Felger's "Biggest Disappointment = Maroney?!?" WTF.

[BradyManny]

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT -- Laurence Maroney [stats]
The second-year running back made a late surge to get out of this distinction, but his entire body of work was still a big disappointment. (STUPID POINT #1)When you have a passing game like the Patriots do and defenses are constantly backpedaling and playing safeties deep, there are opportunities for the running game, and (STUPID POINT #2)Maroney didn’t take advantage of them until the final three weeks. For most of the year, (STUPID POINT #3)he had trouble staying on the field and finding the hole. Obviously, Maroney has a chance to wash out the sour taste with a strong postseason.

Look, I know at some point you just have to a) ignore Felger b/c he's an attention-whore b) acknowledge that sometimes media members have to bring up certain things just to fill an article/write something, but Maroney as a "disappointment"?

Felger has been anti-Maroney for a while at this point, but even folks on this board who have been hating on Maroney have to look at his overall season (835 yards, 4.5 YPC, 6 TDs, 116 REC yds in 13 games) and think he's had a very solid second season.

I start this thread b/c I was just about to start a thread with the idea that if you look at Maroney's entire body of work for the season, you have to be happy, and you have to be excited about the rest of his career. Folks might come back with "but if you look at what he did against good run defenses" blah blah blah, if you did that for every RB, you'd still see it.

Bottom line - 800+ yards, 4.5 YPC, sharing time, missed a few games - I think Maroney had a very promising regular season, and for all the crap he took from here and in the media, it's definitely worth acknowledging.

Specifically, to breakdown Felger's stupid argument:

STUPID POINT #1: The notion that it's easier to run on a team that is respecting the run isn't entirely true. First, we ran 3 or 4 wide spreads a lot, there wasn't even an RB on the field a decent portion, if there was, it was Faulk. You can't fault Maroney for not being on the field and you can't fault him for the style of offense and play-calling they play. Second, while nobody was up stuffing the box or anything, plenty of teams chose to blitz against Brady, and if you line up and run, you'll run right into the blitz. So in the end, guess what, the teams with good run defenses, we didn't run against them. Is that a surprise considering we have the best passing offense in history?

STUPID POINT #2: Again, for those weeks Maroney was getting criticized, we were playing teams where run defense was a STRENGTH for them. BB has made it clear over the years he won't bother running against teams that are stout against the run.

STUPID POINT #3: He missed 3 games, and at times, they were just being extra-cautious. Makes sense considering the real season is just beginning and it's these 3 games we need him healthy for.

 

[MRBLAZE]

People are too hard on him.

He's a really talented back, and I'm sure he will perform whatever role assigned to him during the playoffs just fine. Hopefully that will silence some of his big critics.

 

[STFarmy]

My biggest disappointment is that an 18-wheeler hasn't gone barrelling over Felger yet.

 

[ClevTrev]

Felger? He's nothing to me. I stopped reading him long ago. Therefore, he can write anything he wants, as the truth is out there.

 

[The Boston Patriot]

Borges Light.....

'Nuff said!

 

[Deus Irae]

When you patronize a writer, store, paper, etc... that you do nothing but complain about, you look foolish. You don't force change or improvement and you keep that person/company in business. The people who keep complaining about Felcher and the rest, be they PFT, Peter King or whomever, are just driving traffic towards those people.

Bottom line: If you don't like someone in their job, look elsewhere for your satisfaction.

 

[BradyManny]

When you patronize a writer, store, paper, etc... that you do nothing but complain about, you look foolish. You don't force change or improvement and you keep that person/company in business. The people who keep complaining about Felcher and the rest, be they PFT, Peter King or whomever, are just driving traffic towards those people.

Bottom line: If you don't like someone in their job, look elsewhere for your satisfaction.

Felger is only meant to be a jumping off point for a discussion on Maroney in this thread. If for no other reason than a thread with Felger in the title will get more views than one that says "hey, Maroney's great!"

 

[hambone1818]

Playing devils advocate here, who would you select as biggest disappointment? Maroney missed a few games, actually looked worse than Morris when both were healthy, and didn't do a hell of a lot despite--as Felger pointed out--teams mostly playing for the pass. I don't think he was necessarily a disappointment but to me it wasn't an improvement over last season, which is something you'd expect from a second year player. He had almost the same year (185 carries, 835 yards, 6 TD's) this year as he did last year (175, 745, 6 TD's), and this was an offense that should have allowed for a ton of big runs with all the receiving weapons.

As far as disappointments go, I'd have to stick Hobbs or Meriweather in there ahead of Maroney. Maybe I got too excited about a rookie coming into a decent secondary and a very veteran defense that runs pretty complex and varied schemes, but Meriweather did nothing this year to make you believe he'll be ready to start next season, and he came off as a hot head more often than not. Hobbs regressed, plain and simple. Just one INT, got burned far, far too often and generally seemed late on the ball, allowing far too many uncontested receptions.

 

[BradyManny]

Meriweather clearly got stronger as the year went on, he had a good game the other night against the Giants. I actually thought I saw him check himself out on that last drive with some kind of tweek (haven't heard anything about it), and after that, they scored the TD.

Biggest disappointment? I'd skip the damn section, we were 16-0.

 

[TeamPats]

Look, I know at some point you just have to a) ignore Felger b/c he's an attention-whore b) acknowledge that sometimes media members have to bring up certain things just to fill an article/write something, but Maroney as a "disappointment"?

Felger has been anti-Maroney for a while at this point, but even folks on this board who have been hating on Maroney have to look at his overall season (835 yards, 4.5 YPC, 6 TDs, 116 REC yds in 13 games) and think he's had a very solid second season.

I start this thread b/c I was just about to start a thread with the idea that if you look at Maroney's entire body of work for the season, you have to be happy, and you have to be excited about the rest of his career. Folks might come back with "but if you look at what he did against good run defenses" blah blah blah, if you did that for every RB, you'd still see it.

Bottom line - 800+ yards, 4.5 YPC, sharing time, missed a few games - I think Maroney had a very promising regular season, and for all the crap he took from here and in the media, it's definitely worth acknowledging.

Specifically, to breakdown Felger's stupid argument:

STUPID POINT #1: The notion that it's easier to run on a team that is respecting the run isn't entirely true. First, we ran 3 or 4 wide spreads a lot, there wasn't even an RB on the field a decent portion, if there was, it was Faulk. You can't fault Maroney for not being on the field and you can't fault him for the style of offense and play-calling they play. Second, while nobody was up stuffing the box or anything, plenty of teams chose to blitz against Brady, and if you line up and run, you'll run right into the blitz. So in the end, guess what, the teams with good run defenses, we didn't run against them. Is that a surprise considering we have the best passing offense in history?

STUPID POINT #2: Again, for those weeks Maroney was getting criticized, we were playing teams where run defense was a STRENGTH for them. BB has made it clear over the years he won't bother running against teams that are stout against the run.

STUPID POINT #3: He missed 3 games, and at times, they were just being extra-cautious. Makes sense considering the real season is just beginning and it's these 3 games we need him healthy for.

While I have not read the article, if he was doing a biggest disappointment on the season section for thie Patriots team...who would you put then? You have to put someone, so then who? Adalius Thomas? Dante Stallworth? Richard Seymour? No matter what answer is given, in a 16-0 season it is going to be a bit of a reach. There are many who felt Maroney would have done more at the start of the season, I don't know why this is such a big deal.

Maroney is showing to be a capable and talented back who has improved with time, but I will be the first to admit I expected more from him at the start of the year with no Dillon. I think Sammy Morris's early success had a lot to do with the Maroney criticism as we did not seem to have such a pass oriented offense until Morris went down and the show was Maroney's. He was a 1st round pick and looking around the league there have been several others that have accelled at a faster rate.

I think the main area I was disappointed with Maroney was during passing downs he was never on the field. Faulk is a much better RB/WR in these scenarios, but I was hoping as the season went on Maroney would be in the backfield to help keep a run threat at times. But he is young and this is often the last thing a RB improves upon on entering the NFL.

 

[BradyManny]

Well, why put anybody?

But more to the point - I don't think Maroney was at all a disappointment. Would I rather have him than Faulk in on 3rd downs? Hell, no, Faulk is probably the best receiving back in the league in terms of hands, YAC & pass protection. For now, I like the dynamic the way it is.

 

[Grogan's neck roll]

Biggest disappointment? I'd skip the damn section, we were 16-0.

Thank you. Good lord, people looking for stuff to complain about? This team is so good they bring a tear to my eye. I can't tell my son (10) enough about appreciating this team as he may never see it again (although I thought the same thing about Larry Bird, and then came Tom Brady).

 

[BradyManny]

Thank you. Good lord, people looking for stuff to complain about? This team is so good they bring a tear to my eye. I can't tell my son (10) enough about appreciating this team as he may never see it again (although I thought the same thing about Larry Bird, and then came Tom Brady).

Exactly, who says there needs to be a biggest disappointment section? If you have to inexplicably criticize a player who has already faced an unfair share of undeserved criticism, I'd say leave it blank and move on.

 

[danny88]

Exactly, who says there needs to be a biggest disappointment section? If you have to inexplicably criticize a player who has already faced an unfair share of undeserved criticism, I'd say leave it blank and move on.

Yes but you like the poster above are a total homer. There is nothing wrong with that. You are Incapable of accepting any type of critasism towards the pats. Not everyone likes to talk about how great they are ALL the time.

Felger thought Maroney was a dissapointmet this year. A lot of people felt that way. They have just as much right to feel that way as you do to wave your 16 - 0 pom poms at any type of critasism.

I suspect the Maroney Mafia will be here soon.

 

[hambone1818]

Meriweather clearly got stronger as the year went on, he had a good game the other night against the Giants. I actually thought I saw him check himself out on that last drive with some kind of tweek (haven't heard anything about it), and after that, they scored the TD.

Biggest disappointment? I'd skip the damn section, we were 16-0.

Yeah, I might be too critical of Meriweather...I was expecting more, I guess that was my point. He did get better as the year went on and he certainly worked his way into more playing time, I guess I thought of him as someone ready to jump right in and when he got run over a few times in the first half dozen games it surprised me.

No disappointments? I can deal with that, especially with an undefeated team that set records galore and had the #1 offense, #4 defense. That said, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to look critically at a team...enjoy the ride, certainly, but the only way to improve (is that even possible after this season?) is to evaluate a team's strengths/weaknesses and improve where possible. Are there areas that can be improved upon? Without question...otherwise we'd be looking at All Pro's across the board coming from the Patriots. As is, this is as good a team as has ever played organized football, and for that to happen again next year the weaknesses (slight though they may be) need to be addressed.

 

[BradyManny]

Are there areas that can be improved upon? Without question...otherwise we'd be looking at All Pro's across the board coming from the Patriots. As is, this is as good a team as has ever played organized football, and for that to happen again next year the weaknesses (slight though they may be) need to be addressed.

I hear you...I just think that if anything Maroney deserves some props for running well in the face of a lot of media jibber jabber.

 

[Real World]

Playing devils advocate here, who would you select as biggest disappointment? Maroney missed a few games, actually looked worse than Morris when both were healthy, and didn't do a hell of a lot despite--as Felger pointed out--teams mostly playing for the pass. I don't think he was necessarily a disappointment but to me it wasn't an improvement over last season, which is something you'd expect from a second year player. He had almost the same year (185 carries, 835 yards, 6 TD's) this year as he did last year (175, 745, 6 TD's), and this was an offense that should have allowed for a ton of big runs with all the receiving weapons.

As far as disappointments go, I'd have to stick Hobbs or Meriweather in there ahead of Maroney. Maybe I got too excited about a rookie coming into a decent secondary and a very veteran defense that runs pretty complex and varied schemes, but Meriweather did nothing this year to make you believe he'll be ready to start next season, and he came off as a hot head more often than not. Hobbs regressed, plain and simple. Just one INT, got burned far, far too often and generally seemed late on the ball, allowing far too many uncontested receptions.

I think I can understand where people would be disappointed in Maroney (who I love btw) because they expected a 1,200-1,500 yard year. The guy was hurt, and wasn't used in a traditional fashion. This year was all about spreading it out, with lots of passes & runs out of the shotgun. Tough year for a RB like Maroney to excell IMO. I think being disappointed is understandable, but doesn't take into account the different factors the season presented.

As for other players, I'd agree on Hobbs, and would add Adalius Thomas. Not that he stunk, but I was expecting more. Maybe he wasn't healthy at times, but he wasn't as good as advertised.

On the flip side, Sammy Morris was much better than I thought he'd be till he got hurt, and Wes Welker, who I thought would be terrific, was unreal. I'm not sure anyone thought he'd be 100+ catch machine with all the weapons we have.

 

[mgteich]

This thread makes no sense. If we cannot be disappointed, how can we improve?

I am glad for all for whom every player on the roster this year met their expectations before the year started. May they wear such rose colored glasses forever.

For the rest of us, they were many, many players who produced MORE than we expected. Some produced less. Some were disappointing to us in their output.

For example, I could understand many hero being disappointed with the output of Stallworth and Washington. That is not necessarily a knock on their performance. It simply means that someone might have expected more and are disappointed.

MY DISAPPOINTMENTS
I am disapppointed in Maroney and Meriweather. That's it, a short list.

I didn't expect to see another back on the team to look better than Maroney. It is NOT a matter of us being a passing team. Curtis Martin, Edge and lost of others have had awesome production while playing for passing teams.

I expected that Meriweather would at least be higher than Wilson on the safety depth chart, and based on the preseason, I thought that he would gets lots of work as our dime back.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND
I expect both these players to have important roles and contribute greatly in the future. Personally, I expected more this year.

AND BE HONEST
Look back, BEFORE the season started. What were your expectations for Maroney? Weren't your expectations for more than was produced?

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

Despite Maroney not being involved in the offense that much, he had good year. I'm sure if he had the same number of carries as those other backs that have 1,000 yards rushing, Maroney would be right up there with them. If anything, the coaching staff is doing Maroney a favor and extending his career by not giving him so many touches per year. Multi-back systems is becoming en vogue in the NFL. Rushing yards per individual back is down from past years. The leagues leading rusher this year was Tomlinson with 1474 rushing yards. The next leading rusher was Peterson with 1341 (but probably would have claimed the rushing title if he had not sustained that injury in Green Bay). I look at it this way, the Pats are 16-0 and did through the air. If the Pats ran the ball and Maroney had a ton of rushing yards, people would think that Moss or Welker would be a dissapointment. Our players can't have all the sexy stats. We have to remember, the Pats offense was ranked number 1 in total yards and points. I think that's all that matters.

My dissapointments are:

Ellis Hobbs - He gets beat too many times. However, he does come up with big plays when it matters the most
Brandon Merriweather - I thought he would be starting at free safety from day 1. I hope he starts next year.
Adalius Thomas - I didn't like it that he played inside LB when he excelled at outside LB. You didn't hear his name very much until the very end of the year
Richard Seymour - I don't know if it's because he's not 100% healthy but I don't see him collapsing the pocket like he did in the past.

 

[DaBruinz]

This thread makes no sense. If we cannot be disappointed, how can we improve?

I am glad for all for whom every player on the roster this year met their expectations before the year started. May they wear such rose colored glasses forever.

For the rest of us, they were many, many players who produced MORE than we expected. Some produced less. Some were disappointing to us in their output.

For example, I could understand many hero being disappointed with the output of Stallworth and Washington. That is not necessarily a knock on their performance. It simply means that someone might have expected more and are disappointed.

MY DISAPPOINTMENTS
I am disapppointed in Maroney and Meriweather. That's it, a short list.

I didn't expect to see another back on the team to look better than Maroney. It is NOT a matter of us being a passing team. Curtis Martin, Edge and lost of others have had awesome production while playing for passing teams.

I expected that Meriweather would at least be higher than Wilson on the safety depth chart, and based on the preseason, I thought that he would gets lots of work as our dime back.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND
I expect both these players to have important roles and contribute greatly in the future. Personally, I expected more this year.

AND BE HONEST
Look back, BEFORE the season started. What were your expectations for Maroney? Weren't your expectations for more than was produced?

MG -
Why would you expect a 1st year rookie to be ahead of a 5th year veteran who was the starter in 2 SBs and who has played very well most of the time this year? Could you tell me which 1st round pick, other than Seymour and Mankins, have done this? Warren, Wilfork, Watson and Graham weren't immediately starters. Does that make them bad?

You made mention in another thread that you expected more out of Meriweather and made mention of how Samuel, Wilson, Gay, and Hobbs played their rookie seasons. However, for Meriweather to "produce the way that Gay, Hobbs, Wilson and Samuel" did during their rookie years, the Patriots would have had to have lost several players in the secondary to injury. Remember, in 2003, the Pats cut Lawyer Milloy and then Ty Poole went down with injury. Gay got his playing time in 2004 when the Pats lost Ty Poole at the beginning of the season and Ty Law against the Steelers. Hobbs got his playing time in 2005 because of the Ty Poole, Duane Starks, Chad Scott and Randall Gay all going down to injury.

Sorry, but to have the expectation that Meriweather would be more than a special teamer this year is unrealistic unless you expected a rash of injuries in the secondary. Are you REALLY disappointed that the secondary didn't have a rash of injuries this year?


As for Maroney, my expectations were for him to be the #1 back. Yes, it was disappointing that he missed the 3 games, but I believe that 2 of the games were done as precautionary measures. Did I have hopes of him breaking off 1000 yards rushing? Yes. Am I disappointed that he didn't get 1000 yards rushing? Yes. But I also expected that he'd improve on his pass blocking. And I expected to improve on his route running. Which he's done some of. Just because he's got a couple of negatives doesn't mean I think he's the biggest disappointment

Now, whether or not he's the BIGGEST disappointment is another issue. Honestly, I think that Stallworth was a bigger disappointment in the scheme of things because I don't feel he lived up to the contract he signed (when looked at as a whole, not just as a single year deal). Nor do I believe that Stallworth lived up to his billing. Maybe that is because of Welker having his breakout year. Maybe its because of Moss being here. But I felt like Stallworth was non-existant for too many games.

That all being said, there are always players who don't live up to expectations. That makes them disappointments. Obviously, Felger and others expected Maroney to produce more. I think its safe to say that, had he played in the other 3 games, he'd have put up over 1000 yards.

I agree that people seem to be over-blowing Felger's take on Maroney. I don't share Felger's take on the issue, as I've mentioned above.