Ben-Jarvis Green-Ellis

[RayClay]

That was the 2003 Smith. The 2001 Smith was much better than that.

Smith was a Buffalo first round pick who had great power and surprising speed for someone his size. He was a bit lackadaisical and usually performed better once he got wacked a few times to get the juices going.

BJ probably is blessed with less power and speed (maybe) but gawd bless him, he's putting every ounce of ability to work and hitting the hole with determination.

They both got the job done, which is what counts.

To be fair, Antowain didn't have mature Tom Brady, he had training wheels Brady meaning defenses were often stacked against him. awesome at times in 2001-2, he was a tired dog in 2003, as you said.

 

[Patjew]

Smith was a Buffalo first round pick who had great power and surprising speed for someone his size. He was a bit lackadaisical and usually performed better once he got wacked a few times to get the juices going.

BJ probably is blessed with less power and speed (maybe) but gawd bless him, he's putting every ounce of ability to work and hitting the hole with determination.

They both got the job done, which is what counts.

To be fair, Antowain didn't have mature Tom Brady, he had training wheels Brady meaning defenses were often stacked against him. awesome at times in 2001-2, he was a tired dog in 2003, as you said.

Who could ever forget Smith crazy high stepping on the field after AV kicked the last FG in SB36? Epic!

BJGE is very easy to like and root for, and I'm a fan.

 

[DaBruinz]

I have to say that BJGE has won me over.. His heart and desire on every play is awesome. He never stops his legs churning.. He's got the forward lean. And there are no excuses..

 

[Patspsycho]

I give him credit for playing well in recent weeks, but he needs to prove he can be consistent because the Pats will need him to be over the next month and the playoffs unless he takes a back seat to Taylor.

It is clear that Taylor has lost his starting job and will not play except in case of injury to someone. The perfect time for him to come back was yesterday (to provide fresh legs for the RB committee coming off 3 days of rest) and I predicted that and turned out to be wrong.

It speaks volume that Taylor was active and did not play, because he does not participate on ST and so the active roster spot he takes up takes away something from ST.

 

[Patspsycho]

I have to say that BJGE has won me over.. His heart and desire on every play is awesome. He never stops his legs churning.. He's got the forward lean. And there are no excuses..

I saw this trait in him in training camp in 2008 and have been championing him ever since.

 

[PYPER]

I didn't read the whole thread, just the first page of threads.

I'm shocked there isn't more love for BJGE. I read how he was "horrible" in Cleveland and San Diego. I think there's a big difference between being "horrible" and having "horrible statistical production". The OLine was horrible in those games. Not BJGE. BJGE has excellent vision, runs hard on every carry, and protects the football. What more do you want? The guy is far more "talented" than most of you give him credit for.

It seems that many of you are ironically falling into the same trap as many Manning supporters in the argument of Brady/Manning. Brady was a 6th round pick and the misperception amongst so many is that he's not as "talented" as Manning. Manning came into the league with all the fanfare and expectations. Brady is just a "system" guy. Yeah, right....Whatever. People throw the word "talent" around all the time and I'm convinved 99% of you have no concept of what that word even means. Name recognition and draft status does not equal talent.

 

[patsinthesnow]

BJGE has taken about four steps in the minds of pats fans on this board.

1.) Why do we keep BJGE? We don't need 5 RBs and it's a waste of a rosterspot.

2.) He's good for ST and a reserve. He should never be running the ball unless we have a ton of injuries.

3.) He's a decent backup that plays well on a few carries. He is a backup at most in this league.

4.) He's an above average runningback that can handle the load when needed and is a great back in a rotation.
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I wonder if he will climb to #5 one day- He is a pretty good starting runningback.

 

[Ring 6]

That was the 2003 Smith. The 2001 Smith was much better than that.

Yeah. youre right

 

[Ring 6]

It is clear that Taylor has lost his starting job and will not play except in case of injury to someone. The perfect time for him to come back was yesterday (to provide fresh legs for the RB committee coming off 3 days of rest) and I predicted that and turned out to be wrong.

It speaks volume that Taylor was active and did not play, because he does not participate on ST and so the active roster spot he takes up takes away something from ST.

I dont know if that conclusion is certain.
Did we have a single healthy inactive? Taylor may have been the healthiest of the injured, and able to play only in an emergency. We just dont know the whole story.

 

[Mack Herron]

It is clear that Taylor has lost his starting job and will not play except in case of injury to someone. The perfect time for him to come back was yesterday (to provide fresh legs for the RB committee coming off 3 days of rest) and I predicted that and turned out to be wrong.

It speaks volume that Taylor was active and did not play, because he does not participate on ST and so the active roster spot he takes up takes away something from ST.

I thought just like you, and I agree that his not playing was remarkable. But I don't think he will sit until there is an injury. I predict we will see him as soon as BJGE has a few unproductive runs. FT can do some things that BJGE cannot do, and he is a nice option to have.

 

[Warren1985]

He is just what we need, someone who rarely if ever gets negative yards and always looks to run downhill. makes Bradys life easier, im much happier seeing brady pass it up to 30 times rather than 50 because of lack of run game (maroney)

 

[Patspsycho]

I didn't read the whole thread, just the first page of threads.

I'm shocked there isn't more love for BJGE. I read how he was "horrible" in Cleveland and San Diego. I think there's a big difference between being "horrible" and having "horrible statistical production". The OLine was horrible in those games. Not BJGE. BJGE has excellent vision, runs hard on every carry, and protects the football. What more do you want? The guy is far more "talented" than most of you give him credit for.

It seems that many of you are ironically falling into the same trap as many Manning supporters in the argument of Brady/Manning. Brady was a 6th round pick and the misperception amongst so many is that he's not as "talented" as Manning. Manning came into the league with all the fanfare and expectations. Brady is just a "system" guy. Yeah, right....Whatever. People throw the word "talent" around all the time and I'm convinved 99% of you have no concept of what that word even means. Name recognition and draft status does not equal talent.

 

[Rob0729]

It is clear that Taylor has lost his starting job and will not play except in case of injury to someone. The perfect time for him to come back was yesterday (to provide fresh legs for the RB committee coming off 3 days of rest) and I predicted that and turned out to be wrong.

It speaks volume that Taylor was active and did not play, because he does not participate on ST and so the active roster spot he takes up takes away something from ST.

Is it really clear that Taylor lost his starting job when he isn't even healthy enough to get on the field? If Taylor was healthy enough to play other than emergeny situations, they probably would have let him get a snap or two especially with the Pats protecting a big lead.

I agree it speaks volumes that he was active and didn't play. It means he wasn't ready to play except in an emergency situation. The fact that he was activated and he cannot contribute in any facet except special teams is probably more damning for BJGE, Morris, and/or Woodhead than Taylor. That tells me that even though Taylor isn't quite ready, they dressed him just in case the running game failed in some way.

Sorry, but your argument really doesn't hold much weight considering Taylor had been questionable all week, out for most of the season, and was a gametime decision in the first place. If Wright was healthy, he probably wouldn't have dressed instead allowing him another week to heal.

 

[PatsFan2]

It is clear that Taylor has lost his starting job and will not play except in case of injury to someone. The perfect time for him to come back was yesterday (to provide fresh legs for the RB committee coming off 3 days of rest) and I predicted that and turned out to be wrong.

It speaks volume that Taylor was active and did not play, because he does not participate on ST and so the active roster spot he takes up takes away something from ST.

Well said...made of glass Taylor has lost his job to the Lawfirm aka BGE. Didn't Bledsoe lose his job because of an injury? These kind if things happen in the NFL. BGE > Fred Taylor Right NOW! BGE = poor mans Marion Barber which is good enough for us. BGE is one of the best RZ runners how many times have we seen him break one straight to the EZ from 7 or 8 yards out? The man can play and he rarely gets negative yards.

 

[eagle eye]

Lawfirm is so easy to like being a UDFA who made it. I remember when we had all the injuries a couple of years back, was it 2008? And he came in and I was wondering who this guy was that looked half decent for an unused backup.

What Taylor said on WEEI a couple of months ago just after the Maroney trade made me a really big fan. Taylor said that BJGE works so hard to make himself better. Thats the type of guy that I really like to root for. He has made his way up the depth chart and right now he is as good as most backs in the league imo. Long may it continue. With a work ethic like he has there is no way he is going backwards for the foreseeable future and I'm very happy to see him as the Patriots no.1 RB.

 

[Patspsycho]

Is it really clear that Taylor lost his starting job when he isn't even healthy enough to get on the field? If Taylor was healthy enough to play other than emergeny situations, they probably would have let him get a snap or two especially with the Pats protecting a big lead.

I agree it speaks volumes that he was active and didn't play. It means he wasn't ready to play except in an emergency situation. The fact that he was activated and he cannot contribute in any facet except special teams is probably more damning for BJGE, Morris, and/or Woodhead than Taylor. That tells me that even though Taylor isn't quite ready, they dressed him just in case the running game failed in some way.

Sorry, but your argument really doesn't hold much weight considering Taylor had been questionable all week, out for most of the season, and was a gametime decision in the first place. If Wright was healthy, he probably wouldn't have dressed instead allowing him another week to heal.

I really don't think that BB has the mentality of "if you screw up, I have this guy waiting here to take your place." He is always going to play the best he has at every position at every given minute. In some case when a player is indispensable (e.g., Mayo) he is not afraid to play them injured, or have them play before they are 100%.

 

[PatsFan2]

Also Troy Brown spoke very Highly of Ben-Jarvis Green-Ellis...before most of us became believers...that's from a player who have been with the Team.

 

[cartmen]

he's on pace to hit 1k on less than 18 carries a game. I think there are a lot of people on this board that need to stop thinking they are scouts and start realizing they are fans. We have no clue what we think they know

 

[TheComeback]

I really don't think that BB has the mentality of "if you screw up, I have this guy waiting here to take your place." He is always going to play the best he has at every position at every given minute. In some case when a player is indispensable (e.g., Mayo) he is not afraid to play them injured, or have them play before they are 100%.

It could still be an injury-related thing with Taylor. For this game, Green-Ellis was the best option because Taylor hasn't played a game in what, like 8 weeks?

I do think Fred was active as an emergency option. BB's been known to do that with hurt role players from time to time, and at this point I don't think Fred is ever going to be more than a role player for us.

Even when Taylor's fully healthy again, it wouldn't surprise me to see Benny start every game for the remainder of the season. He's not spectacular, but he's certainly earned the job, and I think at this point Fred's job is going to be lighten the Law Firm's load the rest of the way, and give us a little more explosion in the power running game.

None of the backs are really indispensable this year.

 

[ehusson80]

A) I was so wrong in not predicting that Belichick would dump Maroney and not get any additions at running back. He chose to count on Green-Ellis (perhaps on a healthy Taylor).

B) Obviously, I'm glad that we have Green-Ellis. Otherwise Morris would be carrying more of the load and would be out injured by now. And Green-Ellis has been doing very well, given his skill set. He has certainly been adequate.

QUESTION
C) For how many playoff (or top 12) teams would Green-Ellis be the #1 running back instead of their present #1 running back.

The defending Super Bowl Champs(sorry, it just never gets old saying that) would at least have him getting a decent number of carries, given he has the same success as he's having with the Patriots. Pierre Thomas is out, Bush isn't really an every down back, Betts and Jones are serviceable but not spectacular, and Ivory is a rookie. He would have just as good a chance as any of the aforementioned(minus Pierre) to carry a majority of the load. The Patriots have that "next man up" mentality that the Saints are also operating with. It's a benefit of having an elite coaching staff who are fantastic at spotting, acquiring, and maximizing talent and depth. Most important thing to have in today's NFL, IMO.