With Lauren, I mean Laurence, Maroney done for the season, LaMont Jordan ailing, and Sammy Morris banged up, the Patriots' running back corps looks to be fairly depleted heading into Sunday's game against the suddenly resurgent St. Louis Rams.
Last week, we saw the Patriots rush for 257 yards, which is their biggest total since November of 1993. Granted, it was against the somewhat weak Broncos defense, but still impressive nonetheless. The Patriots have demonstrated several times this season that they can develop a run-first type of offense, 180-degrees away from their philosophy last season.
This week, the Patriots host the St. Louis Rams, whose defensive skills (or lack thereof) have been exposed so far this season. But with Lauren out, and Jordan's status unclear, they will have to establish a tempo for the running game early.
Luckily, there is even more depth at the halfback position than I thought, as evidenced by rookie BenJarvus Green-Ellis' solid debut performance on Monday night.
Aside from having a name partially shared by other Patriots, Ben(Watson)Jarvus Green(duh)-Ellis(Hobbs) has had a successful college career and possesses skills the Patriots knew would help their system.
After leaving Indiana University, Green-Ellis transferred to Mississippi, where he was First Team All-SEC in 2006 and Honorable Mention All-SEC in 2007. Standing 5'11" tall and weighing in at 215 pounds, most NFL teams did not give him a look in the weeks leading up to the 2008 draft, and, despite of a strong combine, he was not drafted.
Realizing a solid player had gone undrafted, the Patriots used their keen judge of talent and signed him as a free agent on May 1. However, he still had a roller-coaster ride to the NFL. Waived by the team in August, Green-Ellis later found a role with the practice squad before becoming a member of the active roster on Oct. 11.
With Morris hurting after a strong first-half performance, the Patriots had no one else to go but Green-Ellis. Luckily for the rookie, they did not shy away from giving him the ball, as he rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries in the second half.
Clearly, Green-Ellis has shown that he can fit into the Patriots' system thus far, but he will have to show consistency to earn a regular spot in this offense.
Green-Ellis should get more carries than he anticipated, at least until Jordan comes back, but, until then, the youngster will prove his worth in the Patriots' newfound running game.
10 comments Last one added 8 months ago — Leave a Comment
Jeff Emond 8 months ago
Good post Ryan! I hope the Broncos game wasn't a fluke. And this week we should be worrying more about OUR run defense then our opponents. I believe Pittman had around 80 yards rushing before being injured Monday. (not positive) and Stephen Jackson has just been embarrasing defenses the past two weeks. The Rams offensive line is the best in the league maybe only to the New York Giants. While ours is still suspect. I look for the speed in our younger defensive players to contain the outside and for our experienced players to generate key sacks and critical interceptions to win a close game. And Maroney...you could just tell even last year before Sammy Morris was hurt that the Patriots were looking for a RB that can run between the tackles not one to bounce outside all the time. Maroney is def. on his way out of New England and I dont see us getting much for him.
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Ryan Burns 8 months ago
Hey there bud
thanks for the comment, i dont think the broncos game was a fluke at all. the pats defensive line showed up for the most part and made plays when they had to including forcing turnovers all night long. stephen jackson is a great running back, but i think the patriots are going to focus most of their energy this week in preparation to stop the rams running game. if we can force st. louis to pass, hopefully the young dbs can step up and play well. shoul we expect another 3 touchdown game from cassel? i would say no, but if the running game can control the pace, we will win this game. I just dont see st louis coming into a newly rejuvenated gillette stadium and leaving with anything positive. and forget lauren maroney hes as good as gone.
ryan
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Andrew Tirrell 8 months ago
Nice article Ryan!
I think BGE (I mean, if any name was screaming for an abbreviation, it was his) has a lot to offer the Patriots in terms of depth. I'm sure he benefitted from Denver's tired, porous defense on Monday night. But it's nice to know that he can compete on this level in case he is needed in the future.
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Ryan Burns 8 months ago
absolutley
its the knowledge that this kid can play that makes me feel better...is he gonna get 100 yards a game? probably not, but if jordan can't go for a while (im still unsure of how much longer hell be out) than BGE (nice!) should be somewhat effective
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Mike Dussault 8 months ago
Nice write up. Belichick seems pretty high on this kid. Who'd have thunk it heading into this year that two undrafted rookie free agents would be contributors?
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Ryan Burns 8 months ago
hey thanks for the comment and the read...i agree, BGE is one of those guys that has value, we just dont see it until the season starts. same with ray ventrone who was on the practice squad a few years ago and is now on special teams...my ex went to hs with him too haha
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Glenn Card 8 months ago
Nice article Ryan.
I'm a little tired of Maroney, we'll get a flash of good stuff from him and then he goes down and out. I kept hoping that he would be our balance for Brady's passing attack but it never panned out. If you remember last year we got some good runs out of Morris, so I was happy to see him eating up the yards on Monday. I haven't heard how bad his injury is yet but if he can work in tandem with BGE and get Jordan healthy then we be able to keep the opposing defenses honest cause right now they are killing Cassell.
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Ryan Burns 8 months ago
Glenn.
Thanks for the read and the comment! Maroney has surely wore out his welcome. He does have big games, but my biggest problem is that you never know when hes going to have another big game. Morris didnt practice today so who knows about Sunday. I hope that he can go, because if he cant, we might have some problems down the line.
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Hanz Heiligmann 8 months ago
GREAT post. VERY informative! Me and my tailgate crew have nicknamed him "the green hornet"
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Ryan Burns 8 months ago
HAHA...i like it...a lot easier to say than BenJarvus Green-Ellis.
thanks for the read and the comment!
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