Interesting Stat on Damien Harris

[Ian]

I've seen this stat previously, but even through 5 weeks he's remained among tops in the league:

 

[TheRainMaker]

He’s been decent this season, but those fumbles are very similar to what plagued Stevan Ridley.

 

[Hyped]

I actually think we don't use him enough....I am thinking we should run him 5-6 more attempts a game and also toss some balls his way. It is as if McD sees a 2 yard gain and decides to go away from the run.

I think Harris needs some reps to "get going"....and 5-6 carries + should help him break out some 10-15 yard runs.

 

[irishfanatic]

@Ian , are you trying to outscore @sb1 on the lead page today??

 

[TheRainMaker]

It is as if McD sees a 2 yard gain and decides to go away from the run.

Unfortunately, this has been a trend for the Pats for a long time. If the RB doesn’t get a good gain on ONE play, they abandon it and go into shotgun.

 

[venecol]

Unfortunately, this has been a trend for the Pats for a long time. If the RB doesn’t get a good gain on ONE play, they abandon it and go into shotgun.

That may not be a bad game plan since the boys are almost dead last in passing yards allowed. I see O continuing their dink and dunk down the field throughout this game. Hopefully Mac is more careful with his deep passes to avoid picks. The DAL secondary is very opportunistic leading league in INTs.

 

[Pape]

He’s been decent this season, but those fumbles are very similar to what plagued Stevan Ridley.

its not really fumbles though... the two big drops are from people punching the ball out... Happens once, you learn, and deal with it... but twice? man thats bothersome to me... maybe some lack of concern showing there?

maybe its just coincidence... but i doubt it... until he corrects this, teams are going to keep targeting him

 

[venecol]

its not really fumbles though... the two big drops are from people punching the ball out... Happens once, you learn, and deal with it... but twice? man thats bothersome to me... maybe some lack of concern showing there?

maybe its just coincidence... but i doubt it... until he corrects this, teams are going to keep targeting him

Agree, even JJs was a forced fumble. Gotta give credit to the defense too.

 

[Ollie]

I actually think we don't use him enough....I am thinking we should run him 5-6 more attempts a game and also toss some balls his way. It is as if McD sees a 2 yard gain and decides to go away from the run.

I think Harris needs some reps to "get going"....and 5-6 carries + should help him break out some 10-15 yard runs.

The Harris from last year wasn't that type of back. He would just grind out the yards but wouldn't break many but could move the pile forwards in contact. I think we are moving away from the run because there just aren't the holes there. The line is awful at run blocking. It only started to look ok at the end of the Texans game and it was amazing to see the difference. The backs actually had space to run.

 

[borg]

Too small to be a workhouse RB

 

[jah]

How many of those came on one play against the Jets?

Mostly a joke, I like Harris, but I think the answer is about a third of them.

 

[Ring 6]

I actually think we don't use him enough....I am thinking we should run him 5-6 more attempts a game and also toss some balls his way. It is as if McD sees a 2 yard gain and decides to go away from the run.

I think Harris needs some reps to "get going"....and 5-6 carries + should help him break out some 10-15 yard runs.

I think we have had good balance with respect to game situation in every game except Tampa when we just chose not to run. New Orleans was unbalanced because we trailed
In the other 3 games we’ve run 84 times and 53 were by Harris despite missing a lot of last weeks game with injury.
That’s a lot of running and a healthy workload for Harris.

 

[203Pat]

I actually think we don't use him enough....I am thinking we should run him 5-6 more attempts a game and also toss some balls his way. It is as if McD sees a 2 yard gain and decides to go away from the run.

I think Harris needs some reps to "get going"....and 5-6 carries + should help him break out some 10-15 yard runs.

He can barely take the workload he has now. I don't know if anymore touches is a good idea.

 

[RobertWeathers]

He can barely take the workload he has now. I don't know if anymore touches is a good idea.

Agree.

At this point he needs to prove he won't fumble every 68 touches.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Unfortunately, this has been a trend for the Pats for a long time. If the RB doesn’t get a good gain on ONE play, they abandon it and go into shotgun.

This is exactly what happens. Every game. Case in point, last game first quarter starts out 7 runs 3 passes, likely because BB freaking said during the week's planning to get some run/pass balance. Offense always PLAYS WELL when they run it a lot and then throw in play action (Mac is lethal in play action after the Pats run a bunch). Then you look up at halftime and the offense still ended up with something like 10 runs 24 passes in the 3rd quarter, meaning they did something like 15 straight passes in a row (always happens); it's like the moment they go away from their first scripted plays, automatically default back to pass-happy shotgun. It's getting to be hilarious how simple minded the play calling is, I saw that joke about Mrs McDaniels and it's at the same time funny yet pretty sad that everyone is now teasing the play calling openly in media interviews.

.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

its not really fumbles though... the two big drops are from people punching the ball out... Happens once, you learn, and deal with it... but twice? man thats bothersome to me... maybe some lack of concern showing there?

maybe its just coincidence... but i doubt it... until he corrects this, teams are going to keep targeting him

We had a decent runningback, Kevin Faulk that started off with the same problem, he worked on it and was dynamite for years, hopefully Harris can do the same.

 

[Free_Pacman]

I actually think we don't use him enough....I am thinking we should run him 5-6 more attempts a game and also toss some balls his way. It is as if McD sees a 2 yard gain and decides to go away from the run.

I think Harris needs some reps to "get going"....and 5-6 carries + should help him break out some 10-15 yard runs.

Please God, no.

 

[PowerRunRevival]

I think Harris has been really good this year running the ball, especially given how poorly the offensive line has performed. He's actually even been more involved in the passing game than he has been in the past as well.

His pass blocking on the other hand has not been good and it's hurt his overall production. If the Pats don't trust him in pass protection he just can't play as much. There have been a number of times this year where New England has come out showing pass and checked into a run, but since he's not in the game for those plays due to his pass blocking he doesn't get to take advantage of running again light boxes in those situations.

On offense it all starts with the line. If the line improves Harris can run the ball more effectively. If the line improves and Harris running the ball more effectively those play action passes change from 15 yard digs to 50 yard bombs.

I predict that you will start to see Mac throwing deep shortly after the line starts opening good holes for Harris to run through. It's all complimentary football imo.

 

[Ring 6]

This is exactly what happens. Every game. Case in point, last game first quarter starts out 7 runs 3 passes, likely because BB freaking said during the week's planning to get some run/pass balance. Offense always PLAYS WELL when they run it a lot and then throw in play action (Mac is lethal in play action after the Pats run a bunch). Then you look up at halftime and the offense still ended up with something like 10 runs 24 passes in the 3rd quarter, meaning they did something like 15 straight passes in a row (always happens); it's like the moment they go away from their first scripted plays, automatically default back to pass-happy shotgun. It's getting to be hilarious how simple minded the play calling is, I saw that joke about Mrs McDaniels and it's at the same time funny yet pretty sad that everyone is now teasing the play calling openly in media interviews.

.

Here we go again Mr Fact Hater

Last week the Patriots ran 30 times and threw 30 times.
In the first half it was 11 runs and 15 passes.
Them in the serving half they ran 19 times and threw 15.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Here we go again Mr Fact Hater

Last week the Patriots ran 30 times and threw 30 times.
In the first half it was 11 runs and 15 passes.
Them in the serving half they ran 19 times and threw 15.

Ring6 is an accountant like the worst character in the movie you can imagine. The Stapler guy Milton from Office Space ??? My first choice