Thoughts on Mike Gillislee so far?

[Tony2046]

Gillislee's production has increased steadily every week.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Gilly always seems to get 5-6 every carry..love it

 

[voluntarysaftey]

We could've used an upgrade over Blount.

Unfortunately Bill picked the wrong guy, and now is paying more and getting less production.

 

[Wheelman]

Honestly, sometimes I wonder what people are watching.

 

[Nehalem]

Blount went from 3.9 to 5.8 yards a carry moving to the Eagles.

And checked last year first 5 games 3.2, 4.2, 4.4, 4.2, 2.1 yards a carry. Hmm didn't exactly set the world on fire then.

Seems like the problem is with the Patriots OL.

 

[Tony2046]

We could've used an upgrade over Blount.

Unfortunately Bill picked the wrong guy, and now is paying more and getting less production.

The production in Average yards per carry this season is exactly the same as it was last season at 3.9 YPC. So not sure why you think it's less production. Gillislee's yards have increased over the 5 weeks. So it's too early to tell if Bill picked the wrong guy or not.

 

[BradytoMosstoGronk]

He put up 148 yards in one game against the Colts.

Even if he was only getting 3-4 yards per attempt in some other games, he's such a tough guy to bring down that he was wearing down defenses.

I dont see Gillislee wearing any D down.

And Jonas Gray put up 199 on them. I don’t think it was so much about which RB ran against them.

 

[Deus Irae]

Thoughts on Mike Gillislee so far?

As someone who didn't want Blount to be let go, and who views Gillislee as the Blount replacement, I'll say that it's too soon to tell. However, Gillislee is not a Blount clone, because he's not the same kind of back, and has to get his yards in a different way. Why do I bring that up?

1. It's pretty clear that BB and Josh are still trying to figure out how to use this RB group, at least partly due to the terrible OL play to date, and at least partly due to the injury situation with Burkhead.
   
2. Lewis, the best all around RB, isn't getting enough touches, quite possibly because the ****ty play of the OL would expose Lewis' 2 weaknesses, which are his pass blocking and his durability.
3. Burkhead, the most well rounded of the team's RBs, and the one RB would could most easily have led to 2 RB (not RB/FB, but 2 RB) sets and significant snaps for a RB in the slot, has been on the shelf.
   
4. White, the lead receiving RB at the moment, still can't run at the NFL level.
5. Gillislee is learning that LGB got more yards out of nothing than people gave him credit for, and he's learning it the hard way.

Let's see what BB and Josh start doing once the line gets better and Burkhead returns. That'll give us a bit more insight into the entire RB group, not just Gillislee.

 

[sambam94]

disagree big time with #5...never saw Blount get something out of nothing...that's when he lost yards. Gillislee doesn't usually lose yards. He hasn't been leaned on to get in a flow...although last game there was a stretch where he was gashing TB's D

 

[Kdo5]

I really like Gillislee. He hasn't been made the best use of though. The offensive line isn't helping matters. His stat sheet looks 'meh' but doesnt reflect his play.

 

[FCB02062]

He ****ing sucks at short yardage...no arguing that

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I see 2 issues that gill has no control over:

Poor ol play - im no expert but i think hes made the most out of whats been there, there just hasnt been much.

Poor d- i think this has a lesser direct impact. When ur not playing with a lead or it feels like theres little margin for error - the ball will be in tb12's hands a vast majority of snaps. The carolina game for example, the ol did open holes and he did get nice runs but we were playing catchup the whole 2nd half and went pass heavy. If we had the 2016 defense this year holding other teams to 14-17 ppg or close to that regularly, i think hes easily a 1k runner even with ol woes.

Also have to consider the presense of 2 other very good backs and 3 when burkheas returns. Less carries for the leas back than in years past.

 

[Deus Irae]

disagree big time with #5...never saw Blount get something out of nothing...

Then you either weren't watching or you're confusing jailbreaks with line stuffs. Blount needed to get himself up to speed, so hits behind the line were a problem. That doesn't mean he couldn't make something from nothing on line stuffs.

 

[patman12]

OL has sucked this year at both run blocking and pas protection. If I had to pick one for them to fix first, it would be protecting Brady.

 

[DaBruinz]

I hope so too.

Unfortunately I havent seen anything that would suggest he has the ability to take over games.

It just means you aren't actually WATCHING the games. Gillislee has shown plenty. The problem is that McDaniels doesn't STAY with the run enough.

Stats without context are meaningless and your OP is a perfect example.

They should be getting Gillislee 18-20 carries a game. The last 3 games they've gotten him 12, which is not enough. And in short yardage, they are telegraphing and poorly executing runs up the middle. Gillislee has the ability to get outside, they should use it. Particularly in those situations.

 

[supafly]

They should be getting Gillislee 18-20 carries a game. The last 3 games they've gotten him 12, which is not enough. And in short yardage, they are telegraphing and poorly executing runs up the middle. Gillislee has the ability to get outside, they should use it. Particularly in those situations.

I think they may have been spooked by his poor showing in the first 3 games, where he averaged 15 carries a game, yet only had a measly 3.13 YPC.

I agree with you that he's improved as he's gotten more comfortable in the past couple of games and should be seeing carries in the high teens, per week. They've got to stick with it, and hopefully he has that one big 100+ yard breakout game to help give him some self confidence.

 

[Wordsmyth]

Big Disappointment and downgrade at the RB position if you ask me. Compare his numbers to last year and he clearly isnt what the Pats thought he would be.
Mike Gillislee


He's averaging 3.6 yards per carry. His longest run this year is 16 yards. He's been okay on the goalline but really bad in 3rd and short and 4th and short situations. I think he's a decent back up, but he's showing he can't be "the guy" like Blount was when he won 2 SuperBowls with the Pats.



Blount is having a great year BTW. It's baffling why they let him walk. He clearly wanted to be a Patriot and wouldnt have cost much money at all. Dwayne Allen is making way more than what Blount got.

One of the worst decisions of the Belichick era.

Nobody asked you.

 

[PScottman]

We could've used an upgrade over Blount.

Unfortunately Bill picked the wrong guy, and now is paying more and getting less production.

In what context? Pretty difficult to do a straight comparison when the committee approach spreads production out widely among three guys (would likely be four if Burkhead was healthy) in a pass focused offense.

 

[maineman209]

Couple thoughts:

Gillislee didn't practice through most of camp. In four of his first five games, the Pats have faced some very good DLs and run defenses, AND they haven't built commanding leads or been able to keep the leads they've had (thanks to the defense). I'm not sure why anyone is surprised or disappointed by Gillislee's "slow start".

In spite of all that, Gillislee is averaging about 14 carries and 50 yards per game on 23 snaps/game.

Since 2009, Pats' "lead RBs" have typically averaged 15 carries and 60 yards per game (Blount's 2016 season and Ridley's 2012 season are outliers).

In Buffalo, Gillislee averaged only 6.7 carries/game in 2016 (15 games), and 9.4 carries/game (5 games) in 2015. In 2016, he carried the ball 11 times or more in 4 games total. He's carried at least 12 times each game this year so far.

Gillislee's 69 carries this year represent almost 70% of his total carries last season with the Bills (101), and are more than he had in all of 2015 (47, 24 of those coming in one game where he averaged 1.17 ypa).

Clearly, the Pats are using Gillislee in different ways and for different purposes and in different situations than Buffalo did.

So, I really don't understand what the fan expectations are for Gillislee or what those expectations are based on.

 

[PatsDeb]

Gillislee looks ok. Let's see what he can do when we have a lead and some decent blocking for him. I don't miss Blount. I never thought he was all that and he was atrocious in the playoffs.