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Blount Signs with Pats (2yr deal)


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If they HAD signed Blount in the offseason (for more money and far less behavior clauses that I'm sure they have on him now) they never would have brought in Jonas Gray and seen what they have in him.
You don't know that. They put Gray on waivers, he cleared them and was subsequently signed to the PQ.
 
I like the idea of supplementing the team with another 'back mid-season--at least in principle. It invigorates the running game and general offense.

We've been on fire with mid-season acquisitions this year. Keep it up BB!
 
If its true, then I am surprised. Still there's is no risk and some potential value here so there's not much to hate unless someone you like gets cut. (White makes the most sense of those suggested to me.)

I do not have high expectations for Blount because in Pittsburgh he reverted to his Tampa Bay form. He once again did NOT gain the tough yards in short yardage situations with any consistency. People here forget that for most of the first half of the season when he was with the Pats, Blount was the same soft RB who never ran like a big back. However for some reason (see Ivan Fears) for most of the second half of the season, Blount actually ran like a 250 lb RB. The transformation, to my mind, just showed how good the Pats coaching staff was. The problem was the coaching didn't seem to stick in Pittsburgh.

So the mystery that is Lagarrette Blount still remains. Will the team get the battering ram we saw the 2nd half of the season, or the underperforming, inconsistent, feast or famine, RB that he's been his whole career, EXCEPT for that short 8 game stretch last season. The answer is, "who knows". I doubt BB knows either, but he obviously he thinks its worth the risk.

At worst he could be gone before the season ends, at best he's a valued back up who has a skill set that's needed.
 
When Vereen was out, they still scored points. When Gronk goes out..then the offense hurts big time.

Nobody's claiming Vereen is a huge individual difference maker like Gronkowski. The issue is having a legitimate receiving back versus having none.

The Pats' two genuinely lousy offensive performances last season came when Vereen and Gronk were BOTH out.
 
Blount hasn't been setting the world on fire this season (mainly in the recent games). He could be the oddman out once Siliga returns to the 53. Who knows? We'll see what he can do in the next few weeks.

It would be amazing if we lose our starting RB to IR during the season, and then improve our RB situation. We can judge at week 17. Does the fact that no one claimed him tell us something?

The Pats know him and he did not present problems here, prior to that his road was somewhat rocky.. low risk, high reward...

He should have a real chip on his shoulder...
 
If its true, then I am surprised. Still there's is no risk and some potential value here so there's not much to hate unless someone you like gets cut. (White makes the most sense of those suggested to me.)

I do not have high expectations for Blount because in Pittsburgh he reverted to his Tampa Bay form. He once again did NOT gain the tough yards in short yardage situations with any consistency. People here forget that for most of the first half of the season when he was with the Pats, Blount was the same soft RB who never ran like a big back. However for some reason (see Ivan Fears) for most of the second half of the season, Blount actually ran like a 250 lb RB. The transformation, to my mind, just showed how good the Pats coaching staff was. The problem was the coaching didn't seem to stick in Pittsburgh.

So the mystery that is Lagarrette Blount still remains. Will the team get the battering ram we saw the 2nd half of the season, or the underperforming, inconsistent, feast or famine, RB that he's been his whole career, EXCEPT for that short 8 game stretch last season. The answer is, "who knows". I doubt BB knows either, but he obviously he thinks its worth the risk.

At worst he could be gone before the season ends, at best he's a valued back up who has a skill set that's needed.

See the 7 yard loss on 2nd and goal from the one a few weeks back. Holy carp was that some seriously bad football.
 
Four things come to mind:

1. I think Blount went to Pittsburgh on promises of lots of playing time as much as for the increase in $$$. (Same with Dane Fletcher). When that didn't materialize and even went backwards, he got pissed - pure speculation on my part, I agree, but it makes sense.

2. BB would NEVER have brought him back if he had the slightest worry that Blount would be disruptive to a team that is hitting on every cylinder. They aren't worried about his attitude.

3. He's great in bad weather...and he's got FRESH LEGS!

4. And Denver doesn't get him!

Edit: 5th thing: I don't want Grey carrying the ball 35 times a game. Too much football left for that.
 
I do not have high expectations for Blount because in Pittsburgh he reverted to his Tampa Bay form. He once again did NOT gain the tough yards in short yardage situations with any consistency. People here forget that for most of the first half of the season when he was with the Pats, Blount was the same soft RB who never ran like a big back. However for some reason (see Ivan Fears) for most of the second half of the season, Blount actually ran like a 250 lb RB. The transformation, to my mind, just showed how good the Pats coaching staff was. The problem was the coaching didn't seem to stick in Pittsburgh.

So the mystery that is Lagarrette Blount still remains. Will the team get the battering ram we saw the 2nd half of the season, or the underperforming, inconsistent, feast or famine, RB that he's been his whole career, EXCEPT for that short 8 game stretch last season. The answer is, "who knows". I doubt BB knows either, but he obviously he thinks its worth the risk.

At worst he could be gone before the season ends, at best he's a valued back up who has a skill set that's needed.

Agree. See my prior post regarding Fears & Pats coaching re:Blount. I do not see any risk of substance however in this critical position injury depth signing.
 
Nobody's claiming Vereen is a huge individual difference maker like Gronkowski. The issue is having a legitimate receiving back versus having none.

We don't know it is and issue because White has not had enough time to prove himself as functional and productive in this offense.

The Pats' two genuinely lousy offensive performances last season came when Vereen and Gronk were BOTH out.

I would agree. Your point about by losing Vereen and having a huge chunk of the playbook taken out doesn't matter to me much because with Gronk, they will still put up 30+ ppg.
 
Funny, the New England Patriots seems to be the only team he can play for. He's like the guy who screws up his life when he has a lot of freedom but then straightens out when he joins the army.
 
Nobody's claiming Vereen is a huge individual difference maker like Gronkowski. The issue is having a legitimate receiving back versus having none.

The Pats' two genuinely lousy offensive performances last season came when Vereen and Gronk were BOTH out.

Yes, and Faulk's absence contributed heavily to the playoff losses in 2006 and 2007. From then to 2013, Bill went without a viable receiving backup for all of one week, the opener of 2010. They went thin again in 2013, got bit in the ass, and snagged not one, but two potential backups in the offseason (though one won't be available until next year).
 
Blount hasn't been setting the world on fire this season (mainly in the recent games). He could be the oddman out once Siliga returns to the 53. Who knows? We'll see what he can do in the next few weeks.

I haven't really looked at him this season, but last season he improved dramatically after BB made an adjustment to his running style and got him to lower his pad level:

“Bill told me — he said the only thing I wasn’t doing right was running with a lower pad level,” Blount said. “So, I changed that and I started breaking more tackles, started getting a lot of extra yardage after contact.”

That’s all it took. That’s the only thing Blount would credit with his distinct turnaround this season. If only someone had told Blount to do that earlier in his career.

“Yeah, I wish they would have told me a long time ago,” Blount said. “Who knows what could have happened.”

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2014/01/bill-belich...-paid-off-in-patriots-playoff-win-over-colts/

http://nesn.com/2014/01/bill-belich...-paid-off-in-patriots-playoff-win-over-colts/
 
I really think that some players need the kind of structure the Patriots offer in order to keep out of trouble. The Steelers of late have not impressed with structure nor shown any ability to handle malcontents. I think they play things too fast and loose down there and it leads to problems like this. Tomlin seems like he is a little too nice of a guy. The Patriots seem good at setting expectations up front which goes a long way to staving off these kinds of issues. They also seem to have very competent leadership and scheduling structure in place. I don't expect issues from Blount here given the difference in environment.
 
I would agree. Your point about by losing Vereen and having a huge chunk of the playbook taken out doesn't matter to me much because with Gronk, they will still put up 30+ ppg.

In 2012 NE scored nearly the same amount of points with and without Gronk, and actually had a better record without him. But a more viable backup really would have helped when the chips were down in January.
 
e) the player is never "injured" but the team wants to IR the player and not lose them and because they will still have a job, goes along with the IR designation.

They will not release James White. They will talk him into agreeing to the IR designation.

I'm genuinely curious -- can you find any example of a player who hit the IR midseason without ever appearing on any injury report, missing any practice, etc.? A massive violation of the CBA seems like a pretty big risk to take for a player you consider relatively expendable anyway.
 
I'm genuinely curious -- can you find any example of a player who hit the IR midseason without ever appearing on any injury report, missing any practice, etc.? A massive violation of the CBA seems like a pretty big risk to take for a player you consider relatively expendable anyway.

Ditto. Guys getting put on IR with relatively minor injuries happens often enough, but I'm not aware of any who were perfectly healthy.
 
So will James White go to the IR or practice squad?
 
Yeah, I cannot imagine they would IR someone not injured. This is a different BB than young BB. He doesn't seem to cut corners like he used to. He has confidence that he can win without the crutch. I could see him IRing someone like Dobson if the case could be made that his foot hasn't healed yet, but not a RB with no history of injury.
 
Valuable signing. Increases kickoff performance. Adds depth to the backfield in case of injury to Gray. I feel Gray earned the opportunity to be the primary back for this team and would hate to see them split carries unless Gray struggles.
 
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