Thanks LeGarrette Blount for the Good times

[Ring 6]

First of all, the player may certainly have changed. He was already an oft injured player who has had 2 more surgeries/procedures since then.

Secondly, you cannot pretend to definitively know that his role would be the same as in 2015. Obviously, Belichick has brought in two new free agents where he wasn't afraid to absorb some nice cap hits (4m and 3.15m) this year to do so. He also extended White, who was the SB hero, not Lewis. There's a fine chance that Lewis' role may not be the exact same that it previously was.

I disagree. We will see soon enough who is right.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

He was good at the price he played for. That said, looking forward to taking a new direction this year at rb

 

[supafly]

I disagree. We will see soon enough who is right.

I'm not meaning to suggest that I think he'll be cut or traded, as I'd still think his chances of staying would be around 75 percent. You'd have it higher. Fair enough.

There's not much to disagree about aside from the fact that you believe that his role will definitely stay the same as it did in '15, but I'd be leery with the addition of players with similar skill sets and hints from the coaching staff at larger roles.

Edited for grammar.

 

[willard]

He was good at the price he played for. That said, looking forward to taking a new direction this year at rb

Name 6 better Patriot running backs in their history. He so out played his salary EVERY year he played for us. We won 2 Super Bowls with him as our lead back. His loss in 2015 had a profound impact on our playoff scheming.

 

[sambam94]

offense will be better with the versatility of the 4 backs.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

"The Hobbit: Battle of the 5 Backs"

Nah. 4.

LaG. gave us what we needed these last few years.

Like I said, don't get the Pats 18 TDs on the ground

This is what happens to you.

In all seriousness... there are guys paid a lot of money to decide these things with their brain-bones not with their gut... and yeah I trust the team with the team decisions. This ain't the Ravens we're talking about, right?

I think he's gone guys.

But on the bright side, when I say stuff like that, I'm almost always wrong

 

[neali]

I think he is gone also, but feel no need to piss on him on his way out of town. Anyone that needs to do that all over this site as well as here, a tribute thread, has problems, maybe an infinite series of problems that converges to a small appendage.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Name 6 better Patriot running backs in their history. He so out played his salary EVERY year he played for us. We won 2 Super Bowls with him as our lead back. His loss in 2015 had a profound impact on our playoff scheming.

He is what he is, an antowain smith / bjge caliber back who filled in nicely as the lead rb on the cheap at a position that doesnt require above average talent for us. Appreciate what he did but there is a reason 2 rbs completely unproven as lead guys were offered more money to take his job when he was sitting there for us. Also wont be the first time bb was perfectly fine with him walking without a 3m per year offer (i believe the last time he was well under 30 and the steelers got him for 2/4m or something crazy cheap as well ). Its not a knock on him at all, again i salute him for his contribution here, but that is the reality of his value.

Oh, if you honestly think hed have made any difference in 2015, you may need to review his playoff game log against anyone other than indy...and consider hes going against denver

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Yeah only read very briefly, but if anybody's pissing on him on the way out, sure, fine, that's not cool.

Looking at Pats RBs over the years, you have to go back to the Martin years to have that reliable, many 1k+ yard seasons out of a Pats back. Edwards was on track for that, but, Hawaii.

Backs get beat up and usually that just takes the piss out of em after a very nice 1-3 years.

I don't know the thinking on Blount.

 

[Ring 6]

I'm not meaning to suggest that I think he'll be cut or traded, as I'd still think his chances of staying would be around 75 percent. You'd have it higher. Fair enough.

There's not much to disagree about aside from the fact that you believe that his role will definitely stay the same as it did in '15, but I'd be leery with the addition of players with similar skill sets and hints from the coaching staff at larger roles.

Edited for grammar.

Yes that is what we disagree on because Lewis is much better at what he does than anyone we have.
Where did the coaching staff hint that other players would have larger roles?

 

[supafly]

Yes that is what we disagree on because Lewis is much better at what he does than anyone we have.
Where did the coaching staff hint that other players would have larger roles?

You don't see new contracts for Gilleslee, Burkhead, and White as any type of hint that they may be contributing more than you're suggesting? After all, your comments have claimed that Lewis' role would be the same as in '15. How would that be possible?

For the record, Mike Reiss believes that Gilleslee will be the closest thing we'll have to a bell cow back.

 

[Tony2046]

You don't see new contracts for Gilleslee, Burkhead, and White as any type of hint that they may be contributing more than you're suggesting? After all, your comments have claimed that Lewis' role would be the same as in '15. How would that be possible?

For the record, Mike Reiss believes that Gilleslee will be the closest thing we'll have to a bell cow back.

Just my thoughts.

He could be the bell cow. He looks like a combination of Blount and Lewis. He's quick to the LOS, finds a gap and blasts through it and big enough to win leverage against linebackers to pick up a few additional yards. The difference between them would be Gillislee would be able to get a few more yards in tight spaces and Lewis would get more in open spaces.

I watched most of his runs from last season. He's impressive and I'm excited to see what he can do here.

My disclaimer is that I'm a rookie at evaluating players so take all that with that in mind.

What I don't know is how much different it will be running behind the Pats O line vs running behind the Bill's OL.

 

[supafly]

Just my thoughts.

He could be the bell cow. He looks like a combination of Blount and Lewis. He's quick to the LOS, finds a gap and blasts through it and big enough to win leverage against linebackers to pick up a few additional yards. The difference between them would be Gillislee would be able to get a few more yards in tight spaces and Lewis would get more in open spaces.

I watched most of his runs from last season. He's impressive and I'm excited to see what he can do here.

My disclaimer is that I'm a rookie at evaluating players so take all that with that in mind.

What I don't know is how much different it will be running behind the Pats O line vs running behind the Bill's OL.

If the idea is that Lewis will be the main rushing back to spell Gilleslee, then I'd agree, but that would also mean that White would be nothing but the main receiving back, and it would also mean that Rex Burkhead was paid a 3.15m cap hit as a backup to primarily play STs and watch from the bench. And even in this scenario, Lewis still loses touches to Gilleslee.

Any way you look at it, there's plenty of question marks about who's role will be what. I disagree with the idea that things are as clear cut as what Andy is suggesting. I can't see how he wouldn't suffer a drop in production from the crowded backfield with similar skill sets, and this is all assuming that he remains healthy, which is a bit of wishful thinking in and of itself, in my opinion. Like I said, I think Lewis offers something as a change of pace back and even as a KO returner, but I also think the production will be spread.

 

[dafoe2016]

He is what he is, an antowain smith / bjge caliber back who filled in nicely as the lead rb on the cheap at a position that doesnt require above average talent for us. Appreciate what he did but there is a reason 2 rbs completely unproven as lead guys were offered more money to take his job when he was sitting there for us. Also wont be the first time bb was perfectly fine with him walking without a 3m per year offer (i believe the last time he was well under 30 and the steelers got him for 2/4m or something crazy cheap as well ). Its not a knock on him at all, again i salute him for his contribution here, but that is the reality of his value.

Oh, if you honestly think hed have made any difference in 2015, you may need to review his playoff game log against anyone other than indy...and consider hes going against denver

Did you just compare Blount to BJGE? Seriously? Bount is vastly superior. Not even comparable. So was Smith.

 

[TommyD4207]

Did you just compare Blount to BJGE? Seriously? Bount is vastly superior. Not even comparable. So was Smith.

Vastly? Not really. All three of them are pretty much the same guy. Blount has a little more top-end speed, that's about it.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Did you just compare Blount to BJGE? Seriously? Bount is vastly superior. Not even comparable. So was Smith.

Did you just compare Blount to BJGE? Seriously? Bount is vastly superior. Not even comparable. So was Smith.

No, id probably take blount over bjge but wouldnt say vastly at all . In the bb era the pats had 1 great back in corey dillon. Then a significant gap from him to the next tier of ridley/smith/blount/bjge. Each of them had one year where they got 200+ carries to be considered a true #1 and each got around 1000-1200 yards in that year(smith may have had 2 such years, not sure). But at their best they were all about even overall imo .

 

[Simpelton]

He is what he is, an antowain smith / bjge caliber back who filled in nicely as the lead rb on the cheap at a position that doesnt require above average talent for us. Appreciate what he did but there is a reason 2 rbs completely unproven as lead guys were offered more money to take his job when he was sitting there for us. Also wont be the first time bb was perfectly fine with him walking without a 3m per year offer (i believe the last time he was well under 30 and the steelers got him for 2/4m or something crazy cheap as well ). Its not a knock on him at all, again i salute him for his contribution here, but that is the reality of his value.

Oh, if you honestly think hed have made any difference in 2015, you may need to review his playoff game log against anyone other than indy...and consider hes going against denver

Strongly disagree that the running back position doesn't require above average talent. We have a great quarterback who's going to do most of the field position work. But a good power runner is still a very valuable thing because it forces the defense not to focus exclusively on pass coverage.

And LeGarritte Blount was not bad or mediocre for us. He had less than stellar YPC partly because of his role. He simply wasn't asked to run for field position that often, a lot of his runs were on the goal line and a lot more were short yardage by design and that is going to drag down a running back's YPC. And he still got over 1000 yards for this team despite Brady being there for most of the year, which tells me that Blount was doing something right.

People are relying far too much on YPC to judge between Blount and a guy like Gillislee, when the Bills simply use the RB for field position far, far, FAR more often than the Patriots do. Blount never had a chance to get large yardage gains because Brady was the primary yardage horse, not the run game. If they needed to make a big play most of the time the ball went to Brady, not Blount. When the ball went to Blount was frequently when a power run would be most effective, which was in short yardage and goal line. So of course his YPC doesn't look great. So while YPC is usually a pretty good barometer of running back performance, if you rely on it exclusively and ignore role, you're going to underestimate LeGarritte Blount.

 

[TommyD4207]

Strongly disagree that the running back position doesn't require above average talent. We have a great quarterback who's going to do most of the field position work. But a good power runner is still a very valuable thing because it forces the defense not to focus exclusively on pass coverage.

And LeGarritte Blount was not bad or mediocre for us. He had less than stellar YPC partly because of his role. He simply wasn't asked to run for field position that often, a lot of his runs were on the goal line and a lot more were short yardage by design and that is going to drag down a running back's YPC. And he still got over 1000 yards for this team despite Brady being there for most of the year, which tells me that Blount was doing something right.

People are relying far too much on YPC to judge between Blount and a guy like Gillislee, when the Bills simply use the RB for field position far, far, FAR more often than the Patriots do. Blount never had a chance to get large yardage gains because Brady was the primary yardage horse, not the run game. If they needed to make a big play most of the time the ball went to Brady, not Blount. When the ball went to Blount was frequently when a power run would be most effective, which was in short yardage and goal line. So of course his YPC doesn't look great. So while YPC is usually a pretty good barometer of running back performance, if you rely on it exclusively and ignore role, you're going to underestimate LeGarritte Blount.

This is some impressive excuse-making. Like.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Strongly disagree that the running back position doesn't require above average talent. We have a great quarterback who's going to do most of the field position work. But a good power runner is still a very valuable thing because it forces the defense not to focus exclusively on pass coverage.

And LeGarritte Blount was not bad or mediocre for us. He had less than stellar YPC partly because of his role. He simply wasn't asked to run for field position that often, a lot of his runs were on the goal line and a lot more were short yardage by design and that is going to drag down a running back's YPC. And he still got over 1000 yards for this team despite Brady being there for most of the year, which tells me that Blount was doing something right.

People are relying far too much on YPC to judge between Blount and a guy like Gillislee, when the Bills simply use the RB for field position far, far, FAR more often than the Patriots do. Blount never had a chance to get large yardage gains because Brady was the primary yardage horse, not the run game. If they needed to make a big play most of the time the ball went to Brady, not Blount. When the ball went to Blount was frequently when a power run would be most effective, which was in short yardage and goal line. So of course his YPC doesn't look great. So while YPC is usually a pretty good barometer of running back performance, if you rely on it exclusively and ignore role, you're going to underestimate LeGarritte Blount.

Youre not really saying anything new. I said blount played well for the price we had him . As did smith, ridley, bjge... They also had 1000 yard seasons with brady when they got the carries. They were all solid for their salary, and upgradable.

 

[Simpelton]

The idea that we have a great QB so don't need a great RB is so much nonsense. It's as much as to say that a team with great safeties doesn't need cornerbacks. You can rarely make up for holes in one position by being great at another, and running back is no exception.

I do think that Gillislee and Burkhead are solid backs and will be assets. But I also think there will be a few moments over the course of the season where we miss Blount's raw stackmoving power.