Thoughts on Sony Michel

203Pat said:

I sure hope so but right now I don’t see it.

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Okay, what about his game don’t you see yet?

Snooky97 said:

Okay, what about his game don’t you see yet?

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Explosion, burst, shiftiness, and anything in the passing game. He’s a solid runner but if I just watched him play I would never say that guy is worthy of a late first round pick.

203Pat said:

Explosion, burst, shiftiness, and anything in the passing game. He’s a solid runner but if I just watched him play I would never say that guy is worthy of a late first round pick.

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Okay.

Look at his tape against the Jets. That shows all you need to know. Dolphins, Vikings oh and the Bears before he got injured.

Snooky97 said:

Sony stats this year would be a lot better if we didn’t have so many flags on his runs at times. The amount of threads about this is getting ridiculous.

Once he’s improved his passing game he will be an unbelievable dual threat.

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How about we let him improve his running game first, as that's not particularly good right now, before we start talking about him as potentially becoming an "unbelievable dual threat"?

203Pat said:

It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out when we run the ball a lot with Sony on the field and throw the ball a lot with any other back on the field. Pretty much teeing him up for the defense.

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How often do you see White and Rex run into a brick wall? Their yards per carry are nothing to write home about. I think even taken as a whole, we’re not a great run team.

PittPatriot said:

How often do you see White and Rex run into a brick wall? Their yards per carry are nothing to write home about. I think even taken as a whole, we’re not a great run team.

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Rex I don’t know a ton about since he’s hurt so often but I think at this point in White’s career he strictly a passing back because he’s not a great runner. But to your overall point I agree we just aren’t a great running team.

We can’t pay everyone. But just looking at base salaries we’re paying michel and white 1.5 mil combined this year. Lewis is at 2 mil before that jumps to around 4 mil starting next year. Production wise we made the correct move. White, Michel>lewis.

Ras-IR Dowling said:

We can’t pay everyone. But just looking at base salaries we’re paying michel and white 1.5 mil combined this year. Lewis is at 2 mil before that jumps to around 4 mil starting next year. Production wise we made the correct move. White, Michel>lewis.

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What I’m saying is Michel looks like an above average RB. Not a great or even very good RB. So if we wanted to get that type of production we could’ve drafted one later or even taken a look at some UDFA’s to pair with White and what at the time would have been Hill.

203Pat said:

What I’m saying is Michel looks like an above average RB. Not a great or even very good RB. So if we wanted to get that type of production we could’ve drafted one later or even taken a look at some UDFA’s to pair with White and what at the time would have been Hill.

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I agree somewhat. We all want immediate greatness from our #1 round picks. Especially running backs. But we have to remember, Sony has had TWO knee injuries that has caused him to miss 3+ games and MOST of training camp. I doubt very much Michel is 100%, despite what the injury report says. Also, maybe, just maybe, our offensive line is average when it comes to run blocking, despite having a few big games run wise.

Despite all of this, he's having a very good rookie year. If someone told me before the season and after the draft, that Michel would lead the team in rushing and average 70 yards per game rushing as a rookie, I'd have said, where do I sign up. The only disappointment for me, is the lack of use in the pass game, but it seems like that is a team wide decision. Once Edelman came back, Gordon came aboard, and Gronk got healthy, James White's receptions have gone down from 6.875 catches per game the first 8 games, to 4.2 catches a game the last 5 games. So he's the MAIN receiving back, and his receptions have gone down.

BTW, here are Michel's rookie season stats vs Lesean McCoy's rookie stats below. Lesean was obviously more of a receiving back with 40 catches as a rookie.

attempts yards ypc tds
164 706 4.3 5

155 637 4.1 4

Someone else put it well, they spent a first round pick to give it to the fullback on the goal line and Burkhead in short yardage situations.

Michel stinks. Injury prone, can't run in short yardage, can't break tackles, poor vision. It also telegraphs a run when he's in.

scott99 said:

I agree somewhat. We all want immediate greatness from our #1 round picks. Especially running backs. But we have to remember, Sony has had TWO knee injuries that has caused him to miss 3+ games and MOST of training camp. I doubt very much Michel is 100%, despite what the injury report says. Also, maybe, just maybe, our offensive line is average when it comes to run blocking, despite having a few big games run wise.

Despite all of this, he's having a very good rookie year. If someone told me before the season and after the draft, that Michel would lead the team in rushing and average 70 yards per game rushing as a rookie, I'd have said, where do I sign up. The only disappointment for me, is the lack of use in the pass game, but it seems like that is a team wide decision. Once Edelman came back, Gordon came aboard, and Gronk got healthy, James White's receptions have gone down from 6.875 catches per game the first 8 games, to 4.2 catches a game the last 5 games. So he's the MAIN receiving back, and his receptions have gone down.

BTW, here are Michel's rookie season stats vs Lesean McCoy's rookie stats below. Lesean was obviously more of a receiving back with 40 catches as a rookie.

attempts yards ypc tds
164 706 4.3 5

155 637 4.1 4

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I agree statistically he is a good back but there doesn’t look to be anything special with him. He’s not a burner, he’s doesn’t really make people miss, he’s not a power RB, he doesn’t catch the ball, and he continues to get banged up. I’d be thrilled with what he is if he was a 4th round pick the same way I love what we get from Trey Flowers. With that said if Trey Flowers was a first round pick I would be a little underwhelmed with him.

What? Flowers would be a great first round pick. He's about the only one who does anything on the d-line.

TennisBallHead said:

What? Flowers would be a great first round pick. He's about the only one who does anything on the d-line.

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That doesn’t take much but yea I guess that’s a bad example. For where we pick in the first he would definitely be a solid pick.

I think he’s been good but not great so far. In the Phins game yesterday there looked to be some open lanes but he didn’t cut into them and just tried plowing ahead for a few yards.

I was listening to the radio after and they saw the same thing. Some holes he didn’t cut into that could have led to some big gains. They thought maybe it isn’t his vision but maybe as a 1st year player he’s being coached to follow his blocks and get what he can.

He looks every bit worth a first round pick, if you believe running backs should generally be selected that high to begin with.

When they tried to run him outside or off-tackle, it was a productive play. When they tried to go up the middle, it was stuffed almost every time. Which option did they choose throughout most of the game and with a game sealing touchdown on the line? Josh McDaniels, there's a coaching vacancy in Green Bay; please go apply.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

He looks every bit worth a first round pick, if you believe running backs should generally be selected that high to begin with.

When they tried to run him outside or off-tackle, it was a productive play. When they tried to go up the middle, it was stuffed almost every time. Josh McDaniels, there's a coaching vacancy in Green Bay; please go apply.

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Pretty tough on Josh there Ice remember Ghost cost us 4 points and Brady 3 with that brain fart at the half. That a 7 points or a TD right there Miami would have needed more than that miracle play to beat us at the end.

PatsFan2 said:

Pretty tough on Josh there Ice remember Ghost cost us 4 points and Brady 3 with that brain fart at the half. That a 7 points or a TD right there Miami would have needed more than that miracle play to beat us at the end.

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Your being generous to Tom on that drive before half. He cost us 7 missing a wide open hogan. The sack was just the icing on the cake.

PatsFan2 said:

Pretty tough on Josh there Ice remember Ghost cost us 4 points and Brady 3 with that brain fart at the half. That a 7 points or a TD right there Miami would have needed more than that miracle play to beat us at the end.

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Ghost wasn't good, but in all he was 2/3 on field goals and 3/4 on extra points. That's 9/13 possible points. People often react to missed extra points and for some reason the narrative is that missing a 33 yard extra point is worse than missing a 33 yard field goal. Missing field goals are a lot worse. In all, Ghost was clearly off, but it's not like this was some kind of absolutely extraordinary bad game.

Brady made that one very bad decision before halftime, but again, you also look at how many times they could have "missed out on four points" if he hadn't made a lot of spectacular passes. He was out of 3rd and long almost all day because the running game was so putrid and predictable.

I just don't understand the justification for constantly running into the middle of the line when the Dolphins have literally dominated that area from the opening snap. Running off-tackle near the goal line, or even running a sweep, would have been a much higher percentage play and would have kept the clock rolling just as well. Even prior to that final Brady bailout with his deep pass to Gordon to presumably seal the game, they were once again stuffed on their first down run which was, you guessed it, up the middle. The entire game was the Patriots offense getting stuffed up the middle and relying on Brady on 3rd and long.

KontradictioN said:

I think there have been at least two threads on this so far... one with the exact same headline.

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Oh come on. One of the threads was called:
Who Is Sony Michel?

Ras-IR Dowling said:

Your being generous to Tom on that drive before half. He cost us 7 missing a wide open hogan. The sack was just the icing on the cake.

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Strange how Brady is treating 7/11 Hogan like a wet food stamp in the progressions lately.