NEW ARTICLE: Is Damien Harris the “X-Factor” of a Loaded Running Back Group?

TheRainMaker said:

Most overrated unit on the Pats. Nobody in the backfield will scare defenses.

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They don't have to scare them. They just have to be productive. It's a solid group.

For everyone moaning about his lack of use last season, I'd suggest learning the definition of "depth chart" and how it works.

For those wondering if he's any good, I'd remind you he split time with Josh Jacobs at Alabama. Harris was the starter, got the majority of work and put up better averages. Pretty sure Saban knows what he's doing.

A RB is only as good as the blocking around him. The Pat's added TE's and FB's because they were desperately needed.

The Pat's RB room is uber talented.

ivanvamp said:

They don't have to scare them. They just have to be productive. It's a solid group.

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It will be super easy to defend their ground game, especially since they have a question mark at QB. Expect defenses to load the box which means Michel will have a tough time improving his worst yards per carry for backs rushing for at least 800 yards.

Every back is obvious when they are on the field:

Michel = run. Can't make anyone miss and is easy to tackle. Among the worst in yards after contact. Blame the blocking? His former teammate Chubb had the same yards before contact and did just fine. Michel has only proven to be "effective" when his O-line is healthy, has an elite TE blocking like a T, another TE throwing quality blocks in Allen and an elite FB. Michel has a lot to prove this year.
White = pass. Does he get the same amount of looks as when Brady was here?
Burkhead = can't play long enough to be a threat. He'll get a few chunk yards here and there, but will eventually be off the field.
Harris = unknown but he better push for playing time.

They are average at best.

ChrisR2223 said:

I'd like to see Harris and JJ knock off Bolden and Burkhead

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I don't want to see JJ knock off either Bolden or Burkhead, or anybody else either...I want to keep good players...

TheRainMaker said:

It will be super easy to defend their ground game, especially since they have a question mark at QB. Expect defenses to load the box which means Michel will have a tough time improving his worst yards per carry for backs rushing for at least 800 yards.

Every back is obvious when they are on the field:

Michel = run. Can't make anyone miss and is easy to tackle. Among the worst in yards after contact. Blame the blocking? His former teammate Chubb had the same yards before contact and did just fine. Michel has only proven to be "effective" when his O-line is healthy, has an elite TE blocking like a T, another TE throwing quality blocks in Allen and an elite FB. Michel has a lot to prove this year.
White = pass. Does he get the same amount of looks as when Brady was here?
Burkhead = can't play long enough to be a threat. He'll get a few chunk yards here and there, but will eventually be off the field.
Harris = unknown but he better push for playing time.

They are average at best.

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I agree - it would be great if they had all-pros at every position.

If he shows anything close to what he did at Alabama, the backfield will be a solid production asset this year. There were time in college that he looked like a bowling ball rolling downhill.

Thing is, a LOT of a running back's production starts with the O-Line. If they give the RB a chance, then production value goes way up.

Plus, it's hard to qualify an RB's success until a couple (or more) years down the pike. His success has to be based on HOW he was used and whether or not he was able to perform the assigned tasks. He might be primarily used as blocker, or for swing passes, screens, or as a pure RB. With Coach B's concept of situational football, every game, hell, every quarter, might be game planned differently, and a player's assignments morph from one series to another.

As an Alabama homer, I hope (and expect) good things from him this year. heh... it's one of the reasons I bought his jersey.

TheRainMaker said:

Most overrated unit on the Pats. Nobody in the backfield will scare defenses.

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there’s only a half dozen backs in the nfl that might scare defenses ..... antowain smith didn’t scare anyone ... the most important thing is to be able to do well at being able to convert 3 and 2 or 3 and 3.....the home run dynamic comes second to 3 yards and a cloud of dust

captain stone said:

I don't want to see JJ knock off either Bolden or Burkhead. I want to keep good players.

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I don’t know anything about JJ...but both Bolden and Burkhead will be 30 this season.

Zuma said:

I don’t know anything about JJ...but both Bolden and Burkhead will be 30 this season.

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Yeah both of their days are numbered, but unless Yohnson is Develin 2.0 then I don't see any reason to keep him ahead of the other two yet...

TheRainMaker said:

It will be super easy to defend their ground game, especially since they have a question mark at QB. Expect defenses to load the box which means Michel will have a tough time improving his worst yards per carry for backs rushing for at least 800 yards.

Every back is obvious when they are on the field:

Michel = run. Can't make anyone miss and is easy to tackle. Among the worst in yards after contact. Blame the blocking? His former teammate Chubb had the same yards before contact and did just fine. Michel has only proven to be "effective" when his O-line is healthy, has an elite TE blocking like a T, another TE throwing quality blocks in Allen and an elite FB. Michel has a lot to prove this year.
White = pass. Does he get the same amount of looks as when Brady was here?
Burkhead = can't play long enough to be a threat. He'll get a few chunk yards here and there, but will eventually be off the field.
Harris = unknown but he better push for playing time.

They are average at best.

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Sony had a dysfunctional passing attack, no TE's, no FB and a beat up offensive line as a starter in 2019.

I guess we're supposed to ignore his extraordinarily good season a year prior when he had blockers and led the entire NFL postseason in yards, yards per carry and TD's.

What makes the Patriot RB's dangerous?

All of them on any given down can flex outside and play WR, they can make plays in the passing game and catch over their shoulders like WR's.

Oh yeah, and they can also pass block. This doesn't move the needle in fantasy football of course, but in the real world it creates "wins" in matchups.

The Pat's no longer carry a large RB by choice because those guys run and run only. Nick Chubb can't catch well, he catches swing passes like a big lumbering RB, most large power backs can't play wide receiver.

The Pat's RB's are smaller, they're hardly average. They're exceptionally athletic and versatile, they do everything well.

Wozzy said:

Sony had a dysfunctional passing attack, no TE's, no FB and a beat up offensive line as a starter in 2019.

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Most teams don’t have the luxury of having good blocking TE’s and a road grading FB to go along with the O-line. Vitale has admitted he’s not that great of a blocker. Johnson was horrible last year. Michel better get used to it.

Wozzy said:

I guess we're supposed to ignore his extraordinarily good season a year prior when he had blockers and led the entire NFL postseason in yards, yards per carry and TD's.

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He’s effective when he has a full convoy of blockers at his disposal. And they created some massive holes in 2018. The point is, Michel has to get used to not having an ELITE TE and an ELITE FB creating more running room. Dwayne Allen also was a pretty good blocker. He has to do better making somebody miss because he can’t expect perfect blocking.

Sony Michel, Marcus Cannon named to Pro Football Focus’ All-Average team

Wozzy said:

What makes the Patriot RB's dangerous?

All of them on any given down can flex outside and play WR, they can make plays in the passing game and catch over their shoulders like WR's.

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This is simply not true. See article above. Burkhead is the only RB that isn’t super obvious but you won’t have to worry about him getting many touches. Michel has barely caught passes out of the backfield or caught passes flexed outside. White is the only elite pass catcher.

Wozzy said:

The Pat's no longer carry a large RB by choice because those guys run and run only. Nick Chubb can't catch well, he catches swing passes like a big lumbering RB, most large power backs can't play wide receiver.

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Don't tell me you’d take Michel over Chubb. That’s ridiculous. Michel is a run only back.

Wozzy said:

The Pat's RB's are smaller, they're hardly average. They're exceptionally athletic and versatile, they do everything well.

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Agree to disagree.

By the way, your post earlier about Josh Jacobs is what Michel was supposed to be.

TheRainMaker said:

Most teams don’t have the luxury of having good blocking TE’s and a road grading FB to go along with the O-line. Vitale has admitted he’s not that great of a blocker. Johnson was horrible last year. Michel better get used to it.

He’s effective when he has a full convoy of blockers at his disposal. And they created some massive holes in 2019. The point is, Michel has to get used to not having an ELITE TE and an ELITE FB creating more running room. Dwayne Allen also was a pretty good blocker. He has to do better making somebody miss because he can’t expect perfect blocking.

Sony Michel, Marcus Cannon named to Pro Football Focus’ All-Average team

This is simply not true. See article above. Burkhead is the only RB that isn’t super obvious but you won’t have to worry about him getting many touches. Michel has barely caught passes out of the backfield or caught passes flexed outside. White is the only elite pass catcher.

Don't tell me you’d take Michel over Chubb. That’s ridiculous. Michel is a run only back.

Agree to disagree.

By the way, your post earlier about Josh Jacobs is what Michel was supposed to be.

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Agree. The running holes behind Develin were so massive any RB would have put up those stats in 2018.

TheRainMaker said:

Most teams don’t have the luxury of having good blocking TE’s and a road grading FB to go along with the O-line. Vitale has admitted he’s not that great of a blocker. Johnson was horrible last year. Michel better get used to it.

He’s effective when he has a full convoy of blockers at his disposal. And they created some massive holes in 2019. The point is, Michel has to get used to not having an ELITE TE and an ELITE FB creating more running room. Dwayne Allen also was a pretty good blocker. He has to do better making somebody miss because he can’t expect perfect blocking.

Sony Michel, Marcus Cannon named to Pro Football Focus’ All-Average team

This is simply not true. See article above. Burkhead is the only RB that isn’t super obvious but you won’t have to worry about him getting many touches. Michel has barely caught passes out of the backfield or caught passes flexed outside. White is the only elite pass catcher.

Don't tell me you’d take Michel over Chubb. That’s ridiculous. Michel is a run only back.

Agree to disagree.

By the way, your post earlier about Josh Jacobs is what Michel was supposed to be.

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Let's start with Josh Jacobs had some of the best TE and OL play in the NFL last season.

Sony needs blockers, he's not unique in that regard. Saying he had amazing blocking in 2018 but not as good in 2019 is downplaying how bad it was in 2019.

They had no TE for the first half of the season. They waited to sign Ben Watson because they used his money on AB. Lacosse and Izzo are not very good but also they were injured for the first half of the season.

Develin got hurt, Sony's lead blocker was a linebacker. When Watson, a healthy Wynn, Lacosse and Roberts got it together the running game improved, by season's end it was good. Go compare Sony's splits from the first half of the season to the 2nd half.

In the pass game Sony wasn't in Tom's circle of trust, need proof... watch this pick six.



Sony wide open in the flat gets passed over for Edelman outside, result is a pass in between that gets taken to the house.

Sony Michel ran 18 pass routes in the Week 5 win over the Redskins last year. His previous career-high was eight, accomplished in 2018's Super Bowl against the Rams. Michel drew more targets in week five (three) than he had in his first four games combined (just one). He caught all of them.

Seeing Michel involved in the passing game was a positive development but was probably the result of Rex Burkhead (foot) being absent. He caught passes when they were thrown to him, he caught them at Georgia. A lack of opportunity is not a lack of ability.

Football is about mismatches. If a defense has run stopping personnel on the field, turning your RB into another WR creates a mismatch. That's why all the Pat's RB's are similar players.

Oh yeah, also the combined salaries of all five RB's for the Pat's doesn't equal one Todd Gurley... and one Todd Gurley tends to get hurt after you pay him an obscene amount of money.

Wozzy said:

Sony wide open in the flat gets passed over for Edelman outside, result is a pass in between that gets taken to the house.

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As much grief as I give the "weapons" here - and very deservedly so - that one play, a massive Brady feckup, ended our season because without that pick-6 we win that game and secure the #2 seed; Fitzy's end-of-game-drive would've meant absolutely nothing unless they also scored a 2-point conversion...then recovered a subsequent on-sides kick...and then kicked a game-tying FG...and then won in OT...

captain stone said:

As much grief as I give the "weapons" here - and very deservedly so - that one play, a massive Brady feckup, ended our season because without that pick-6 we win that game and secure the #2 seed; Fitzy's end-of-game-drive would've meant absolutely nothing unless they also recovered a subsequent on-sides kick...

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Ya live by the GOAT..Ya die by the GOAT

Not anymore old friend.Today you live with your white guilt or you get robbed on sight, your wife and preteen kids raped, your house ransacked and burned to the ground and no police report filed. This coming season will be the "White Guilt" year here in New England as the Patriots go 0-16 to atone for their decades long lack of organizational white guilt.

It will be hard to be less productive than Sony was last year if he is given the carries.

203Pat said:

It will be hard to be less productive than Sony was last year if he is given the carries.

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Hard to be productive without good blocking. Sony will be better this year assuming health, better blocking (TE's, FB) and it won't be because his talent magically returned.

Wozzy said:

Hard to be productive without good blocking. Sony will be better this year assuming health, better blocking (TE's, FB) and it won't be because his talent magically returned.

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Sony is Lagarette Blount taken in the first round. Not really special but plays well when his surrounding cast is good.