2010 Fantasy Football Matchup Analysis: New England Patriots Should Run More?

Pats go up against weak run D's this year, but strong pass
Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

The Patriots - a running team?

Their 2010 match-ups point to a big opportunity to run, but the passing defenses they'll face look stiff.

Plenty of questions here:

Will Brady and Moss and Welker light it up?

Can Maroney and Fred use this stellar opportunity?

The next image will break down their 2010 schedule and show the strong and weak spots.

New England Patriots 2010 Matchup Analysis

New England Patriots 2010 Match-up Analysis

Let's look at the 2010 NFL schedule for the New England Patriots.

The Pats are facing strong pass D this year and weak run D. But, what's their running game going to look like?

I created a tool to automatically analyze the strength of opponents and color-code based on favorable (green) or scary (red) match-ups. Every week of the regular season, these will be updated, so it will be great to see how these colors change.

This shot shows that the Pats will have 7 favorable running match ups and only 3 favorable passing defense. In general, throughout the year, they face pretty stiff passing defense. Of course, this is a team with Brady, Moss, Welker and more.

To contrast the Pats, the Chargers have 8 favorable match-ups. It doesn't look like their star receiver (Vince Jackson) will be back, but they still have plenty of options.