Maroney is not the back many thought he would be

[newton_tom_cat]

Let's all doubt the abilities of a player, so that if that player fails we can say "I told you so." And if he doesn't we can all say "well, he finally got his act together."

You're a nincompoop.

what other players were i openly doubting almost a year ago that others are now doubting now?

 

[eom]

hey ladainian --- hypothetically speaking, if you guys were to play the pats 10x, how many of those do you think you'd win?

 

[patriotsdynasty12189]

Oh puh-leaze with the "YPC." Just more Maroney Baloney. If he's so automatic with 4.7 YPC why not hand it to him every play? You'd be guaranteed a long TD drive on every possession. Duh!! Baloney is not even on going to get 1,000 yards this year. 4.7 is gimme yards because your opponents over-play the pass. This is a passing team for more than one reason: your running game stinks.

Were 7th in the NFL in YPG

 

[mcbee]

YOu don't want to have a "platoon" of RBs one of whom makes 8M per year guaranteed largely and another 1st round pick.

And if they "last 8 years", great, you have to pay them more when their rookie contract is up.

Chasing running backs like that is fool's gold. Do you remember a guy named...Herschel Walker? He was BETTER than anyone in college, could run through, around, over people. He was lights out. Minnesota traded multiple draft picks for him and he never really did much in the pros.

Lots of RBs simply don't do as well in the pros as college. I know "this guy is different". They all are.

You can get a random RB in the 3rd or 4th round who does fine. And you'd pay him peanuts, and if he gets injured you have no guaranteed money to hit your cap. Brandon Jacobs, 4th round. Michael Turner, 4th round. Tiki Barber, forgot but I don't think it was high. Dime a dozen.

 

[Absurdly Metro]

but me. i was the lone voice on this board last season saying he's not a true #1 back, and he's not. what he is, is a backup back to occasionally spot the real starter, and also return some kicks. he doesn't have power to get through the line, and he doesn't have lateral speed to get outside the tackle. stop pretending he's something he isn't, it only hurts the team.

Something he isn't? I think most Pats fans would agree Lomo is still a work in progress. But I also think most Pats fans would say he still has "scary" good potential. Let's not be so quick to rush to judgement. We're about to see what a fresh Lomo can do in the playoffs.

BTW... you inspired my new sig with this silly post. Thanks!

 

[patpatriot]

When you have a QB like Brady and a Wr like Moss, what makes you think that *any* RB is going to see the ball enough to establish themselves as anything extraordinary? Later this year when the teams realize that they can't defense Brady/Moss/Welker/Stallworth; then you will see LM toting the rock enough to show his talent.

Still, all that being said, it looks like Addai is better than Maroney...bummer

And Newtown what ever..get your troll-@ss out of town. You Sir are *transparent*!

 

[patpatriot]

Every RB that has played behind Manning, Clark, Wayne, Harrison, has become elite. STFU!

None of those players are RBs , you STFU!

 

[DaBruinz]

With Dillon gone and a full year under his belt, this was supposed to be Maroney's break out season. That's not happening. Average backs don't magically transform themselves into good ones based on years of experience. Think about it: it's usually obvious in a back's rookie season if they have potential or not. And in their 2nd year it's clear one way or the other. So this whole notion of "give the kid a chance he's only a sophomore" is a bunch of nonsense. He's an "RB" not "QB", only the latter of which an "experience" argument can be made at this point.

Keep showing everyone how much of an imbecile you are.

1st off, Maroney didn't have a full year under his belt cause he missed so many games last year.
2ndly, even with RBs, they don't necessarily blossom in their 2nd year. It depends on how they are being used.
3rd, You've already been shown to be an idiot in regards to the stats, so which ones are you actually using to base your stupidity on?

 

[DaBruinz]

Maybe I was misinformed. Still, he is still far from the best my friend.

So Maroney isn't the best. WHO CARES???? A TEAM doesn't have the best players at every position. It has players who know their roles and play them.

Maroney is very YOUNG. And he's still developing.. Making stupid assertions about him after he's played less than 2 seasons shows you to be a moron.

 

[Joker]

WTF kind of drug is this nitwit on?

 

[newton_tom_cat]

lol typical pats fan, I said every RB that has played behind the colts off including Manning, Clark, Wanye, and Harrison has become elite so saying Maroney cant become elite because you guys have Brady and Moss is a poor excuse much like the entire organization.

And by the way, just because I concede LT is better than LM doesn't mean much given what I think of LM. What do I think of LT is that he is one of the most over rated players of all time, both on and off the field. In the discussion for best back of all time w/ Brown, Sayers, Simpson, Payton? HA!! You kidding me?!! Even Jim Brown said: "if LT is so great why do they take him out in goal line situations?" Meaning, heck in traditional spots for your best back he isn't even on the field. And off the field it only gets worse. Mr. self-proclaimed class act whines like a baby after Pats celebrate a victory. But the guy never objected to fellow team mate and blow hard Merriman proclaiming "lights out!" every time he got a sack. Take your LT BS somewhere, when I look at the schedule and see Chargers I think of "easy win." Best talent in the league, my ass. How can you have the best talent when you have one of the worst QBs!!!!!

 

[Remix 6]

Every RB that has played behind Manning, Clark, Wayne, Harrison, has become elite. STFU!

lol James's highest YPC as a Colt..or career actually was 4.6 in '04

like i said earlier

if Maroney has a 4.7 ypc avg..and James had 4.6..Addai has a 4.4 right now

give those guys same amount of carries who gets more yards?

 

[cstjohn17]

I have stayed away from this thread until now, either I am bored or bored and have had too much red wine or both...

Maybe he is not what was expected, each person likely had different expectations. I think his off-season surgery set him back, he could have used some additional bulk but couldn't really hit the weights very hard with a gimpy shoulder.

His production has been modest this year (19 yard long run is tied with Tom Brady's long run) but... I think he has been paced by the team and now is in a position to shine, I am not saying he will really break through but he is generally well rested and will see increased carries as the weather gets worse. If he can maintain the 4.7 YPC (or even come close to it) the Patriots will be fine. If he can't hold up and has to spend time on the injury list then it will be a setback for the team.

My bottom line is that the team has put him in a position to succeed, this is all a player can ask for. My guess is he averages 17 carries per game and still gets 4.5 YPC with 3 TDs. Puts him somewhere around 950 yards, which is not great but the only stat that matters is team wins. If he can hit these numbers the team should be in good shape.

 

[National Sports Advisors]

Look man. Ive seen all this. Its exactly why Ive reached the conclusion I have. I look at these films and I see a tall WR with blazing speed running wild through inferior, college-level talent with VERY LITTLE CONTACT. He's got the legs of a chicken. This production will NOT translate to a top 5 worthy NFL RB pick. Not the production. Not the durability. And not the cost. He's a tremendous athlete who, much like Ron Dayne, Archie Griffin, Peter Warrick, JJ Stokes, is dominating college level talent. But he's not built to handle the beating that he will experience in the pros. His legs are just too long and thin. I know Ive referred to them as chicken legs several times, but I really should stop with that because McFadden deserves better. But it doesnt change the fact that he's just got some long, thin legs. If NE is going to supplement their running game with an additional back, Id expect they'll atleast add a back similar to Dillon who carrys some weight and has a little power. Because I can tell you right now, that kid's not going to have any power at the professional level.

LOL, ya ok Mel Kiper. LOL!

 

[RobertWeathers]

The Pats know hes a bit fragile this year and they are being careful with him around the goal line where RBs take a tad more punishment. Additionally, they have instructed him to see the hole designed on the play and take that single cut. As the results have proven, he hasn't had many negative plays (less dancing) and that has produced that stellar 4.7 ypc ave. You only get that kind of per carry ave. if you hit the hole quickly and against nickle defenses (which he has seen alot this year no question). They know if he goes down then they lose their best threat to run the ball consistiently. He's comming off major shoulder shoulder surgery and could not add substantial strength to the upper-body this off season.

If you extrapolate his per game averages (health is a question for him no doubt) and project those numbers over a 16 game season, he'd have 237 carries for a little over than 1100 yards. Essentially, you have 2001 Antowain Smith. Not spectacular, but if many of you recall, he moved the chains. That is exactly what Kool-Aid is doing based on 3 out of every 10 carries resulting in a 1st down and having only 4 of his 89 carries this year resulting in negative yardage. Compare that to Lynch (20%) and Peterson (27.8%) and hes getting the job done in that area. Again, facing nickle defenses has something to do with it, but Maroney's quickness to the hole does as well.

IMO, he needs an off season of strength conditioning and experience for us to truly understand if we have a stud RB on our hands. If he continues to get hurt in his 3rd year and doesnt bust a big play occasionally and can't score down by the goal line, then we need to look at alternatives.

 

[Remix 6]

like Maroney said himself. Why does it matter how much he scores? Look at how many games were winning . Does he need to? His time will come.

our OL isnt very strong..they dont get that short yardage push. They are athletic but not very big where they will win every battle on a short obvious running down. We pass a lot in endzone. We dont need him to do goal line. He'll have a big day today imo


if we were losing and Maroney was performing bad..then it might be a different story. Were winning and hes playing well. He could easily get over 1000 if he gets more carries but spread offense..and Brady throwing TD every like 10 passes, we dont need him to carry it more. Spread offense is tough to defend against..you need good more than 2 good CBs and good safeties...quick LBs who can cover and DEs usually get worn down rushing the passer so many times.

 

[jbb9s]

In baseball, the sabremetrics crowd uses a term called VORP - value over replacement player. Its an indication of how valuable a guy is in relation to an average replacement taking over for him. Considering Sammy Morris had two 100 yard rushing games and the same YPC, I'd say that is not a good indicator for Lawrence Maroney. I'd say Lendale White has a future similar to Jerome Bettis - so that would put 3 RBs taken after Maroney in better light.

 

[VJCPatriot]

The following platoons say hello:
Adrian Peterson, Chester Taylor #1 Team RYPG
Fred Taylor, Maurice Drew Jones #3 Team RYPG
Lendale White, Chris Brown # 4 Team RYPG

Having 2 good backs allows you to keep both of them fresh.
And it allows your team to pile up the yards on the ground and control the clock.
If the Pats could control the game by running the clock out with the backs they have, don't you think they would have done so?
Maroney has certain limitations.
He hasn't proven to be a good short yardage back, goal line back, pass catching back, or 3rd down back.
And if you put Faulk in there you pretty much communicate to the defense that you're going to pass.
Adding a back who can do it all, like McFadden would make the Pats offense that much stronger, and tougher to predict and stop.

I'm glad you bring up the expiring contract point. If you have two very good backs then you don't HAVE to pay the market price for the back whose contract is expiring, that would be Maroney, you have that much more leverage in contract negotiations because you have an Ace in the hole.

YOu don't want to have a "platoon" of RBs one of whom makes 8M per year guaranteed largely and another 1st round pick.

And if they "last 8 years", great, you have to pay them more when their rookie contract is up.

 

[Deus Irae]

The following platoons say hello:
Adrian Peterson, Chester Taylor #1 Team RYPG
Fred Taylor, Maurice Drew Jones #3 Team RYPG
Lendale White, Chris Brown # 4 Team RYPG

Having 2 good backs allows you to keep both of them fresh.
And it allows your team to pile up the yards on the ground and control the clock.
If the Pats could control the game by running the clock out with the backs they have, don't you think they would have done so?
Maroney has certain limitations.
He hasn't proven to be a good short yardage back, goal line back, pass catching back, or 3rd down back.
And if you put Faulk in there you pretty much communicate to the defense that you're going to pass.
Adding a back who can do it all, like McFadden would make the Pats offense that much stronger, and tougher to predict and stop.

I'm glad you bring up the expiring contract point. If you have two very good backs then you don't HAVE to pay the market price for the back whose contract is expiring, that would be Maroney, you have that much more leverage in contract negotiations because you have an Ace in the hole.

The moment you went to LenDale White, you killed your own argument.

 

[Oswlek]

The following platoons say hello:
Adrian Peterson, Chester Taylor #1 Team RYPG
Fred Taylor, Maurice Drew Jones #3 Team RYPG
Lendale White, Chris Brown # 4 Team RYPG

Having 2 good backs allows you to keep both of them fresh.
And it allows your team to pile up the yards on the ground and control the clock.
If the Pats could control the game by running the clock out with the backs they have, don't you think they would have done so?
Maroney has certain limitations.
He hasn't proven to be a good short yardage back, goal line back, pass catching back, or 3rd down back.
And if you put Faulk in there you pretty much communicate to the defense that you're going to pass.
Adding a back who can do it all, like McFadden would make the Pats offense that much stronger, and tougher to predict and stop.

I'm glad you bring up the expiring contract point. If you have two very good backs then you don't HAVE to pay the market price for the back whose contract is expiring, that would be Maroney, you have that much more leverage in contract negotiations because you have an Ace in the hole.

VJC,

How many games were Maroney and Morris healthy in the same game? How did those games end?

The problem is not the ability of the RBBC guys, it is the health. If you want to say that Maroney needs to prove he can stay healthy, I am fine with that criticism. But you keep bringing up irrelevent comparisons to make your point that hinder it, not help.