.That was certainly their philosophy during their matchup with the Bills on Monday
night.Down to just two healthy running backs on the roster with leading rusher
and rookie Sony Michel inactive with a knee injury
Color Rush Damien Harris Jersey , New England started receiver Cordarrelle Patterson in the backfield in a move done more out of necessity than by
design.While unusual, it didn't provide a lot of traction during a 25-6 victory
in which Tom Brady was held without a passing touchdown and the offense was
paced by Stephen Gostkowski's four field goals.But it might have been a glimpse
at how creative the Patriots (6-2) are willing to be to keep alive a win streak
that has grown to five games with a visit from Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay
Packers on Sunday night.This will be just the second meeting between Brady and
Aaron Rodgers, with Rodgers winning the first matchup 26-21 in Green Bay in
2014.The two future Hall of Famers enter the rematch as the only active players
with multiple Most Valuable Player awards (Brady three, Rodgers two).Green Bay
is coming off a 29-27 loss to the unbeaten Rams and is just 3-3-1 on the season.
But Brady said he is expecting to get the best from a player he considers to be
"one of the best to ever play.""It's a big game for us," Brady said. "I mean,
they're in it every year. ... So it'll be exciting and we're going to have to
play really well. It's a quick turnaround."If Michel can return this week it
would decrease the stress on Brady and the passing game. Michel has the
Patriots' only 100-yard rushing games in 2018.But even if he's not ready to go,
offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is confident they'll be able to adapt again
if necessary.One of the reasons is the consistent production of James White.
While primarily a receiving threat, he can break runs out of the backfield. He
had New England's lone rushing touchdown against the Bills."James is a very
dependable guy. Whatever it is we ask of him
Youth Damien Harris Jersey , we count on him to do a lot of things, and he usually does those things very well," McDaniels said."It's good to have a lot of
guys in your offense that can be counted on. ... He's always been a big
contributor to what we're doing, and he's got a lot of teammates that try to do
the same thing."The Patriots keep playing running back roulette With the many
mind games that Bill Belichick and the Patriots play with opponents and fans,
one of the most common and confusing is the running back situation. Each week it
is a mystery who gets the start, the third down plays, and the red zone touches.
The most recent certainty we’ve had when it came to the running back situation
was knowing LeGarrette Blount was getting the goal line touches. Blount hasn’t
been on the team since the 2016 season, where he led the league in rushing
touchdowns with 18 scores. That also was a franchise record for the Pats.Most
fans assumed the signing of Mike Gillislee
Womens Damien Harris Jersey , would take over that role in 2017, however that wasn’t the case. Only registering 5 rushing touchdowns the entire season, 3
coming in the very first game of the season which caused many fantasy football
owners to panic and scurry to pick up and trade for someone who ended up being a
bust. Coming into the 2018 season, Dion Lewis is gone, Sony Michel and Jeremy
Hill are due to compete for snaps, and undrafted free agent signing Ralph Webb
came booming into the preseason scoring 2 touchdowns in the first game vs the
Redskins. Yes, it was during garbage time, but a man’s trash is another man’s
treasure
Authentic Damien Harris Jersey , right? (Mr. Webb, you are not trash, just the saying)Coming into the 2018 season, we can expect to see the following
running backs be on the roster or at least fight for a position.Technically,
Brandon Bolden is a running back too, but his specialty lays with special teams
(which is deeply underrated IMO) and we can forget about the fullback, James
Develin, fullbacks are people too. However
Damien Harris Jersey Boys , with all these running backs on the team, how likely is it that they all will play? Very likely. Historically the Patriots have used
a healthy rotation of running back throughout the game and the season. Last year
the Patriots were tied in second place for the most amount of running back used
during the season with 5 (6 with Develin) among teams ranking top 10 in rushing
yards. The only team to use more running backs? The Philadelphia Eagles. This is
important for a couple of reasons. Mainly because it helps keeps opposing teams
guessing on personal and strategy, which every fan knows is the Patriots biggest
strength.Another interesting stat comes with the Patriots running backs and the
passing game. In 2017, the Patriots had 3 players in the top 20 in catch
percentage, basically how many receptions per target. Remember, this included
everyone in the NFL. You guessed it, they were all running backs. Dion Lewis was
number one OVERALL with a 91.4%, Rex Burkhead came in number five with an
83.3%
Infant Damien Harris Jersey , and James White posted a 77.8% catch rate at number 17 overall. Pretty insane if you think about all the great receivers we have the
league today. Names like Jarvis Landry (69.6%), Odell Beckham Jr. (61%), and
Julio Jones (59.5%) were all less than these running backs.While it will be fun
to see some new faces in a new offense, it should be no surprises the Patriots
will continue to have the rest of the world guessing on who will get the next
rushing attempt. My only request is that Tom Brady sticks to throwing and not
running.
