MrNathanDrake
In the Starting Line-Up
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He's fast but soft. can't break tackles, doesn't Make people miss, not productive in the passing game, struggles in short yardage
We overpaid
Finally someone honest.
I think Gillislee is a decent #2 guy, that is being forced to be a #1.
Burkhead is not a #1 guy either...Rex Burkehead needs to get back on the field
Burkhead is not a #1 guy either...
Say what you want about Blount, at least we could run PA with him because Defenses were scared of him. No one is scared of Gillislee and our PA is useless this year.
Burkhead is not a #1 guy either...
Say what you want about Blount, at least we could run PA with him because Defenses were scared of him. No one is scared of Gillislee and our PA is useless this year.
We could run PA with Blount but for some reason never did. Always was a run with him in the backfield. Same with Gillislee and both players have suffered because of this.
Blount carried the ball on only 58% of the snaps he was on the field for last season. What happened the other 42% of the time?
I wouldn't be shocked if this guy is cut tomorrow morning.
Patriots fans are never satisfied unless a free agent pickup turns out to be an All-Pro.
Would be interested in seeing this breakdown also with formations. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the 58% were with TB under center and most of the 42% were shotgun. In other words, still a dead giveaway.
So I'm most-often considered a homer. I don't think anyone has ever called me a hater or negative.
I think the bar isn't All-Pro, it's Blount.
Right now I think we're getting less from Gillislee than we would be getting from Blount, so unless things change this is going to be a swing and miss from BB for me. I'll allow him a few more before I start calling for his head.
At this point our best runner is Dion and it's not even close.
Right, and comparing full year stats to 5 games isn't fair, either. Through 5 games last year, Blount was averaging 3.67 yards per carry, just a tenth of a yard more than Gillislee is this year, and that included the 41 yard touchdown run against the Texans. Take that away and Blount was averaging just 3.31 yards per carry through the first 5 games.
And imagining that Blount was more consistent than Gillislee is wrong, too. Taking out runs that resulted in a touchdown from inside the opponent's 3 yard line, Blount gained 3 or more yards on just 52% of rushes last season, and 4 or more on just 41% of his rushes (taking out TDs from 3 or fewer yards out). Taking out Gillislee's short touchdowns against the Chiefs and Saints, he's gained 3 or more yards on 62% of his rushes this year, and 4 or more on 51%. I don't have time to calculate short yardage success rates but I'm not sure there's a discernible difference thus far.
Based on those success rates, over a full year, Gillislee would rate among some of the better running back seasons of the last decade (for example, Ray Rice in 2009 and Shaun Alexander in 2005 are comparables in this measure of success, though both broke off long runs with more consistency than Gillislee) while Blount's 2016 was Antowain Smith-esque in this category but more impressive in his rate of 10+ yard runs. In other words, Blount gained his yardage in chunks on big runs while being stuffed quite often, while Gillislee has been chugging away with consistent carries of 3-6 yards but failing to break big ones. Pick your poison, though I think Gillislee will break a few big ones because he's been real close and over the past three years he's been consistently one of the bigger home-run hitters in football on a per-carry basis. As noted, though, sustaining that over a full season is the trick.
Gillislee is not a Blount type of running back. He is hopefully a better version of Stevan Ridley without the fumbling issue. Getting Burkhead back should help, especially in catching short passes out of the backfield. None of the Pats runners (other than Develin who almost never runs) is a "pound up the middle, get a few yards" runner. It is interesting that the editor of the NE Patriots Draft site listed Kareem Hunt as a dark horse draft choice that he felt would fit well in the Pats' backfield.