Did Maroney look better?

[Don Kipines]

All of this fretting about Maroney is hilarious. These guys completely rebuilt their blocking scheme last year and they also remade Maroney into a one-cut, hit-the-hole back. The transformation isn't over yet and coming into this game they were still eighth in the league in rushing; they'll be higher after this week. As for Maroney, the kid bulked up this year and now he's a bonafide power runner who almost never has negative plays -- negative running plays being the thing that really killed the Pats last year. He doesn't fumble and as for breaking tackles, whoever thinks Maroney goes down too easily is just plain nuts -- he's as tough an open-field tackle for a back as there is in the league. His only problem right now is that he's running a little tentatively after he gets through the line. He's so bent on making that one cut, hitting the hole and possessing the ball that he's stopped looking for the home run as much as he did last year.

But... worry? I mean, going into this year, the one thing we all worried about with Maroney was his ability to do exactly what he's doing now -- get positive yardage on every down, take the bulk of the carries, consistently hit the pile going forward, run inside (and not bounce out too early) and generally be a dependable complement to an explosive passing game. We should all be thrilled and relieved that he's doing that now. NO ONE was worried that he wasn't explosive enough. We know he has the speed and the open-field ability to be a game-breaker. It'll come. Once he masters this kind of complementary running, he'll take off.

Here's what's going to happen as the year goes on. Teams are going to start pulling the safeties farther and farther back to defend Moss et al. And Maroney, Morris and Faulk are going to get the ball more and more. Defenses are going to get softer and softer and the Pats/Maroney are going to figure out where the big yards are on the ground. And that's when we're going to start seeing the 40-yard runs and the 160-yard games. But until that happens, what teams are doing right now against the Pats is the only thing that makes sense to do -- at least try to contain the run and take your chances that Brady will throw two straight incompletions at some point during the game. But if we get to week six and Brady is still completing 80% of his passes, defenses will make the change and we'll start seeing those Marshall Faulkian games out of LoMo. It's really hard to believe that anyone doubts this. Didn't we all watch this kid when he was healthy last year and running effectively against 8-man fronts? How do you think he's going to do against dime defenses on first down? Honestly, it's a joke. We won the Super Bowl TWICE with Antowain Freaking Smith. Relax, everybody.

 

[patsox23]

All of this fretting about Maroney is hilarious. These guys completely rebuilt their blocking scheme last year and they also remade Maroney into a one-cut, hit-the-hole back. The transformation isn't over yet and coming into this game they were still eighth in the league in rushing; they'll be higher after this week. As for Maroney, the kid bulked up this year and now he's a bonafide power runner who almost never has negative plays -- negative running plays being the thing that really killed the Pats last year. He doesn't fumble and as for breaking tackles, whoever thinks Maroney goes down too easily is just plain nuts -- he's as tough an open-field tackle for a back as there is in the league. His only problem right now is that he's running a little tentatively after he gets through the line. He's so bent on making that one cut, hitting the hole and possessing the ball that he's stopped looking for the home run as much as he did last year.

But... worry? I mean, going into this year, the one thing we all worried about with Maroney was his ability to do exactly what he's doing now -- get positive yardage on every down, take the bulk of the carries, consistently hit the pile going forward, run inside (and not bounce out too early) and generally be a dependable complement to an explosive passing game. We should all be thrilled and relieved that he's doing that now. NO ONE was worried that he wasn't explosive enough. We know he has the speed and the open-field ability to be a game-breaker. It'll come. Once he masters this kind of complementary running, he'll take off.

Here's what's going to happen as the year goes on. Teams are going to start pulling the safeties farther and farther back to defend Moss et al. And Maroney, Morris and Faulk are going to get the ball more and more. Defenses are going to get softer and softer and the Pats/Maroney are going to figure out where the big yards are on the ground. And that's when we're going to start seeing the 40-yard runs and the 160-yard games. But until that happens, what teams are doing right now against the Pats is the only thing that makes sense to do -- at least try to contain the run and take your chances that Brady will throw two straight incompletions at some point during the game. But if we get to week six and Brady is still completing 80% of his passes, defenses will make the change and we'll start seeing those Marshall Faulkian games out of LoMo. It's really hard to believe that anyone doubts this. Didn't we all watch this kid when he was healthy last year and running effectively against 8-man fronts? How do you think he's going to do against dime defenses on first down? Honestly, it's a joke. We won the Super Bowl TWICE with Antowain Freaking Smith. Relax, everybody.

Bra-F-ing-VO. Thank you for a well thought out post on something that EVERYONE HERE should know, but somehow don't. We should be thrilled that LoMar is hitting at this kind of rate while still getting all the tiny details that comprise a TOP NFL back into his bones.

And besides that, I don't know what the Hell you people are watching. He's done a REALLY good job. He's averaging 4.7 yards per carry and we're lucky enough to be playing so well on offense that BB can afford not to run him down. This run game looks terrific, ESPECIALLY considering it's a new blocking scheme.

What were you guys hoping, that he'd burst up the middle for 6-10 yards EVERY TIME he touches the ball? It's not Madden on Easy. ('Though I can see how you'd be confused.)

 

[patsox23]

One more thing - despite the vast amounts of "dancing" LoMar is evidently engaged in - the kid's averaging 80+ yards per game while splitting carries.

 

[patchick]

Sure he looked better. However, a better runner would have had 200 yards. The Bills were dreadful against the run, after their injuries.

Sorry to pile on, but Maroney's line was 19 carries for 103 yds, a 5.4 avg. 200 yards would have been 10.5 yards a carry! Is that really your expectation of any back, even against a beat-up defense?

I'm certainly not ready to rank Maroney among the league's elite RBs, but no complaints on today's performance.