Am I the only one that prefers Gray to Blount?

[stcjones]

Disagree......I prefer BOTH!! . Seriously I think both have their own benefits out there. LG is seasoned vet.....more power and ball security.....gray is a rook and has some moves and lateral speed......BOTH will be needed with vereen IF this team is going to get back to SB

QUOTE="upstater1, post: 4017627, member: 4293"]I like Gray's grind out 4 yards style, while Blount is more of a threat and is more punishing. BUT, Give Brady a 2nd and 6 or a 3rd and 3, and I have confidence he will convert and keep the drive alive.

With Blount and his dancing behind the line, you end up in frequent 2nd and 11s. Those kill drives.

The plus side is that Blount's 2nd and 1 also give you a chance to go downfield, and that opens up the game.

So, Blount gives the offense more dimensions, but I like what Gray gives them better, and that's the consistency that Brady can capitalize on.

I felt the same about Blount last year as well.

The one caveat to this is that I like to see the Patriots ride Blunt in the mid to late 3rd qtr. when the D wears down all the way until game's end.[/QUOTE]

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

if Gray doesn't have that 200 yard game..would you still prefer him?

 

[Oswlek]

if Gray doesn't have that 200 yard game..would you still prefer him?

That's an odd question. Considering it makes up half his NFL carries to date, it seems strange to discount it, but I'll play along.... maybe. Based solely on everything else, I might still prefer Gray, but I'm not a Blount fan so I'm probably not your target audience. I can say without equivocation that even had Gray not had the Indy game I'd still want him to get more than 1 carry a game.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

just curious why you aren't a fan of blount and what he did last year and this year. Don't like him personally?

 

[Oswlek]

just curious why you aren't a fan of blount and what he did last year and this year. Don't like him personally?

I think he is a tremendous closer. He is one of the most remarkable open field runners I've ever seen, a fullback with halfback speed and agility.

The OP already touched on what I don't like. Despite his size, Blount is very tentative behind the line and runs himself into a lot of 0-1 yard gains that could have been 3-4 had he taken what was there right away. Of course, this will lead to some long gainers if the right opportunity comes along, but I think the positive of those are outweighed by the drawbacks of the more frequent 2nd and 9.

Even despite this, I'm not against Blount seeing a good number of carries in the first half. I just think Gray should also get a half dozen or so per half.

 

[Silver Blue&Red]

If the rumors are true, BB could be trying to bring Gray back down to earth by keeping him in the dog house. We all know BB has no qualms about instilling the "Patriot way" in players he sees as potential head cases. It's all about the "team". Let's just hope he brings him back in force by the playoffs, if not sooner. BTW, I like the idea of both Blount and Gray being used equally in rotation.

 

[DarrylS]

Do not see Gray as still being in the "dog house" BB's track record is not like that, he held him out after he was late and history tells us he moves on...

Blount is a proven commodity, and played extremely well for this team the end of last year.. Gray could get a few carries to keep him on his toes, but in reality there are only so many offensive plays..

Gray had an excellent game, against a team that looked like it could be exploited on that Sunday..

 

[AzorianPats]

BB did this with Ridley. Yes, Ridley fumbled (btw, no more than Kevin Faulk did early on), but BB does tend to publicly flog young RB's. Who knows? Maybe it works. I think they can use Gray as a good one-two punch for Blount.

Yes!!!!

And I know it was a small sample size, but BB doing that to Ridley seemed to work!

 

[AzorianPats]

I want to hear more info on this Gray thing...

So the escort was the following morning, where the impression I'm feeling is being implied by posters is that he felt some sort of entitlement to police resources to get his hung over ass to work on time?

Also, it seems like some people think we can attribute Gray's 200 yard/4 touchdown game (!) to the extra lineman and TE. I feel like I'm stating the obvious, but - if all it took for a back to score 4 touchdowns and run 200 yards was an extra lineman and TE (and the Colt's D) the whole league would be doing it. Heck, on our own team, while a nice player, Vereen sure as **** would not be getting even 50 yards between the tackles if he was featured the entire game.

Apples to apples, Blount was a beast against the Colts last year, but Gray was even better this year. The theories for why he isn't playing appear for me to be a separate issue from the comparison's with Blount; Blount doesn't have to be the better of the two to be getting the playing time.

It's frustrating that I'm actually getting disappointed to see Blount lineup behind the line when I like him as a player but want to see more Gray. Still, I trust Belichick is probably making the right decision, whatever the reasons and circumstances may be.

I disagree with Gray performance vs Colts this year being better then Blount vs Colts last year. Statistically it was, but that doesn't tell the whole story....

Looking back at it, I have no idea how this team made it to the AFC Championship game last year. We had no Gronk, and our outside threats (Dobson, Tompkins) were either out or severely limited. Our biggest threat was Blount, everyone knew it, and he still grinded out those yards.

This year, we went to Indy fully loaded. Gronk needs to be accounted for at all times. Not to mention Lafell, and Edelman. You cant just stack the box with those guys. Gray had an awesome game, not taking anything away, but Blount last year was pretty damn good....

And for the record, I'm someone that really didn't want no part of Blount after Pittsburgh....

 

[cupofjoe1962]

Totally agree. Give me the guy who consistently gets 4-6 yards versus the guy who gets 2 or 20. That said I love Blount force trama to end the game as he is fantastic in that closer role and spreads the hits around so everyone is fresh for the playoffs.

The only way we see Gray get 4 to 6 yards a play is if we play Indy every day.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Blount is among the top backs in the league in yards after contact ...

I think he was tops last year and has led that category before.

Do not think Gray ia capable of matching that - not yet anyways.

Players like that wear defenders down ...

 

[Oswlek]

The only way we see Gray get 4 to 6 yards a play is if we play Indy every day.

Gray's extremely small sample since has looked much the same. And he displayed a similar skill set beforehand. It's not like the Indy game is the only time we've ever seen him.

Blount is among the top backs in the league in yards after contact ...

I think he was tops last year and has led that category before.

Do not think Gray ia capable of matching that - not yet anyways.

Players like that wear defenders down ...

This is case where the stat is true and misleading. Blount is a beast in the open field, so all he needs is one run to rack up post-contact yardage. The problem is that he is actually not that difficult to take down at or behind the LOS.

 

[Galeb]

Gray has 72 carries for 345 yds (4.8 ypc). Do you need to see 300 or 400 carries to determine whether he is a decent back who should at least be sharing time with Blount?

Half of those carries were against a crappy run D.

 

[Brewskies]

Gray has 72 carries for 345 yds (4.8 ypc). Do you need to see 300 or 400 carries to determine whether he is a decent back who should at least be sharing time with Blount?

200 of those yards were in one game. He has been good all I am saying is let's get some more time with him before we hand everything over to him.

 

[Oswlek]

200 of those yards were in one game. He has been good all I am saying is let's get some more time with him before we hand everything over to him.

Straw man. Who is "handing everything" to him? And even without that game, he is still running for a 4.1 clip, so he isn't just a one game wonder. Surely he's earned more than 1 carry a game, no?

 

[Brewskies]

Straw man. Who is "handing everything" to him? And even without that game, he is still running for a 4.1 clip, so he isn't just a one game wonder. Surely he's earned more than 1 carry a game, no?

I absolutely agree with you he has earned the right to carry more than once in a game. But IMO not at the expense of
Blount today. More games will determine he is or isn't the teal deal.

 

[Gumby]

I like the idea of a 2-headed RB monster in winter weather; but just a couple of thoughts.

1. As many have said the sample size is so small for Gray. One game doesnt say much.

2. Along with that; we dont see his practice play.

3. It seems to be the soup-de-jour that Blount dances behind the line of scrimmage; I personally dont see that at least not routinely and not in comparison to previous RBs who were regularly suffered scurrilous attacks on this board for that fault(Maroney anyone).

To me, It seems like BB made a point with the one game; and I dont think he is a guy who holds a grudge and keeps grinding that same axe for weeks on end UNLESS THERE IS ANOTHER REASON. And that leads me to speculate in conjunction with point 2 above:

-Could it be that JG has put the ball on the ground in practice repetitively?
-Could it be that JG has missed pass-blocking assignments routinely in practice?

Or I could just throw out the other theory-de-jour: Is Blount another one of the guys with pictures of BB and animals?

 

[Oswlek]

I absolutely agree with you he has earned the right to carry more than once in a game. But IMO not at the expense of
Blount today. More games will determine he is or isn't the teal deal.

You think Blount has been so impressive that he should cede a single carry to Gray? And how are we supposed to determine anything if Jonas isn't allowed back on the field?

I'm not trying to exaggerate your comment, just restating them as they appear to me. If I'm missing something, let me know.

 

[Oswlek]

It seems to be the soup-de-jour that Blount dances behind the line of scrimmage

This has been the knock of Blount for years and continues to be. It's more like soup-de-toujours.

 

[Brewskies]

You think Blount has been so impressive that he should cede a single carry to Gray? And how are we supposed to determine anything if Jonas isn't allowed back on the field?


I don't know where you are going with this. You posted the title of the thread saying you would like to see Gray over Brount. I have said that I don't have enough confidence in Gray to make this move because I haven't seen enough of him. I have also said he should get more than 1 carry a game. I don't care if he gets 50% of the carries as long as he is doing well. What I can't accept is replacing Blount with Gray today as you suggested in your title of this thread.

I am done with this subject.
I'm not trying to exaggerate your comment, just restating them as they appear to me. If I'm missing something, let me know.