Anyone else worried about the running game?

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

I don't think that we need to look back and wish for other players at the RB position, but DeMarco Murray certainly looked the part of a decent RB in his rookie season didn't he?

We'll all have different opinions of JAG's, but I wouldn't think that the promising young starter who looked awesome at times in his rookie year would be a part of too many people's JAG list.

Review the OP.

The guy is distraught over the running game and based on Corey Dillon......the Patriots seem to need to hide a GOAT QB in the playoffs by they have Demarco Murray.

Demarco Murray received his chance because of injury. Since Law Firm wasn't really injured...how does Demarco Murray come to save the day?.....how does Demarco Murray save the day from the sidelines in a cast.

He's a fine player but Demarco Murray walking through the door isn't saving anything or ending world hunger or causing unicorns to multiply.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Ridley and Vereen's stats in the Saints game:

Ridley - 11 rush 64 yards
Vereen - 8 rush 40 yards

On what planet is that struggling?
And do you really think BJGE (or any back for that matter) would have done much better for us in the Eagles game? They had nothing to work with.

 

[Off The Grid]

The only concern that i have is the blitz pickup.

I like your attitude.

But if Brady hands you the ball, you should probably forget about the Blitz Pickup.

 

[Deus Irae]

I'm worried about Vereen getting Brady killed if he doesn't improve his pass protection by some factor of 10. I'm not worried about the running game itself.

 

[JJDChE]

Watched it on NFL rewind......so............250 yards agianst the hideous 2-14 Rams

......if he can stay healthy...........
......if the moon falls out of the sky........
......if BradyFTW wouldn't derail a thread.........

Quite the magical powers for a rookie with a broken leg to save the post season.

Murray had more yards from scrimmage in 6 games than Benji had the entire year. What a JAG!!!

You're a trip. You just need to admit you're wrong sometimes, rather than continuing to dig your hole deeper, after making a less than well thought out comment.

 

[TBradyOwnsYou]

I watched the game yesterday and thought considering the variables at play that they did pretty well. I guess if you ignore everything and just look at one statistic you could be concerned, but that'd be silly.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Murray had more yards from scrimmage in 6 games than Benji had the entire year. What a JAG!!!

You're a trip. You just need to admit you're wrong sometimes, rather than continuing to dig your hole deeper, after making a less than well thought out comment.

Hmmmm....you'se must be impress'n? Brady FTW and you...... in tag team mode.:singing:

This might be hard to grasp but some guy who got hurt Week 12 wasn't on the Patriots.

In north of 10 IQland it's a big so what.......how exactly a "feature back" for six games fits into an offense with a GOAT QB and RBBC and will save the day is academic.

Ofcourse, when tweedle dum and tweedle dumber get together...let's ponder it.....all day.

 

[JJDChE]

Hmmmm....you'se must be impress'n? Brady FTW and you...... in tag team mode.:singing:

This might be hard to grasp but some guy who got hurt Week 12 wasn't on the Patriots.

In north of 10 IQland it's a big so what.......how exactly a "feature back" for six games fits into an offense with a GOAT QB and RBBC and will save the day is academic.

Ofcourse, when tweedle dum and tweedle dumber get together...let's ponder it.....all day.

Nope, you just keep digging.

 

[Ifleninwasawizard]

I thought some our backs did their job when they were allowed to. A run by Bolden in particular stands out in my mind because he was able to fight just enough for the first down.

I might be being optimistic here, but I think our running game will be average at worst and could end up being dynamic.

 

[italia44]

ummmmmm.......NOhttp://th952.photobucket.com/albums/ae3/amhirschman/th_alfred_e_neuman.jpg

 

[ATippett56]

The running game needs the offensive line to run block. Thus, I am more worried about the following offensive linemen who were on the New England Patriots roster last season:

Solder
Cannon
Koppen
Connolly
Wendell
Thomas
McDonald

 

[RhodyPatriot]

I'm always worried about the running game and how it's not being utilized enough in this offense. If this O-line presents the protection problems for Brady that many of us think it may then having that running game just may save the QB. It won't be sexy and it won't be stat-alicious (sadly that's what this O has been all about in recent years - Tommy and his air toys) but a legit run game THAT IS UTILIZED every game will save this QB from a massive pounding this year.

 

[JJDChE]

To me, this backfield has more potential than anything we've fielded since we drafted Maroney in '06 and had Dillon winding down his career, plus Faulk in his prime. Since then we've pretty much brought in a string of barely serviceable vets and unheralded rookies, so it's not really surprising that this group looks like it has potential against our recent string of 'meh' at the position.

I agree with the poster above, it comes down to how it's utilized. Hopefully Josh calls up a few more runs this year than BoB did last year. The 644 pass to 438 run ratio is way too high. We don't need to go 50:50, but 550:500 would be nice. With Brady being north of 35 now we really should be trying to protect him if we can.

 

[spacecrime]

I'm always worried about the running game and how it's not being utilized enough in this offense.

Excellent philosophy in the 1950's. Run more, pass less. In today's NFL, run less and pass more. And If your QB is Tom Brady, pass a LOT more and run a LOT less. Do not take the ball out of Brady's hands and give it to a RB any more than you need to in order to make play action pass work.

Pro Bowl RB = 5 yards per attempt
Tom Brady = 7-8 yards per pass attempt.

 

[WinstonSmith]

Excellent philosophy in the 1950's. Run more, pass less. In today's NFL, run less and pass more. And If your QB is Tom Brady, pass a LOT more and run a LOT less. Do not take the ball out of Brady's hands and give it to a RB any more than you need to in order to make play action pass work.

Pro Bowl RB = 5 yards per attempt
Tom Brady = 7-8 yards per pass attempt.

True, but the two are not mutually exclusive, as the threat of the run will open up the passing game and vise versa.

 

[JJDChE]

Excellent philosophy in the 1950's. Run more, pass less. In today's NFL, run less and pass more. And If your QB is Tom Brady, pass a LOT more and run a LOT less. Do not take the ball out of Brady's hands and give it to a RB any more than you need to in order to make play action pass work.

Pro Bowl RB = 5 yards per attempt
Tom Brady = 7-8 yards per pass attempt.

For too simplistic a view of the situation.

Watching the games last year, I felt we likely left a lot of yards on the field due to the lack of running the ball. Though I think it had as much to do with the fact that BJGE could barely get 2yds a shot for most of the year, rather than a philosophy. We went from 54.0% pass in '10 to 59.5% pass in '11. That's a huge jump. The same guy was calling the plays, so you have to figure it was because there wasn't much confidence in the run game. Hopefully we're closer to the 54% number than the 59% this year.

 

[Avenger]

The running game needs to be good enough to set up the play action, to kill the clock and to get short yardage/goal line carries, and I'll include the screen with those as things that are needed. Anything else we get from the run game is a bonus, Brady's arm is still or best chance of winning.

 

[BananaRepublican]

Why is this news ... seriously ... ever year the same running game threads and we're a passing team.

I would like to see them close out games better by running the clock down. I'd like to know that if it's windy they can rely on it to save picks. I'd like to know that if the D shows nickel or dime that they will take advantage. Dunno, but there are lots of reasons to love running the ball. Another one would be protecting the QB. I mean if you've got JPP and company comin' at him don't you want to run it a little to slow them down?

And let's not forget that it's mentally healthy for the OL.

 

[TealSox]

Offensive linemen aside, I'm not seeing much from the running backs on the roster - and if it needs to be said, I'm no scout. The knock on Ridley is his ball security.. with Vereen, I think he dances around a bit too much rather than hit the hole with his speed... and Bolden just doesn't have the experience.

That said, I'd like to see Bolden make the roster and make a statement. The team is really going to have to utilize the screen to get these running backs the ball, as well as take pressure off Brady.

At the end of the day, the Pats will be passing a lot.

 

[supafly]

Offensive linemen aside, I'm not seeing much from the running backs on the roster - and if it needs to be said, I'm no scout. The knock on Ridley is his ball security.. with Vereen, I think he dances around a bit too much rather than hit the hole with his speed... and Bolden just doesn't have the experience.

That said, I'd like to see Bolden make the roster and make a statement. The team is really going to have to utilize the screen to get these running backs the ball, as well as take pressure off Brady.

At the end of the day, the Pats will be passing a lot.

I agree that we will be passing a majority of the time, as our weapons will dictate our offense in general.

As far as the running goes, I do think that they should be able to get back to the slightly more balanced game of 2010 as opposed to 2011, and as some have pointed out it will be the overall effectiveness of the running game and the situations used that will make it important.

I loved BJGE but he did lack a certain explosiveness for sure. I think that the younger RB's should provide more of that than we've seen in a couple/few years, maybe even in a while.

I wouldn't worry too much about Vereen and Ridley, I think they will be just fine personally.