No run game

SVN said:

Not at the goalline when brady threw the INT. blount shouldve run it in 3 times.

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Yeah but I know this forum. If we run it three times and don't get in we get a bunch of threads about how Josh McDaniels is an idiot for running it three times.

Everything in football depends on the offensive line. The run game, of course. Effective play-action, of course. Being able to control the tempo of the game, control the clock, which tremendously impacts the defense, etc. etc.

The Pats have drafted for the line, which is good. Still, they're looking at a 60% turnover (sometimes more) of the line that won the Super Bowl--and in fact was a key component of turning the season around and winning the Super Bowl.

I thought--and was apparently wrong--that after a transition week or two, the line would really hit its stride last week against Denver. Just watching on TV, it's tricky to figure out just where they're going wrong. Maybe they simply need time to gel, and the heavy rotations earlier in the season only worked because of the quick trigger options of Lewis & Edelman.

Whatever, it's got to improve. The crazy stuff yesterday won't be repeated. Health and the offensive line are the only genuine concerns for this team.

stephens44 said:

No run game

I hate that we cannot run....
Every year this offensive scheme moves further away from what we were 10 years ago. I REALLY miss Corey Dillon.

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The Patriots ran the ball fine yesterday when they bothered trying to run. 25 for 103 is pretty good, and there were certainly plenty of run lanes, especially in the first half.

There's a difference between "can't run" and "didn't run". It was the 2nd, yesterday.

VrabelJr said:

Yeah but I know this forum. If we run it three times and don't get in we get a bunch of threads about how Josh McDaniels is an idiot for running it three times.

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Sure but eagles are not a good rush defense . I seriously doubt if we wouldnt have able to punch it in.

SVN said:

Sure but eagles are not a good rush defense . I seriously doubt if we wouldnt have able to punch it in.

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This, bring in Blount, pound it once or twice. It's not like the 85 Bears or something.

stephens44 said:

I miss the old running game, you're twisting that into the above. You get it, just seem to want to manipulate the conversation into what it wasn't for some reason.

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No I get it that you miss and love old running game. And Iam not manipulating any conversation. I just dont think you can win many games as pats do week in week out with consistency just doing that -run the ball-especially right now when you dont have WRs right now anyone expects and your RBs are average. If the pats are able to run effectively and don't run thats their fault like it was yesterday.
We tried running on the broncos many times with blount, that didnt help us vs that defense. Depends on the opposition .Thats what iam saying. Maintaining balance just to keep it so without being productive hasnt been BB's philosophy since ages. And it has worked well for us.

Danger Zone said:

Yup, when your starting RB and only FB goes on IR (and how many teams are even keeping a FB on the roster now a days?), sometimes your running game takes a hit.

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First series of the game yesterday:

L.Blount up the middle to NE 22 for 5 yards
L.Blount up the middle to NE 31 for 9 yards
D.Johnson left end pushed ob at NE 37 for 6 yards
T.Brady sacked at NE 30 for -7 yards
T.Brady pass incomplete deep left to B.LaFell
R.Allen punts

Second series:

L.Blount up the middle to NE 30 for 10 yards
T.Brady pass incomplete short left to B.Bolden
T.Brady pass short left to B.LaFell to NE 27 for -3 yards
T.Brady sacked at NE 20 for -7 yards
R.Allen punts

Yeah, we had no running game. It obviously took a hit from those injuries.

I'm having football day dreams of S. Jackson running for 150 yards with a 5.0 ypc average right through the SB...
Probably won't happen, but at least we have someone that has done it before.

It's *really* tempting to daydream about it...

I'll take 150 APY vs the rats

captain stone said:

Once again, Bill & Skippy in their arrogance abandoned plays that worked (e.g.: Damarius Johnson
jet sweep in 1st quarter) in favor of plays that didn't work (e.g.: passes to Brandon LaFAIL).

They way they treat the running game is a feckin disgrace.

Sent by Tapatalk from my basement in Fall River

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...........................

I wish they still had Dillon as well, he would be awesome.

captain stone said:

Once again, Bill & Skippy in their arrogance abandoned plays that worked (e.g.: Damarius Johnson
jet sweep in 1st quarter) in favor of plays that didn't work (e.g.: passes to Brandon LaFAIL).

They way they treat the running game is a feckin disgrace.

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Feckin Bill and Feckin Skippy need to stop scoring more points than the rest of the league with their feckin sh.tty offense, it's so Feckin arrogant, especially with no Feckin first rounders on their offense. Who the feck do they think they Feckin are?

Daydreaming about Jackson...




Boom. I think this guy had nightmares about him.

aluminum seats said:

Everything in football depends on the offensive line. The run game, of course. Effective play-action, of course. Being able to control the tempo of the game, control the clock, which tremendously impacts the defense, etc. etc.

The Pats have drafted for the line, which is good. Still, they're looking at a 60% turnover (sometimes more) of the line that won the Super Bowl--and in fact was a key component of turning the season around and winning the Super Bowl.

I thought--and was apparently wrong--that after a transition week or two, the line would really hit its stride last week against Denver. Just watching on TV, it's tricky to figure out just where they're going wrong. Maybe they simply need time to gel, and the heavy rotations earlier in the season only worked because of the quick trigger options of Lewis & Edelman.

Whatever, it's got to improve. The crazy stuff yesterday won't be repeated. Health and the offensive line are the only genuine concerns for this team.

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They have completely rebuilt their interior OL over the last two years and will reap the benefits of that in coming years. I would expect them to take a tackle high in this coming draft because Solder has a big deal and Vollmer is starting to get up there in years, but the interior with Mason, Stork, Kline, Jackson, and Andrews is young, deep, and talented. The run game will be significantly better next year because of this and the return of D. Lewis.

Losing your #1 and #2 Running backs cn sometimes hurt your running game

meatface said:

Losing your #1 and #2 Running backs cn sometimes hurt your running game

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Ya think ?!?

fightingirish595 said:

True but most of them could run it when it counts

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I don't think that's necessarily true. Below are the recent champs and their ranks in rushing yards per game. I've also put in brackets our rank each year if we didn't win.

2014 Patriots: 18
2013 Seahawks: 4 (9)
2012 Ravens: 11 (7)
2011 Giants: 32 (20). Note they outrushed us in the Super Bowl, but we averaged 4.4 YPC that game. Hardly a terrible day at the office.
2010 Packers: 24 (9)
2009 Saints: 8 (12)
2008 Steelers: 23 (6)
2007 Giants: 4 (13)
2006 Colts: 18 (12)
2005 Steelers: 5 (24)
2004 Patriots: 7
2003 Patriots: 27
2002 Bucs: 27 (28)
2001 Patriots: 13
2000 Ravens: 5 (24)

In the past 15 years, only 6 Super Bowl winners have ranked in the top 10 in rushing yards per game. In the past 5 years, only 1.

The Patriots have won 4 Super Bowls, and only 1 time were we in the top 10 in rushing. Meanwhile, we've had a top 10 run game 4 times, and only won 1 Super Bowl. Clock killin' Corey Dillon was great in 2004, but we've found a way to win 3 other Super Bowls without a top-notch run game, as have the majority of Super Bowl champions.

I would like to have a top 10 run game if we could. I am not saying it is a bad thing. But to suggest it is a prerequisite for winning a Super Bowl is false.

supafly said:

While it's hard to argue against you due to the fact that they pulled off THREE double digit deficits in the postseason without any semblance of a running game, I'd equate their chances of pulling it off again to trying to catch lightning in a bottle...twice. The odds aren't in our favor at all.

They don't necessarily "need" to run the ball to make a postseason run, but their chances improve dramatically if they're able to find balance. There are many reasons for that, such as controlling the clock, keeping the opposing team's offense off of the field (PIT, CIN), masking your inferior pass protection, and obviously keeping your chances alive by protecting your franchise QB. To take it one step further, it also wears the opposing defense down and instills confidence in your guys who are playing well physically.

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I don't know if balance is the right word. I agree that the more you can do, the more flexible your offense becomes, the more dangerous it can be.

But there are times you're forced to go unbalanced, and there are times you CHOOSE to go unbalanced. Sometimes the game plan calls for it, and don't forget this gem courtesy of Rich Hill (sorry Rich, not sure how to embed Tweets here so will link below):



Rich Hill on Twitter - One of These Things Is Not Like The Other

So I don't think balance is really what we're striving for. We want flexibility. But if the situation calls for continuous passing because that's the most effective way of attacking a defense, so be it. If the situation calls for running, and we can't, that's a problem. But just looking at the ratio doesn't mean anything.

convertedpatsfan said:

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x-axis units are? Number of games?
I assume y-axis is win percentage, given the large caption

convertedpatsfan said:

Rich Hill on Twitter - One of These Things Is Not Like The Other

So I don't think balance is really what we're striving for. We want flexibility. But if the situation calls for continuous passing because that's the most effective way of attacking a defense, so be it. If the situation calls for running, and we can't, that's a problem. But just looking at the ratio doesn't mean anything.

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I agree that scoring is obviously the most important aspect, and that is much more likely to come from flexibility, but let's not push the 50+ attempts winning percentage farther than it may go.

There's little doubt that the ability to run the ball is key in most situations, particularly when it may be part of a larger gameplan that equates to chewing up clock, sustaining drives, and keeping the opposing QB off of the field. More importantly, when the defense is giving you the run but you still can't pull it off (2010 nickle formation from the Jets), or weather may call for the need to abandon some portion of the passing calls due to practicality (games involving lots of rain/wind).

I'm not calling for "balance" simply because I don't like winning via the pass, but more so due to a concern that we'll need to successfully run the ball in the postseason. I don't think this is unreasonable, although your chart of overall team rankings in the SB certainly helps to alleviate some of the worry. While we have a much improved defense which ranks highly, I don't think we have anything close to the teams in the past that helped to mask the running game deficiency entirely like maybe 2003.