A Concern Over Running Back by Committee

[shirtsleeve]

OK, I dont think this committee thing is that much of a problem and I do see a resolution with these picks. BJGE is gonna be the starter next season. Ridley sits behind him, and spells him. He is also in the short yard offense. He learns and grows. Vereen is a starter on Day one. Returner. Pass catcher, slash runner with huge burst, blocker..welcome young Faulk. No clue what or where with him. Woodhead backs him up and finds time for alternative alignments. Woodhead as an H back with vereen on the field? Dont rule it out.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

It's going to be good to see the running game revitalized in New England. I loved seeing the Pats put up 30+ PPG in 2010. But I would like to see even more balance and unpredictability from the offense in 2011. That will make it even harder to shut down our offense when it counts. Also the idea of Pounding the ball down the opponent's throats and Killing out the last 3 minutes of clock with a 3 pt lead instead of punting it and sweating out whether or not the defense can hold really Appeals to me!

Right. I'm not against using 2 high picks on RB's, I just hope we use them in all kinds of situations and don't end up pigeon-holing our 4 RB's in very specific ways. It's been painful watching the past 2 playoff losses, where we abandon what we did in the regular season and only use the playbook using the 3rd down back.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

OK, I dont think this committee thing is that much of a problem and I do see a resolution with these picks. BJGE is gonna be the starter next season. Ridley sits behind him, and spells him. He is also in the short yard offense. He learns and grows. Vereen is a starter on Day one. Returner. Pass catcher, slash runner with huge burst, blocker..welcome young Faulk. No clue what or where with him. Woodhead backs him up and finds time for alternative alignments. Woodhead as an H back with vereen on the field? Dont rule it out.

I actually think Woodhead has the skills to play every single down. The biggest concern for Woodhead is his durability and taking a pounding if he were to run inside, run outside, block, and catch passes.

 

[Fencer]

Let's distinguish between two things here:

1. Being able to predict what formation the Patriots will line up in (based on who is in the game).

2. Being able to predict what kind of play the Patriots will run out of the formation.

#1 is not nearly as big a problem as #2.

 

[Kasmir]

I actually think Woodhead has the skills to play every single down. The biggest concern for Woodhead is his durability and taking a pounding if he were to run inside, run outside, block, and catch passes.

Agree completely. Woodhead is a superb runner in a zone scheme and absolutely will cut it inside and always seems to gets yards after first contact. I think from a pure running skills standpoint he can play every down.

But if he gets clocked much by DT's like he did in the Buffalo game he's at risk or injury. And he put the ball on the ground at Chadron quite a bit. Also, he just doesn't have the size and height to do much more than cut block in pass protection. It'll be interesting to see if he can improve anyway like Faulk did over his first few years.

 

[patsfan-1982]

im ok with the RBBC who ever is working on that day give him the ball more but at the end of the day this is a pass first team they cant play 3 Yards and a cloud of dust football cause they dont have the defense to win games 17 to 10

 

[Don Kipines]

I saw the drafting of these two guys as meaning just the opposite of what the OP wrote. Vereen to me is clearly an every-down back. In fact that looks to be the entire appeal of this player -- his versatility and ability to stay in the game in every situation and do everything running backs are asked to do. I would guess he's going to grow into the lead back role and end up being the guy who gets 15 carries a game in our system.

Just going by the clips, he has a lot of the same skills as Woodhead, but he's bigger and less of a liability picking up the blitz. You can do a lot of the same things with Vereen that you do with Woodhead, including having him split out and run go routes -- good luck to linebackers trying to cover that.

But he also breaks tackles, runs inside very well, and can clearly carry the load -- he had two straight 1,000-yard seasons and he's had a bunch of games with over 30 carries.

This is the perfect back for a high-powered passing offense like ours. He fits the Robert Smith/Roger Craig mold of guys who are great on screens, traps and draws, have great hands, can pass protect and have the strength to stay on the field in hurry-up situations. He's maybe not as big as some of those guys, but he's bigger than Kevin Faulk and I seriously doubt he'll be a 5-7 carry per game guy like Faulk has been.

 

[BTTA]

I saw the drafting of these two guys as meaning just the opposite of what the OP wrote. Vereen to me is clearly an every-down back. In fact that looks to be the entire appeal of this player -- his versatility and ability to stay in the game in every situation and do everything running backs are asked to do. I would guess he's going to grow into the lead back role and end up being the guy who gets 15 carries a game in our system.

Agree with this. I don't know who started the "Vereen as third down back" idea but it suddenly became Truth, and it isn't. It seemed to come out of the group who wanted to be upset about the draft, and started making up negative things about each guy who wasn't LT or Jerry Rice.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Agree with this. I don't know who started the "Vereen as third down back" idea but it suddenly became Truth, and it isn't. It seemed to come out of the group who wanted to be upset about the draft, and started making up negative things about each guy who wasn't LT or Jerry Rice.

Probably the same group who said Devin McCourty was just a special teamer.

 

[RayClay]

This vid of Ridley seems better than the longer one. Nice hard nosed style.

YouTube - LSU Tiger RB Stevan Ridley college highlights

 

[brady199]

I think it's crazy to say the pats can go 14-2, but all of a sudden when they lose a playoff game, it's because they are predictable.

Regardless of the RB in the offensive set, you can still run or pass. Considering that the Pats probably Pass 60% of the time it's not a big deal what RB is in, or where they run. I would say Woodhead, Vereen, and BJGE can all run inside or out. Woodhead and Vereen can block and run routes well. Ridley is the kind of guy who is gonna run up the middle and it's your job to stop him.

Ridley is a perfect guy to suck the LB's in on a play action fake. So sometimes you can use predictability against the defense as well.

Doesn't anyone remember the Packers from the 60's? They had about 3 running plays that they ran 90% of the time. The oposing team knew what was coming but they couldn't stop it.

So it's not about deception as much as it is about execution.