Lewis' role when Blount returns

Was anyone else impressed with Dion's running last night? He squirmed a good amount of 1 yard runs into 4-5 yard runs.

Weird stat: Vereen never had a 15+ carry game in his career with the Pats. Woodhead had one with a 2.3 ypc. Lewis had 15 carries last night.

Obviously we can't have a 5'6 RB seeing 15-20 carries a game, but could he become our "main" RB with Blount as the fill in?

My biggest gripe with Vereen was he couldn't run at all. It's only been preseason/1 regular season game but Lewis could be our best pass catching runner since Faulk.

Thoughts? I don't see him destined just for pass catching duties.

I think everyone noticed Lewis last night.

I see him as a No Huddle RB and a change of pace back for 3rd downs.
Reminds me of a quicker, shiftier Woodhead. Hopefully his durability is there this year.

Lewis won't survive playing pin ball on too many interior carries. Blount will get phased in and I suspect his role will expand with the end of the season in mind. Come December, teams are so beat up and/or mathematically eliminated...they can't sustain the hammer. In September, defenses are still unorganized due to lack of reps and the passing game thrives.
A claim could be made that Blount was MVP last night. Smoking blunts with the leagues most productive RB and getting only half the sentence.....

no thanks.

I like blount as the main back, pound the defense, and then bring lewis in when they are too tired to let his shiftiness really shine.

I liked what I saw from Lewis except the way he carried the ball when he had his fumble.

Am also a little disappointed by the over throw to him on the screen late in the game. Tom looked mighty pissed. Did Lewis slow down on the play?

It will depend on the matchup. Lewis offers much more than Blount as a receiver but i think BB will want Blount running to open up the offense and take some pressure of Brady by keeping defences more honest.

Tweet from last night:

Doug Kyed ‏@DougKyedNESN 22h22 hours ago
Maroney and Faulk are the only Belichick-era Patriots RBs under 215 lbs. to carry more than 20 times in a game:

I doubt Lewis becomes a mainstay every down back.

chasa said:

no thanks.

I like blount as the main back, pound the defense, and then bring lewis in when they are too tired to let his shiftiness really shine.

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Blount is not as good as you think, he is terrible in Short yardage situations I would rather Brady run it. That said Blount is good when he has a hole but he cannot make someting out of nothing Lewis can do that. Lewis is much better than regarded and runs with good pad level for his size. I think Dion Lewis is going to be our featured RB with Blount spelling him from time to time. A RB who can run and catch is just so valuable in Todays NFL. Dion Lewis = a poor mans Le'veon Bell.

I was at the game last night and you could clearly see that Brady had confidence in him even early in the game. Bolden showed me nothing whereas Lewis, even when stopped seemed to get you 2-3 yards.

Cantabrigian said:

Am also a little disappointed by the over throw to him on the screen late in the game. Tom looked mighty pissed. Did Lewis slow down on the play?

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Brady had too much air under that looked like a bad pass.

Lewis' role will be the same as Faulk, Woodhead and Vereen once Blount gets back. All of those guys got carries between the tackles but that was not their primary function. Lewis will be better than the previous three because he runs bigger than he actually is and that's the most impressive thing to me. His feet NEVER stop moving. He's shifty and he makes people miss. So long as the fumbling does not become an issue, I think he can actually be better than all of them. Dude, that's hard for me to say because of what Faulk especially meant to this team, but I truly believe it. At least that's my humble opinion. I hope that kid gets as many touches as he can handle. He's dynamic. He's special. He's perfect for this offense.

So long as he doesn't have ball security issues, he's going to figure prominently in their offensive scheme. As we have seen over the years, their gameplan is opponent specific so we could see him get anywhere from 10 to 60 plays for a given game.

His main value is the diverse skills he brings. YAC, blitz pickup, receiving and open field running were all on display.

We can all at least agree on ending the Bolden as the heavy back experiment?

patsinthesnow said:

Was anyone else impressed with Dion's running last night? He squirmed a good amount of 1 yard runs into 4-5 yard runs.

Weird stat: Vereen never had a 15+ carry game in his career with the Pats. Woodhead had one with a 2.3 ypc. Lewis had 15 carries last night.

Obviously we can't have a 5'6 RB seeing 15-20 carries a game, but could he become our "main" RB with Blount as the fill in?

My biggest gripe with Vereen was he couldn't run at all. It's only been preseason/1 regular season game but Lewis could be our best pass catching runner since Faulk.

Thoughts? I don't see him destined just for pass catching duties.

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I thought Lewis was solid. I don't think his body and style of play is a #1 back, but i can see being a change of pace back and pass catching rb. Blount will be the lead back.

It will be interesting to see Lewis' role the next couple of weeks. The reason i say this is because watching the game, Bolden is a better blocker than Lewis. With Blount in the lineup, I expect Lewis to have an active role but maybe limited to 15-20 snaps.

I think Vereen was an exceptional back for us and i think he's as good as Faulk. We lost him not because we didn't want him, but because his salary was too high for a 3rd down back.

Thunder and Lightning! Blount and Lewis will be a good combo.
By the way, where was White last night?

manxman2601 said:

I doubt Lewis becomes a mainstay every down back.

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I do think there is a chance he become more of mainstay running than Vereen was.

JMC00 said:

I do think there is a chance he become more of mainstay running than Vereen was.

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No doubt and there will be times he gets more than twenty touches - I'm not sure he'll get 20 carries that often though.

SalemPats said:

I think Vereen was an exceptional back for us

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I think Lewis could be as good or better

manxman2601 said:

No doubt and there will be times he gets more than twenty touches - I'm not sure he'll get 20 carries that often though.

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Agreed. I meant touches/snaps in regards to a main back role. Lewis would land on IR with 20 carries a game lol.

I feel good about him

Phil Perry ‏@PhilAPerry 4h4 hours ago
Dion Lewis had the game of his life last night, but he couldn't stop thinking about his fourth-quarter fumble