As a Minnesota Golden Gopher fan, I assume I have seen Maroney play more games than anyone on the board..unless their is a resident of St Louis who watched his High School games.
Maroney has never been the type of pounder that Sammy Morris or LaMont Jordan is. He doesn't run hard with explosion between the tackles. If the Gophers ever had a 3rd (or 4th) and short, I wanted to see Marion Barber or Thomas Tapeh get the ball (or later Gary Russell). Laurence likes to make decisions behind the line of scrimmage, and he needs a clean backfield to make those decisions. If the Pats line is allowing penetration on running plays (like it has consistently this year), Laurence will not be successful.
Here's a highlight video I found of Maroney's time at Minnesota (warning I didn't care for the music)
Laurence Maroney Highlight Reel - Truveo Video Search
Notice how many of his runs start slowly with a cut in the backfield. Notice how he rarely explodes with his first few steps but rather "dances" "shuffles" or whatever word you choose to use. Now notice how often a run starts inside and then ends up near the sidelines. Many of his big runs came on plays off tackle or even wider, which the Patriots haven't really utilized this season.
The Gophers used a zone blocking scheme with undersized lineman who were adept at cut blocks. Laurence would take the hand off, look for the cutback lane and then look to take it the distance. His style produced plenty of 1,2, and 3 yard runs, but also plenty of 20 plus yard runs.
Laurence's positives are that he's got a great combination of size and speed for the position and has good vision in the open field.
What Laurence lacks is the ability to consistently pound the ball between the tackles in a north/south style. He has done it on occasion, but it's certainly not his strength. He also has always been in a time share and has never reacted well to carrying the entire load. Laurence got banged up quite a bit his junior year after Marion Barber left for the NFL. In the NFL his trend of getting nicked up has continued.
What is interesting is that the Gophers never used their running backs in the passing game, but Laurence has showed flashes of being very effective in that area in the NFL, particularly last season.
Part of me has been frustrated by Laurence's play this year, especially after how well he played down the stretch last season. I do think a lot of his struggles have to do with the Oline and that this Oline is better suited to block for a downhill power back such as Morris or Jordan. That said, it's up to Laurence to make an adjustment and be more willing to accept the 2 yard gain instead of looking for a hole or a cutback lane that might not develop.
I've been trying to think of an NFL comparison to Laurence Maroney and the best I can come up with is Robert Smith. Smith was a size/speed back who ran upright and was injured often during his career. He was the type of guy early in his career who you never really wanted running the ball on 3rd and short, but who often broke long runs. Later in Smith's career, he still broke long runs, but he became average (maybe better than average) in short yardage situations. Still, the Vikings usually employed a power back (such as Leroy Hoard) in tough short yardage situations.
Maroney has showed flashes of being no just a very good NFL back, but an elite NFL back. I don't know if he will ever get there, but I do think it's too early to give up on him.
One other point: Is it possible that it's not just the Oline's regression, but the regression in the blocking department by the TE's as well? Neither Thomas or Watson is going to turn a DE inside to allow a Maroney to get around the edge.
