RB position going forward?

MAYOnnaise said:

Ridley only fumbled once in the game today. The first one he was ruled down by contact. The second one was so flukey that I am willing to forgive him for it. Prior to this season he only had 5 career fumble on 377 carries. While not great, I feel that his fumbling issues are being massively overblown.

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Although I don't think the Pats should give up on Ridley, I don't think Belichick really cares if they called Ridley's first drop a fumble or not. It was questionable whether it was a fumble or not (I thought it was), but Belichick would be upset anyway that Ridley did not hold onto the ball.

Ridley is too valuable to this team to give up on him. There will be weeks that he will be a much better start than anyone on the roster including Vereen. But I think he needs to work on his ball security. He had too many drops today and in the preseason.

The questions for next week are

1) Who is the backup to Vereen?

2) Who is the best at picking up the blitz (to play on 3rd down)?

Silver said:

Actually , I think he had 7 before this game. Stevan Ridley on fumble against Bills: 'It sucks for me to be in this situation' | masslive.com

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I think that includes 2 in the playoffs, but I couldn't find those stats. I thought he had 2 in the playoffs but I didn't want to go just off memory. I don't really blame him for the playoff fumble last season though, considering the way he got obliterated.

Rob0729 said:

Although I don't think the Pats should give up on Ridley, I don't think Belichick really cares if they called Ridley's first drop a fumble or not. It was questionable whether it was a fumble or not (I thought it was), but Belichick would be upset anyway that Ridley did not hold onto the ball.

Ridley is too valuable to this team to give up on him. There will be weeks that he will be a much better start than anyone on the roster including Vereen. But I think he needs to work on his ball security. He had too many drops today and in the preseason.

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I didn't see a replay of the first "fumble" so I can't say whether the refs got it right or not. I just think its crazy that people want to give up on Ridley and play Bolden instead. I don't think Bolden has shown all that much, especially since he got busted for PEDs.

patchick said:

OK, you lost me there. We're talking about Stevan Ridley, right?

He's a terrific runner because of his balance, body control and footwork. He's also slow as molasses.

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I don't know what games you're watching PC,Ridley looks pretty damn fast to me.

You don't run for over a 1,000 yards being 'slow as molasses'.....sure maybe he gets caught from behind at times after a 15 yard run,but he hits the hole and makes decisions pretty damn fast.

Maroney was a slow back who also never had instincts,Ridley does.

If Ridley gets another chance soon I would not be surprised to see him rushing for another 1,000......that being said,I love Vereen as well,it's a two headed monster rushing attack most teams would kill to have.

MAYOnnaise said:

I didn't see a replay of the first "fumble" so I can't say whether the refs got it right or not. I just think its crazy that people want to give up on Ridley and play Bolden instead. I don't think Bolden has shown all that much, especially since he got busted for PEDs.

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I didn't know why Marrone challenged the call in the first place because Connolly recovered the ball if they declared it a fumble anyway, but it did look like a fumble to me.

I do agree that playing Bolden over Ridley is silly. Bolden had one or two good games last year. Otherwise, he has been ordinary or worse. Ridley is a far better RB who did have over 1,200 yards and 12 TDs last year. He would start on most teams in this league.

I hope and think Ridley gets the start again Thursday. It was frustrating and game changing, but it's still very early to give up on him. And while I do want Vereen having an expanded role, I'm not sure if he's built to handle the feature back workload.

Blount looked completely awful and Bolden is too injury prone, I honestly think RB depth needs to be addressed sometime soon.

mgteich said:

The questions for next week are

1) Who is the backup to Vereen?

2) Who is the best at picking up the blitz (to play on 3rd down)?

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Ruling out Ridley to start is foolish.

Belichick dealt out his punishment to Stevan by sitting him and that was a warning,I would think Ridley will be given the ball first on Thursday night but practice will probably be a rough going for him,I expect them to be tough on him.

After three seasons still seeing 'Vareen' on this board... Holy ****** some of you are stupid

I would be lying if I said I didn't miss Woodhead in the mix today....I loved that little bastard.

MAYOnnaise said:

I think that includes 2 in the playoffs, but I couldn't find those stats. I thought he had 2 in the playoffs but I didn't want to go just off memory. I don't really blame him for the playoff fumble last season though, considering the way he got obliterated.

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You are correct. 2 in playoffs

JackBauer said:

I think people are overreacting about Ridley, as usual.

That said, Vereen really impressed. I wouldn't mind seeing him as the RB1, especially because having a dual threat really makes the offense less predictable.

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Thats only 3 fumbles in 2 games.

Nothing to be concerned about.

This is the reason why Bolden was kept.

Dress him next game and give him reps assuming his practices are up to par.

Wait a sec...You start out saying he ONLY fumbled once....THEN describe how EACH of his TWO fumbles occurred!? He fumbled TWICE right?.....and how many other times did he juggle the ball out there?? Ridley has had a problem fumbling since his college days at LSU. He has continued to demonstrate that he can't consistently hang onto or protect the ball...I would say that this is VERY troubling wouldn't u ? I think vereen, bolden (if healthy) and blount get the bulk of the carries until they can get Ridley figured out. You have to think this will be his last season here (don't have his contract info handy)

MAYOnnaise said:

Ridley only fumbled once in the game today. The first one he was ruled down by contact. The second one was so flukey that I am willing to forgive him for it. Prior to this season he only had 5 career fumble on 377 carries. While not great, I feel that his fumbling issues are being massively overblown.

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Vereen is a better player than Ridley. More dynamic. Fits our offense better too.

Vereen should be the starter

OK, let's say that Vereen is our best back. Unless, we want him to play on all downs, we need to play him where he is best, or where the alternative has the biggest drop-off. We don't know how Bolden fits in. However, as of now, we have Ridley/Blount as our 1st down back, and Vereen as our change of pace and 3rd down back. I'm not sure of what other setup would be best, even if we accept that we want Vereen in on as many reps as is reasonabley possible.

Banjo said:

Vereen is a better player than Ridley. More dynamic. Fits our

offense better too.

Vereen should be the starter

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Ridley was averaging 5.1 yards per att. Vereen had a great game but I don't think the Bills are a good run defense, with that said im hoping BB dose not put Ridley in the dog house cause it will hurt the team he had almost 1300 yards last year he only had 4 fumbles last year Adrian Peterson averages 6 per season,

not everyone is BJGE who never ever fumbles and even he fumbled 3 times when he got the ball for more then 250 att for the first time in he's career

Ridley's (2nd) fumble today was the turning point in the game. Up until that fumble the Pats were dominating the Bills and had taken the fans completely out of the game. I was there and the place was dead silent as Brady was marching them towards another score to go up 17-0. After that fumble, it all changed; the Pats lost their mojo, the fans got back into it and the Bills got a reprieve.

Does anybody think Vereen could handle a "feature back" workload without breaking down?

If something season-long happens to Ridley -- injury or benching as the case may be -- Vereen won't get that many of Ridley's carries. We're really considering Ridley vs. Bolden vs. Blount.

Playing Blount over Ridley is painful. And Bolden doesn't seem to be healthy.

I guess another option is to give Leon Washington some reps, freeing up Vereen for other work, but that idea seems like it has more complexity than it has actual merit.

andrewgarrr said:

After three seasons still seeing 'Vareen' on this board... Holy ****** some of you are stupid

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oh no its the message board spelling police