the guy on injured reserve, he was better than average til he got crunched in the Dallas game. Mental block on his name.

 

[PantsB]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

Consider LoMo's longest run consisted of a scrum aided by the OLine pushing him from behind for 10 yards, I will only examine his other 7 runs...7 carries for 8 yards...1.14 yds/carry....examination over. Can't wait for the excuse makers today.

So the fact that he fought through that scrum doesn't count somehow?

 

[PaulThePat]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

Don't forget the guy on injured reserve, he was better than average til he got crunched in the Dallas game. Mental block on his name.

Sammy Morris who indeed was having a solid year. I look forward to seeing him back next season :rocker:

 

[wdkantro2]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

Trading the pick would be interesting, but McFadden is such a rare talent that I truly hope the Pats make a push to grab him.

He reminds me of Emmitt Smith @ Florida.

Yeah except for the fact that they have totally different playing styles

I don't see how a game in which LM got less than 10 carries against the league's best defense proves he isn't ready to be a 20 carry guy...

 

[chunga]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

I don't care who you had as a back last night the run wasn't there. That is why they only ran it a few times. Maroney has only carried 126 times this year for a total of 529 yards, 4.2 per carry. Sammy Morris has 85 attempts and how many weeks has he been out?

 

[Michigan Dave]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

I think that's a tough statement to make based on yesterday's game. The run wasn't there, and it was pretty evident the plays we were going to run. I think the only time I anticipated run and we didn't was the long TD to Moss when they sold the fake so well. It was no secret when we lined up in the I and powered into the line that it was coming. That said, LoMo has to be able to get 3 yards on that.

 

[newton_tom_cat]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

Laurence was, again, the only negative in an otherwise all-around positive night. I am afraid at some point this lack of a running game is going to come back to bite us on the arse.

I truly believe Laurence can develop into a nice third-down, change of pace type back, catching screens and picking up blocks, similar to what Faulk is now, after Kevin retires. His two catches for big yardage and first downs vs. the Ravens were beautiful and a glimpse of what he could become.

But to date, Laurence just has not shown me he has what it takes to be an every down back.

Yesterday, twice, he ran directly into the line, when he could have bounced out to his right a couple of steps and picked up 6-7-8 yards or more. He just does not see the field well.

The Pats are now well positioned to have a serious shot at Darren McFadden, because Miami is not going to draft him, seeing as how they already have Ronnie Brown.

I mean, I watched the Pats prefer to throw screen passes to Wes Welker for first downs (a play that works very well, by the way) as opposed to handing off to their "feature" back.

Belichick keeps defending Maroney, but I am convinced that is smoke and mirrors to keep Maroney's confidence up until he can find another solution.

simple: trade him to the Bills for Marshawh Lynch and their #1 pick. They are mystified by our players, thinking they're the "answer" they've been missing.

 

[Patsman]

Re: Honestly, can we now all agree that Maroney is NOT the answer as an every down ba

I will agree that BB is trying to keep cover up his distaste for LM. Bottom line is this - if he was high on him, he would use him more. I'm sorry, even in an offense that is pass first, you use your RB more than that. We've talked about him being saved, etc. for the post season - c'mon at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if BB doesn't want to expose him too much for the sake of trying to trade him off, who knows. Yes, we haven't needed him, but there will be times in big games where we need a guy that can break a tackle or two in a big spot. I'm not calling him a bust yet, but I'd say the fate of LM is leaning in that direction.