Graham camp interview with Maroney

[MoLewisrocks]

Didn't see this posted here...

Maroney not compelled to prove he's no phony - AFC East - ESPN

 

[Deus Irae]

He seems like a good kid who's starting to get a little sour about all this and just needs to get out on the field.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

He seems like a good kid who's starting to get a little sour about all this and just needs to get out on the field.

With camp reports here saying he's more fluid catching passes and his blocking is good, he's positioned himself to produce given the oportunity.

 

[Deus Irae]

With camp reports here saying he's more fluid catching passes and his blocking is good, he's positioned himself to produce given the oportunity.

The Patriots weren't optimizing their use of this kid over the past 2 seasons. It's tough to get more fluid making catches if the team doesn't throw you the ball. The kid had 22 catches as a rookie, and has only 4 since. I understand the likely logic involved, but sometimes you've got to take a short-term loss for long-term gain, and I think the Patriots have ignored that a bit in recent years.

 

[JSn]

No doubt about it, Maroney looks better in every aspect. Obviously been a good off-season. This RB group is so deep it's ridiculous.

 

[jmt57]

More on Maroney: Maroney doesn't feel he has anything to prove by Shalise Manza Young of the Providence Journal

He's been told by the coaching staff to go to the spot that's drawn up in the play, to be decisive. Maroney listens to the instruction, but the urge to do things his way lingers.

"I have to run the way I feel," he said. "I always can't run how everybody else wants me to run because they don't see what I see. You know, everybody sees it from a different angle. It's like, if you have an on-top view [from the coaches' box or on video], you can see the hole better than I can. I've got to run off what I see.

"Sometimes, yes, it depends on the situation, all the dancing is not necessary, but sometimes, you know, there's people free that I see that you might not see that I feel like, why take an unnecessary hit?"

 

[jmt57]

Maroney trying to shake 'fragile' label by Mark Farinella of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle

"I don't have to prove nothin' to myself," he said. "I know what I can do, I know what I can bring to the table. It's just staying consistent and staying healthy. I don't feel I have anything to show or anything to prove. Like I said, I just have to go out there and play my game, just stay healthy and just stay on the field."

Maroney said he's listening to every morsel of information Taylor is offering.

"I'm trying," he said. "I'm picking his brain every day, learning something different every day from him. Hopefully I can take what I learn from him and put it out there on the field."

Early as it is in training camp, it's tough to gauge whether Maroney is on a fast track to success. For his part, he believes he's on the proper course.


"I feel good with how practices have been going, but I take it one day at a time," he said. "I've got to stay out there and keep doing it. I just can't go out there and have a couple of good practices and a lot of bad ones. I'm trying to stay consistent."

 

[jmt57]

Laurence Maroney backs 'mate by Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald

And just in case fourth-year back Maroney did feel some apprehension, Taylor was clear in their first conversation.

“He came up and broke it down to me,” said Maroney, the 5-foot-11, 220-pounder who missed most of 2008 with a shoulder injury. “If I need help with anything, if I want to learn anything, he’s here. The first couple days, we had like 20 talks. I always kept coming to his locker, just picking his brain.”

Maroney said he met Taylor during one postgame handshake and the two struck up a friendship. He expects it to continue.

“He’s teaching me the game of football,” Maroney said.

 

[jmt57]

Maroney says he must simply play his game by Glen Farley of the Brockton Enterprise

“Everybody feels like I have something to prove,” Maroney said during a break between Tuesday’s double session at the Patriots’ Gillette Stadium training camp. “I feel like I don’t. I feel like I’ve just got to go out there and play my game.

“I think the coaches and the rest of the team know what I can do and how I can help the team and it’s just going out there and doing it.”

“I like (the running back corps),” said Maroney, “because I can learn a lot from Kev (who) I’ve been learning from, and I definitely can learn a lot from Fred. These guys have been in the league a long time and have done what I’m trying to do.”

 

[MoLewisrocks]

The Patriots weren't optimizing their use of this kid over the past 2 seasons. It's tough to get more fluid making catches if the team doesn't throw you the ball. The kid had 22 catches as a rookie, and has only 4 since. I understand the likely logic involved, but sometimes you've got to take a short-term loss for long-term gain, and I think the Patriots have ignored that a bit in recent years.

I think the problem emanated from them having an idea/plan in mind when they drafted him but then finding they were unable to take it from concept to reality. He's been a bit of a square peg in a round hole ever since. If he can stay healthy for the first few weeks of this season while the offense establishes itself with Brady back this might be the year the round hold becomes so big even a square peg can fairly dart through it. He wasn't born to push the pile or run interference for qbs and wideouts. He's a thoroughbred, not a plow horse. And I can't blame him entirely for being reluctant to just do it there way because come contract time they aren't gonna vouch for his natural talent if he's coming off IR again.