Ridley Fumbles - Let's not let facts get in the way

[Ring 6]

His Fumbles in Buffalo and Carolina was of the careless variety if he has held on to the Football more securely we wouldn't be having this conversation.

THAT is the real issue. The one in Buffalo was almost a brain fart.
This weeks looked similar, the contact was not severe.
EVERY player who carries the ball fumbles from time to time. Many are caused by good plays and arent actually the runners 'fault'. Some are totally the runners fault, those are the ones to worry about, and the 2 you named definitely are in that category.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I care more about the circumstances surrounding the fumbles than the raw number. In many cases in the past, Ridley has fumbled because of a great play by the defense rather than any error on his part, and in those cases I don't hold it against him. Similarly, it's hard to hold it against the guy when he drops the ball on account of being knocked unconscious.

Monday night's fumble, though, was inexcusable. It happened because he was holding the ball away from his body. If a high school RB did that, he'd be yelled at and benched. So the drive was killed and the Patriots lost the game, with the single biggest play happening because Ridley failed to use high school-level fundamentals in ball security. He should be torn apart for that.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Ronnie Hillman is near the top as well.

Ball and Hillman are both terrible at taking care of the football. Ball's fumble last week was worse than anything I've seen from Ridley, but Denver went back to him later in the game and he rewarded them with a pretty nice touchdown. He's a mixed bag, and if we're going to get a big fumble from anyone, he'd be a pretty good bet.

 

[PP2]

His Fumbles in Buffalo and Carolina was of the careless variety if he has held on to the Football more securely we wouldn't be having this conversation.

I think the issue is more that he just hasn't modified his technique as far as carrying the ball. You decrease your likelihood of fumbling if you carry the ball high and tight. When he fumbled this past Monday, he held the ball low and away, allowing Kawann to reach in and get a good swipe at the ball.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I think it's been said by others, but here goes in one place:

He seems to fumble at especially bad times (not that there's a good time to fumble). Fair or unfair, sometimes perception is as important as reality.

He doesn't make a lot of game-changing plays, unlike others on the OP's list, so it's more important that he not set the Pats back, especially when they are driving.

Belichick's standards are very high and clear in this regard. He has no time for these mistakes.

Sports media in Boston and New York are probably the "toughest audiences" in the country. I've lived in both cities and, while I think that Boston fans are more well-informed than New York's, there is very little distance between the two fan-bases when it comes to intensity. New York has two tabloids, while the NY Times tends not to be as incendiary as either. Boston has one major tabloid, but the Globe's Sports Page is "Tabloid-like," so both cities have two, widely-circulated newspapers that make a living off of inciting fan passions to build their reader bases.

All of that adds up to a very bright spotlight; I chalk it up to the price of living in a great city with rabid fans and good teams. Count your blessings!

 

[dannydyn]

I think Ridely gets scrutinized because BB benches fumblers. So on the next series, his absence from the field draws extra attention.

 

[cstjohn17]

You can't really fumble at a good time, so thats really not much of an argument.
By defintion if you fumble it either sets the other team up on a short field or supposedly takes points off the board, or both in the midfield area.
As far as us never recovering his fumbles he has lost 5 of his 8 career fumbles, so that is a grand total of 1 more than expected.

Mr. Semantics has saved the day, aside from the snide deflection of the question try to watch some of these games. His fumbles are absolute back breakers and part of a reoccurring trend. It is like the drunk who only gets totally wasted and smokes crack a couple times a year, in the meantime everyone around him is nervous, just when you think he can be trusted he fouls it up again.

 

[coolguy]

I think Ridely gets scrutinized because BB benches fumblers. So on the next series, his absence from the field draws extra attention.

I don't see the point of benching ridely in games he fumbles. Has ridley ever fumbled twice in a game?

 

[patfanken]

It always bugs me that people go on and on about Ridley's fumbles like he is the only RB in the NFL that fumbles. Yes, fumbling is bad, but is there another RB in the NFL who has this kind of microscope on him every time he fumbles? It's insanity and pure Boston media at its best.

I took at look at fumbles for NFL RBs and broke it down as % of carries. (I looked at fumbles, not fumbles lost as it's random chance after that whether it's recovered or not.)

21 NFL RBs have 2 or 3 fumbles on the season. Of those with 100+ carries, Ridley is in the top 5 with fumble %, but where is the outcry for benching Bush, Tate, Spiller, Jackson, etc. over their fumbles? None of these RBs have "fumbling problems" its just the negative Boston media combined with Ridley fumbles being magnified by circumstance. The guy has a ball protection issue but it's not like its out of control. A little perspective never hurts.

Player	 Carries 	Fumbles	%
*Alfonso Smith	18	2	11.11%
*Johnathan Franklin	19	2	10.53%
*Ronnie Hillman	40	2	5.00%
*Peyton Hillis	43	2	4.65%
*David Wilson	44	2	4.55%
*Danny Woodhead	64	2	3.13%
*Montee Ball	68	2	2.94%
*Rashard Mendenhall	117	3	2.56%
*Ben Tate	122	3	2.46%
*C.J. Spiller	123	3	2.44%
*Stevan Ridley	131	3	2.29%
*Fred Jackson	141	3	2.13%
*Reggie Bush	145	3	2.07%
*DeMarco Murray	111	2	1.80%
*Jamaal Charles	186	3	1.61%
*Adrian Peterson	194	3	1.55%
*Marshawn Lynch	208	3	1.44%
*Ray Rice	140	2	1.43%
*DeAngelo Williams	141	2	1.42%
*Frank Gore	175	2	1.14%
*Alfred Morris	181	2	1.10%

Nice job. But be prepared. Never let the facts get in the way of a whining media and fans that are never satisfied with anything but perfection.

BTW- only one of those fumbles were caused by poor ball security, the other 2 were more the result of a good defensive play than a poor offensive one. Each week he plays he is almost always the best RB on the field, yet for some reason too many haters just see the flaws and not the excellence from a 4th round pick who runs violently and has more 20+ yd runs than any Pats runner in recent history.

Certainly not where we'd like it to be, but the negativity about this guy is way over drawn.

 

[IllegalContact]

the fumbles don't faze me much.......they happen

it's easy....when it happens inside the 10 like that, just look at is as a drive that ended in a really good punt

 

[dannydyn]

the fumbles don't faze me much.......they happen

it's easy....when it happens inside the 10 like that, just look at is as a drive that ended in a really good punt

I disagree. Riedly needs to put both hands on the ball as he runs through a wall of DLs.

 

[Ring 6]

Mr. Semantics has saved the day, aside from the snide deflection of the question try to watch some of these games. His fumbles are absolute back breakers and part of a reoccurring trend. It is like the drunk who only gets totally wasted and smokes crack a couple times a year, in the meantime everyone around him is nervous, just when you think he can be trusted he fouls it up again.

Why is the dig necessary? Every fumble is critical. His are no more critical than anyone elses.
We are describing fumbles as critical because they are in + territory and cost points, or because they are in - territory and set up the other team, or because they are in the 3rd quarter, etc, etc.
Unless you single out fumbles in a blowout, every fumble fits that criteria.

"Everyone around him"? Is that the cyber version of 'around'?

 

[cstjohn17]

Why is the dig necessary? Every fumble is critical. His are no more critical than anyone elses.
We are describing fumbles as critical because they are in + territory and cost points, or because they are in - territory and set up the other team, or because they are in the 3rd quarter, etc, etc.
Unless you single out fumbles in a blowout, every fumble fits that criteria.

"Everyone around him"? Is that the cyber version of 'around'?

You are right, there was no need to get personal, my apologizes. Plus with my poor grammar I shouldn't cast stones..

No one can pick their spots and only fumble in blow up games (I wish they could). But in the eyes of the Patriots Ridley has an issue with fumbling, this could be their bias because the statistics can be massaged to fit any argument. Even with the extra focus on this weakness he is still vulnerable, after a while a repeating weakness becomes a fatal flaw.

 

[Brady6]

You can't really fumble at a good time, so thats really not much of an argument.
By defintion if you fumble it either sets the other team up on a short field or supposedly takes points off the board, or both in the midfield area.
As far as us never recovering his fumbles he has lost 5 of his 8 career fumbles, so that is a grand total of 1 more than expected.

Very true no turnover is ever a good thing, if you look back to Blount’s fumble it came as we were driving for a potential game tying score and then he lost the ball at around the 25 yard line. So as you said there is never a good time and that is the case for more than just Ridley.

 

[Brady6]

I disagree. Riedly needs to put both hands on the ball as he runs through a wall of DLs.

I don’t think he has to go to that degree, I think Ridley just needs to be conscious of the fact he is carrying the football when he is making a cut or redirecting, and he seems to lose concentration when he is making his move.

 

[Brady6]

Fumbling is unacceptable period, i don't care who else does it in the NFL, it's a momentum killer.

Tom Brady has 85 fumbles in his 11+ seasons as a starter. It is part of the game, Tom Brady is the best player to ever step onto an NFL field in my opinion but he has led this team in turnovers every year except his rookie season and 2008 when he missed the year with the knee injury. Nobody is perfect Adrian Peterson has fumbled 29 in his 6+ season in the NFL.

 

[PP2]

Tom Brady has 61 fumbles in his 11+ seasons as a starter. It is part of the game, Tom Brady is the best player to ever step onto an NFL field in my opinion but he has led this team in turnovers every year except his rookie season and 2008 when he missed the year with the knee injury. Nobody is perfect Adrian Peterson has fumbled 29 in his 6+ season in the NFL.

I think Brady has fumbled around 80 times, and only 30-35 of them were lost.

However, how many of those fumbles were caused by OL breakdowns? How many were completely his fault?

I would say no more than 10 over his entire career; for example the Falcons game where he fumbled away the snap and even then it's hard to tell if that was a clean snap.

 

[signbabybrady]

Fumbling is unacceptable period, i don't care who else does it in the NFL, it's a momentum killer.

Fumbling and interceptions are unacceptable this is true but whether you do it more or less than your peers is certainly an important factor otherwise how do you explain Brady throwing 130 career INTs?

 

[Ring 6]

You are right, there was no need to get personal, my apologizes. Plus with my poor grammar I shouldn't cast stones..

No one can pick their spots and only fumble in blow up games (I wish they could). But in the eyes of the Patriots Ridley has an issue with fumbling, this could be their bias because the statistics can be massaged to fit any argument. Even with the extra focus on this weakness he is still vulnerable, after a while a repeating weakness becomes a fatal flaw.

I'm not saying his fumbles aren't a problem, I'm saying exaggerating the issue with 'they seem to happen at the worst times' is wrong.
They happen pretty much in the same situations everyone elses do, and are equally as debilitating.

 

[Brady6]

I think Brady has fumbled around 80 times, and only 30-35 of them were lost.

However, how many of those fumbles were caused by OL breakdowns? How many were completely his fault?

I would say no more than 10 over his entire career; for example the Falcons game where he fumbled away the snap and even then it's hard to tell if that was a clean snap.

Brady’s regular season fumble total is 85 and 35 have been lost. I am not saying he fumbles a lot I am just saying even the best in the business make mistakes.

Emmitt Smith one of the greatest RB of all time fumbled the ball 61 times in his career. Brett Farve is the all time leader with 166 career fumbles.