It's time for James White to step up and fill in for Lewis. But what can he bring to the table?

oldrover said:

James White 2013 highlights... they called him "Sweet Feet"... I watched this and have hope.

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If I didn't look at the jersey, I'd say that Lewis running. Same movements, and same type of run. Very elusive.

I'm excited to see what White will do. Of course, BB will probably just play Bolden more now since nobody really knows how they'll fill the void left by Lewis now.

He shows some nice quick cuts in the second level on that video. Wisconsin's O-line was so freaking dominant he rarely saw contact, or a man to make miss, until well beyond the line of scrimmage. Hard to judge UW backs when their O-line has it all together. That line coulda made my Grandma a Heisman candidate

PatsGuy said:

He might b on the team put he was a HEALTHY DNP yesterday

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He was inactive. Because they didn't expect to lose Lewis.

Bolden catching that long TD might be a sign.

dannydyn said:

If I didn't look at the jersey, I'd say that Lewis running. Same movements, and same type of run. Very elusive.

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Actually no. BB must not feel he's elusive, otherwise he wouldn't have had so many HEALTHY DNP's. The time is now to put up or shut up with James White

PatsGuy said:

Actually no. BB must not feel he's elusive, otherwise he wouldn't have had so many HEALTHY DNP's. The time is now to put up or shut up with James White

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Sorry, I meant to post as myself, not as Bill Belichick....

PatsGuy said:

Actually no. BB must not feel he's elusive, otherwise he wouldn't have had so many HEALTHY DNP's. The time is now to put up or shut up with James White

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All the DNPs mean is that Lewis is clearly better and White isn't a special teams ace like Bolden. We already saw White get the snaps when Dion missed a game earlier so it's pretty clear who will take that role.

The next yard James White gets after contact will be his first as a Patriot. THAT is my problem with him. He is a ZERO run threat, who has turned into a decent receiver, But not a YAC receiver because the first arm on him brings him down.....at least up to now. Plus I have no idea what kind of pass blocker he is.

If It were my call, I'd let Brandon Boldin get most of the 3rd down back snaps, and bring back Tavaris Cadet now that he's healthy. Give him a few weeks to get acclimated, then see what he can do. Keep White just where he belongs.....on the inactive list, and face up to the fact he was a draft day miss.

patfanken said:

The next yard James White gets after contact will be his first as a Patriot. THAT is my problem with him. He is a ZERO run threat, who has turned into a decent receiver, But not a YAC receiver because the first arm on him brings him down.....at least up to now. Plus I have no idea what kind of pass blocker he is.

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White can break ankles and get through arm tackles in space, it's running where a stiff wind blows him over. Which pretty much makes him the same as Vereen last year. His blocking is fine, nothing exceptional but sufficient.

I'd wager a substantial amount of money that Bolden will get few snaps at 3rd down back.

Chiuba E. Obele said:

If he can be a poor man's Shane Vereen...then I'll take that!

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He Might be a very very poor mans shane vereen. Ive never been impressed with white, right from day one. He looked slow, and went down to easy. i'm a little surprised hes still on the team.

reflexblue said:

He Might be a very very poor mans shane vereen. Ive never been impressed with white, right from day one. He looked slow, and went down to easy. i'm a little surprised hes still on the team.

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Except against the Jets White didn't go down easily.

Welcome to the Danny Amendola Club, James White! There's a seat for you next to Logan Ryan. It takes two years of badassery to get out. No, Logan you can't leave yet. I'll come back and check on you two in 2016. Toodles!

Did White ever play on ST? If so, I imagine him taking Bolden's place on all 4 ST units.

For you guys talking about White not being able to run, you must have forgotten Vereen getting stoned at the line of scrimmage if there wasn't a gaping hole for him to fit through...as long as White can catch and make the first guy miss, he'll be fine.

Plus, while Lewis is absolutely more dynamic than White, I feel like White has better hands when the ball is thrown his way. We've seen Lewis just stone hands some absolute perfect passes this year.

VrabelJr said:

Except against the Jets White didn't go down easily.

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To be fair, he was arm tackled on a run from the 1 that Lewis would put in every time. But that's because he can't run for ****, put him in open space and the kid is pretty good.

cscirpoli said:

For you guys talking about White not being able to run, you must have forgotten Vereen getting stoned at the line of scrimmage if there wasn't a gaping hole for him to fit through...as long as White can catch and make the first guy miss, he'll be fine.

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Yeah, people way overstate how good Vereen was last year. Other than a single game against Cincy, he was as worthless as a runner in 2014 as people fear White will be, but NE made it work. And I say this as someone who was a huge Vereen fan right out of college. I thought he was going to be everything Lewis has been. There is no reason whatsoever why White can't give you pretty much what Shane did last year.

Nobody is going to fill Lewis' shoes. While we may be more predictable without Lewis...IMO Bolden and White will be sufficient enough to fill in for 3rd down.

If Cadet can be re-signed, I'm all for it.

Hoping for the best but White never looks to have the juke and speed that Lewis, Vareen or Woodhead had.

Next Man Up. Make it work. Do your job.

Comparing Lewis and White and Vereen is pointless. They're all different. We need White to make the open reception, pick up the blitzing LB and convert on 3rd down. Can he do that in the context of the scheme? When the pressure is on? He doesn't have to win the MVP and he doesn't have to run for 100 yards.

Reasons to believe. Reasons to doubt, but it's all speculation. We won't know until we see him in the situation. If he was a scrub, he would be playing in Miami with Jonas Gray. If he was GOAT he would have beat Lewis for the starting job before today. Put him on the field and let's see what happens next.

Until Bledsoe got hurt, we didn't know what we had in Brady. Until Welker was gone, we didn't know what we had in Edelman. Until Vereen was gone, we didn't know what we had in Lewis. Until Solder, Vollmer and Cannon all got hurt, we didn't know that Stork can play RT. Players step up.

Time for James White. He's got a week to get himself mentally right. He's been training for this opportunity for his entire career, and the staff believe in him or he wouldn't be here.