Shane Vereen and the passing game

[PatriotDynasty_12]

This year is the first real glimpse that we have seen of Vereen. You always have to earn your reps with Belichick and we have witnessed, in his limited role so far, an explosive, receiving back. I mean, he has had Ridley in front of him, but he doesn't have the hands Vereen has. With Gronk out and the Patriots WR's and TE's seeming to struggle to get separation yesterday and with Lloyds recent drop-off, I hope they start to draw some screens up with Vereen going forward. We saw how much damage he can do in the open field at Cal. Anyone else feel like he has the potential to be the next D.Sproles or is that just the homer in me talking?

By the way, what ever happened to the Patriots screen game with their RB's? They used to own that phase of the game back in the day when they were winning SB's.

 

[signbabybrady]

By the way, what ever happened to the Patriots screen game with their RB's? They used to own that phase of the game back in the day when they were winning SB's.

They still run tons of screens they just tend to be to the slot WRs and to the TEs. I think one reason they go to the backs less is they dont really carry a FB anymore and we ran alot of our RB screens through the FBs think Larry Centers in 03, Heath Evans for a few years, and slightly less prevelant think Patrick Pass too.

I think the more we see of Vareen the more I like and think if Ridley werent such a beast that Vareen would be able to showcase his explosiveness more but Ridley is a beast and thats not changing so Vareen needs to figure out how to replace Woody who I believe is a free agent and then his reps will go up. I dont see much changing in the way the are used right now and the real interesting dynamic to this will be when Boldin gets back as he was looking good prior to his injury and appeared ahead of Vareen as far as reps go but does the suspension push him back down the depth.

 

[BlueThunder]

Does Demps possibly make Woody expendable? I like Woodhead and don't know what Demps brings besides speed. With Ridley,Vereen, Bolden and Demps..does Woody become redundant? Guess it depends on what price he comes at.

 

[Double TE]

Does Demps possibly make Woody expendable? I like Woodhead and don't know what Demps brings besides speed. With Ridley,Vereen, Bolden and Demps..does Woody become redundant? Guess it depends on what price he comes at.

Can Demps block? Woodhead is a decent blocker from what I've seen.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Doubt anyone knows what Demps brings to the table. Woody is known and quite good at what he's asked to do.

Re: Vereen. He sure looks the part when called upon. In many ways he reminds me of Thurman Thomas in posture and style.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Can Demps block? Woodhead is a decent blocker from what I've seen.

Although if the competition committee goes ahead and bans all blocks below the waist starting next season like NFL leadership wants them to, you can forget about little guys in the backfield on passing plays...

 

[The Gr8est]

With Edelman likely out vs Houston that leaves Welker as the PR.

Was Vereen ever tried at PR in TC or did he do it at Cal?

He seems to have the skillset for it and it would be nice to get him some more reps and reduce Wes' wear and tear.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Doubt anyone knows what Demps brings to the table. Woody is known and quite good at what he's asked to do.

Re: Vereen. He sure looks the part when called upon. In many ways he reminds me of Thurman Thomas in posture and style.

On the Thurman Thomas comment, I thought the same exact thing when I saw his colleg highlights, he definitely has a similar style to Thurman Thomas. And like Thomas, he has very good hands as a receiver coming out of the backfield, or lining up wide.

Thurman was more powerfully built and explosive than Vereen, watch these highlights.

Thurman Thomas pt,1 1988-89 (1-17) - YouTube

Here's Shane:

Shane Vereen 83 Yard Touchdown - YouTube
Shane Vereen - 2012 Preseason Drive (4 car., 33 yds) - YouTube