Patriots Sign Lamar Miller; Reaffirm Dedication To Running The Football

The reclamation projects just never stop in Foxborough.

On Sunday, the New England Patriots signed veteran journeyman(?) Lamar Miller and his surgically-repaired ACL to a one year contract – a surprise move given the strength and quality of the Patriots’ running back kennel, leaving all of us to wonder if the signing is a sign of trouble with third-year “lead” back Sony Michel.

Michel, of course, was placed on the team’s PUP list last week as he rehabs from foot surgery in the offseason, but we all assumed that second-year redshirt Damien Harris would be picking up Michel’s slack, with Rex Burkhead and James White providing a change of pace – and that most likely still is the case, despite Miller’s signing.

In fact, Miller may just be camp fodder unless he clearly out-performs one of the incumbents on the roster, with another option being placed on the injured-reserved list if he shows promise but isn’t quite ready to compete.

At his best, Miller is a crisp cutback runner between the tackles and has a second gear to get around the corner – and then has an extra gear once he breaks into the open field. The fastest back that came out of the 2012 NFL Draft, speed is his calling card. If his knee has fully healed and he regains his ability to cut against the grain, he offers more in the running game than Michel.

In fact, assuming Miller makes the 53-man roster, the Patriots are in better shape in the backfield than they were a week ago, and even then they were pretty stacked.

It is universally thought that the Patriots had one of the best running back depth charts in the league to begin with - even with Michel on the shelf – but now they have three similarly sized backs with decidedly different styles, plus the most effective passing back in the league, meaning that New England can now play the running game anyway you like it.

You want a slasher with elite speed, a threat to take it to the house on any touch? That’s Miller. You want a grinder who punishes linebackers and always gets the extra yard? That’s Harris. How about a guy who does a little of both? Yup, Burkhead – and even though all three are capable in the pattern, James White is dependable as they come wheeling out of the backfield.

Add all of that to the fact that they will be running behind one of the best zone-blocking schemes in the league and with a dual-threat quarterback running the entire show, what you get is a commitment to run the ball.

Of course, Newton is the catalyst with a skill set not seen in New England before. Let’s face it, Tom Brady was glued to the ground, but had decent elusiveness in the pocket - but more and more in the past couple of years, when the pass rush was closing in, he would simply take a seat and live to see another play…

…while Newton is an apparition, with the start and stop ability to leave would-be tacklers grasping at air. On reputation alone, defenders will have to account for Newton’s running ability on every play, his repertoire including RPO experience and a knack for scrambling out of trouble. But where his presence affects the running game is on the outside zone plays that Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels loves.

Newton is in his element In the outside zone. Where Brady would simply turn and hand off to his backs, Newton can and will employ elements of the double and triple options, so the need for a cutback runner with speed became paramount the moment Newton signed his Patriots’ contract – and that’s the reason Lamar Miller and his sub-4.4 speed now resides in Foxborough.

Actually, there is a lot to like about this year’s incarnation of the Patriots’ offense. Sure, there are a lot of variables in play – health and replacing players who have opted-out at the forefront – but if the universe unfolds in their favor, we could witness a renaissance of sorts, back to the days when the Patriots featured a powerful running game that sets up the passing game.

With head coach Bill Belichick being a rooted in the fundamentals of the game, I can’t wait to see how he shapes his offense when in his element – because there’s nothing more fundamental in football than running the football.

Redshirt "Sophomore" Harris The Key To Productive Running Game

30 May, 2020

There are probably many reasons why Bill Belichick is excited about this years incarnation of the New England Patriots' offense, but the most important one is that he finally gets to build the unit the way he always wanted to.

The way the draft went down suggests that he had everything he wanted to field a product that is based more on power and less on passing, needing only a tight end or two to put the whole thing together - and don't be surprised if the Patriots are formidable on offense despite not having Tom Brady under center.

Damien Harris

Because it's not a matter of replacing the greatest quarterback of all time, it was a matter of getting Brady out of his way so that he could build an offense in his own gruff image, using recent drafts to prepare for a philosophical shift that is going to mirror the early days of Belichick's tenure in New England, when the Patriots won three Super Bowl titles in four seasons with brute force.

Back in that day, a young Brady worked behind an offensive line built to run the football, handing off to the likes of Antowain Smith and Corey Dillon and riding their success to develop one of the best play action passing games in the league - but this is not suggest that second year quarterback Jarrett Stidham is going to enjoy the same success as Brady, nor that the Patriots as a whole are going to hammer their way to another Lombardi Trophy...

...but what it does suggest is that if Belichick made it work before, he believes that he can make that philosophy work again. It's not very scientific, but it is plausible, and he has the horses to make it a reality.

Starting with undrafted free agent center David Andrews and fourth-round guard Shaq Mason in 2015, Belichick has populated his offensive line with players coming from college programs where they developed into elite run blockers, adding left guard Joe Thuney the following year and left tackle Isaiah Wynn two seasons after that.

The offense hit a few snags along the way, most notably when All-World tight end Rob Gronkowski retired before last season, followed by injuries to Andrews, Wynn and every fullback on their roster which, when combined with running back Sony Michel's sophomoric slump and Brady's distrust of any receiver not named Julian Edelman, doomed the Patriots to their worst post-season showing in over a decade.

But as bad as it was, every negative circumstance that came out of the Patriots' struggles last season provided a clear view of what Belichick needed to do going forward as he starts anew with Stidham under center and, truthfully, it isn't that much.

First, Belichick upgraded the tight end position through the draft, taking two seam-busting, rough-and-tumble entities in UCLA's Devin Asiasi and Wake Forest's Dalton Keene, both willing blockers, with Asiasi more of an inline blocker with good speed in space and up the seam while Keene is more of an "H-back" who does his best work in pass protection and as a lead blocker out of the backfield, and as a safety valve on underneath routes in the passing game.

Neither is the second coming of Gronkowski, and they don't need to be, but both offer the versatility and are perfect fits to succeed in Belichick's philosophical shift.

Secondly, and although the jury will be out until they step on the practice field - whenever that will be - the starters along the offensive line should return healthy, and Belichick chose to back them up with new blood in the draft, taking three developmental types on the third day of the draft. They will compete with last season's less-than-thrilling pool of backups, hopefully one or two displacing the veterans.

Third, and most disquieting, was Michel's aforementioned and so-called "sophomore slump" which, in reality, was nothing more that proving that Michel isn't capable of getting anything more than what is blocked for him, looking more and more timid as time wore on and being benched in a handful of games in favor of tougher runners in Rex Burkhead and James White.

But there is an answer waiting in the wings in redshirt "Sophomore" Damien Harris, whom Belichick used a third-round pick on in last season's epic draft haul, number 87 overall. Belichick kept Harris on the active roster just as he did with James White in his 2014 rookie season, which, if history holds true, means that he has a specific plan for the hard-running, shoulder-dipping load out of Alabama...

...where he shared the backfield with now-Las Vegas Raiders' feature back Josh Jacobs, both enjoying equal success on the Crimson Tide's National Championship team, but with Harris becoming one of only eight running backs in Alabama's long history to rush for more than 3,000 yards in his career.

Harris ran over folks in the 2019 preseason, and showed soft hands in the pattern out of the backfield, gaining yards after initial contact by initiating said contact and exploding through the would-be tackler - something that would have been advantageous last season as proven by both White and, in particular, Burkhead.

But Burkhead's style and apparent fragility is a poor mix, as he has spent half of his Patriots' tenure on the trainer's table, and White is too important to the passing game as a third-down back to risk injury as an every down pounder. What the Patriots needed - and need - is Harris.

As far as Michel is concerned, he is still servicable as a change of pace back in a two-back set, though his running style is more angular than sudden, meaning that he is better at attacking the line through straight ahead creases as opposed to Harris, who possesses excellent vision and a wicked jump cut that comes in handy when cutting back against the grain.

In all, the Patriots should employ four backs, with Harris, Michel and White as roster locks, with Burkhead, Brandon Bolden and whatever free agents Belichick chooses to bring in battling for the last spot - while the fullback position should fall to second year undrafdted free agent Jakob Johnson, with rookie Dalton Keene seeing time as a lead blocker as well.

So on paper, the Patriots' running back depth chart looks solid, and with a productive running game being a young quarterback's best friend, that depth chart could be the most important position on the field.

Chatty Letter To Josh McDaniels

Dear Josh,

Hey, me again! I'm starting to get the idea that you're never going to reply to my repeated correspondence, and since the authorities haven't shown up at my door to arrest me on charges of harassment, I have to assume that either you lost your Gal Friday or you shitcan my letters as soon as you see the postmark...

I don't need your acknowledgement, but would it kill you to pick up a pen and demand that I stop writing to you? At least call me a son of a bitch and threaten me with legal action, up to and including a cease and desist order. At least then I'll know that I'm not wasting my time.

Which is ok in anyway, because these evil things are very therapeutic for me to write - you know, to kind of get things off my chest. I do so for many things in my life, and the subject I've chosen for today is football, mostly because that game against Buffalo on Sunday brought back so not-so-fond memories of the 2015 AFC Championship game...

...a frustrating end to that season in which the Denver Broncos advanced to the Super Bowl after beating your Patriots, only to be annihilated by the Seattle Seahawks for the World Title.

I'm sure you remember. You had to game plan for the Broncos without any healthy receivers and without a lead running back to take some of the pressure off of Tom Brady - and despite Brady having only a bunch of retreads and walk-ons to throw at and despite having no running game, you almost pulled that game out of your magic hat.

It was ugly, but the Patriots' defense rose to the occasion to keep the score close, and had your boss chosen to kick field goals in three consecutive drives into the Bronco's red zone in the fourth quarter instead of going for it on fourth and short on each drive, it would have been your Patriots playing the Seahawks two weeks later.

That's a story for another time - but what brought back these memories was the way your offense looked bogged down and incapable against the Bills last Sunday, much as they did in that AFC title tilt five years ago. There certainly wasn't as much on the line against the Bills as there was back then, and you managed to pull that rabbit out of your hat with much assistance from the defense and special teams.

Brady had a better chance of completing a pass at a cheerleader than to one of his receivers, throwing balls high and low and trying to force balls into double coverages down the field, and the few that actually found their intended targets were subject to finding the turf anyway, as his normally reliable pass catchers collectively developed a case of the dropsies.

The Boston media is pointing to this performance as an "I told you so" moment, in that they've been bemoaning Brady's pass-catching corps as being inadequate since the start of training camp - which is bullshit, of course, because Brady has plenty of trustworthy help in the pattern, with names like Edelman, Gordon and Dorsett as well as an elite checkdown option in running back James White.

White led the Patriots in both targets and yardage through the air, which we've both seen before in games that really mattered, and which leads me to believe that you thought that the matchup between White and the Bills' linebackers could be exploited as a way to open up the patterns for the wide receivers.

It didn't, but the thought was well received. White is a matchup nightmare against most linebackers, but with your running game being an afterthought and combined with the aggressive approach of the Bills' defense against your receivers, Buffalo was able to shut down your offense.

White caught eight balls and accounted for a full one-third of your passing production, which isn't necessarily a new thing as your backs handle the ball on about 70% of the offensive snaps anyway - and that brings me to the point of this latest correspondence.

Your running backs are capable of so much more than what we've seen thus far in 2019, and the way they are being used is really limiting your offense. And it's your fault.

Where was Rex Burkhead? Why hasn't Sony Michel been targeted in the passing game despite your incessant assertion that he would become more involved? Why does rookie runner Damien Harris continue to be inactive?

In case you haven't noticed, every defense you've faced thus far has bought into the fact that Michel is so one-dimensional that they can stack the box when he is in the backfield to stop the run, then concentrate on blanketing your receivers when he's not - and then when Burkhead sees only a handful of offensive snaps when he could be countering that trend, it makes me wonder if you are trying to just take what the defense gives you instead of you dictating to them.

Very passive game plan, vanilla you might say, as if you were trying to use the Buffalo game to get Michel going in the right direction, but all it did for me was to further strengthen my opinion that continuing to feed Michel when the defense knows he's getting the ball can't be an oversight, rather, it is undue arrogance on your part.

Look, Michel is a fine runner and he brought a spark to the running game last season that had been missing for at least a decade, and he was able to pop off about four-and-a-half yards per carry, and performed even better in the playoffs - but that was with a healthy offensive line, a violently-intentioned fullback- and with two tight ends who brought the wood in run blocking.

I hate to tell you this, but you don't have those things right now. The media is blaming the offensive line, but it your play calling and the improper utilization of your backs that should be blamed. If you are not going to use Michel in the passing game, why continue to let him run into a brick wall seventeen times a game?

Either include him in the passing game, or bench him. Those are your options.

You are using backups at left tackle and at the pivot, and while their pass protection is evolving as a whole, their run blocking with Michel in the backfield looks more like pass blocking, as the opposition are penetrating and pushing them backwards, forming a pocket and re-establishing the line of scrimmage three yards deep in the backfield.

You know better than I why this is happening. You know that Michel's single contribution to the offense is in running the ball, and without at least flashing him in the pattern, you have no way of keeping the defenses you face from stacking the box against him, hence the 2.4 yards per carry.

Burkhead is averaging 4.7 yards per carry, and White an even five, but this is because both of those guys are a threat to catch passes out of the backfield, so defenses are forced to go lighter in the box in respect for their route running and pass catching abilities.

This is not a coincidence. As much as watching your unit running the ball successfully, even when the defense knows it's coming, warms my heart. The sad fact is that the personnel you have at this point just can't pull that off - but you have the capability and personnel to go about this another way, you can be aggressive and dictate to the opposing defense with what you do have...

...and it all starts with how you deploy your running backs.

First, it's time to give Harris some snaps, and you can't do that while he's sitting in the booth wearing street clothes. Harris is a hybrid of White, Michel and Burkhead and could become your most enticing weapon. I'm just spitballing here, but I'm going to assume you kept him on the roster for a reason, and that reason is that the kid is a beast between the tackles and fluid in the pattern.

We all saw it in preseason. Granted, that was against defenses that were playing their second and third lines, but Harris dominated them. He came from a school that produces NFL-ready prospects, a school that boasts more alumni in starting positions than any other school in the country.

Harris split time at Alabama with now-Oakland Raider lead back Josh Jacobs, and ran just as effectively - and is one of only eight running backs in the history of that powerhouse to accumulate over 3,000 rushing yards in his collegiate career, practically mirroring what James White did while in a committee backfield with Melvin Gordon at Wisconsin.

Same with Burkhead at Nebraska. I'm assuming that you collected these backs because in your offense, the short passing game is used as an extension of the running game. Hell, even Brandon Bolden possesses those traits.

You don't see defenses stacking the box against any of them, with the exception of in short-yardage situations, and even then the defense is on alert in case White or Burkhead peel off and wheel out into the flat, because they are both just as dangerous in the pattern as they are between the tackles - perhaps more so.

Am I making any sense here, Josh?

Tom Brady may be frustrated with his lack of receiving options, but if he's looking for better production from the passing game, all he needs to do is look to his running backs to fill the void. White and Burkhead can both split wide, both can operate from the slot and both are adept at wiggling through the maw on screens.

Why are they not being incorporated into the game plan like this? You know better than I that if you split those two out wide, they take linebackers with them which - surprise! - lightens the box and takes away designed blitzes that get into Brady's grill, not to mention that bringing them back in motion puts those same linebackers back on their heels, not being able to anchor against the run.

Now, it could be that you are trying to coast through the cupcake portion of your schedule, serving opposing defenses vanilla creamer in their coffee and waiting until you hit the meat of your schedule to break out the hard stuff - and if that's the case, I apologize for my rant.

That would make a lot of sense, actually. I guess I'm just trying to remind you that people are watching and people genuinely care.

Best wishes,

Mike

Opinion: Time Is Now For Rookie Backs To Enter The Fray

The New England Patriots placed fullback James Develin on their Injured/Reserved list on Monday afternoon with a neck injury that he suffered last weekend against the Miami Dolphins.

Those who understand what Develin means to the offense are mourning the loss, perhaps for the season. But those who understand and watched what Johnson did in extended playing time during the preseason see a glimmer of hope for a vital position on the Patriots' offense.

During the Patriots' run to the title last season, Develin was on the field for every single rushing touchdown, plowing the row like a pack mule and knocking the chocolate out of anything in his way. Needless to say, that kind of explosive lead blocking is required in short yardage situations and for the running game in general.

Rookie running back Damien Harris

Develin also displayed soft hands for such a monstrous entity, and took handoffs from quarterback Tom Brady on a few of those short yardage situations, and no one on the opposing defense really looked thrilled to be taking him on with the ball in his hands, but those who did dealt with a bruise or three.

So the question begs, how do the Patriots reach for effectiveness in the running game without Develin leading the way?

And the answer is simple: If Jakob Johnson is the run-blocking load that he showed in the preseason, if he can ragdoll defensive ends like he did regularly, the Patriots may have a true fortuitous find in a player who was essentially forced on Belichick by the league, as the German-born Johnson was "assigned" to New England as a part of their relentless pursuit of global domination...

...trying to get football (soccer)-mad Europe to love their brand of football by making training camp exemptions to the roster limit of teams who accept European-born players into their camp as part of the league's "Pathway to the NFL" program.

Johnson's chances of making the team were slim-to-none before he arrived in Foxborough by way of North Carolina State University, and as camp wore on and as the intense German kept staggering defensive linemen and linebackers during practice, scrimmages and in preseason games, his chances of making the team really didn't increase all that much due to Develin having a stranglehold on the fullback spot, but his chances of hanging around on the practice squad increased exponentially.

And if you're on the practice squad, you are one injury away from being on the active 53.

Go ahead and YouTube the lick he put on a Carolina Panthers defensive end on a Brandon Bolden touchdown run, then while you're at it, watch the video of him catching offerings from Jarrett Stidham in the same game. If that small sample size is the real Jakob Johnson and if he can come close to replicating such against starting NFL defensive fronts, the Patriots will be ok.

Just ok? Truth be told, that would be better than what we've seen of the Patriots' running game so far this season.

New England Patriots' fans breathed a collective sigh of relief on Sony Michel's first quarter touchdown run against the New York Jets this past Sunday, thinking that the real Michel had emerged and whatever imposter had been wearing his uniform in the Patriots' backfield had been tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail, in the best of New England judicial tradition.

But when Michel reverted back to his early-season funk on his next run, and his next and his next, one thing became painfully clear: Michel still possesses only two tools in his toolbox, running the ball and picking up the blitz in pass protection, despite the team's off-season assertion that he would be used more in the passing game.

But he hasn’t been, targeted out of the backfield just once in three games - not nearly enough to put a scare into defensive coordinators, who obviously have caught on to the fact that when Michel was on the field last season, almost eighty percent of the time, the play call was a run.

How this impacts the overall effectiveness of the offense is two-fold. The opposition will key on Michel, knowing that they will be right eight out of ten snaps. That brings the residual effect of the opposition bringing run blitzes to overwhelm the offensive line, which re-establishes the line of scrimmage two or three yards deep in the backfield.

The result? How about 2.4 yards per carry. Ouch.

That average places the Patriots' running attack third from the bottom of the league, and this despite having more rushing attempts than all but five other teams - not the performance anyone was expecting, based on how the Patriots dominated teams on the ground at the end of last season and how they performed in the preseason.

But in the preseason, rookie third-round pick Damien Harris handled the majority of the load and was impressive in doing so, bringing a bit of a fullback mentality in powering through contact between the tackles while displaying elusiveness with a wicked jump cut when running in space.

In other words, he gets more than what's blocked for him. Add to that his sharp route running and soft hands out of the backfield and what you get is what the Patriots need to counter the aggressiveness that opposing defenses are enjoying on early downs.

It's no secret that I've been critical of Michel, not because of anything other than his motivation seems to melt when he doesn't have room to run. He looks disinterested after a negative run or two and has been replaced in the lineup by Rex Burkhead in each of the first three games.

Burkhead is running at a clip of 4.7 yards per carry, and while not elusive at all, he gets more that what's blocked for him by sheer determination. James White is averaging 5.1 yards per carry with his short-area elusiveness and despite the fact that he's not going to power through many tacklers in the box.

Why the disparity between Michel's production and the other backs on the roster? Simply, Michel's one dimension allows opposing defenses to stack the box with confidence, while Burkhead and White offer passing game versatility, which forces defenses to play a lighter box which poses less resistance between the tackles.

It's as simple as that. Having a versatile back in the lineup lightens the box, which allows the offensive line to dictate to the defensive front instead of being bull rushed into the backfield. It got so bad against the New York Jets on Sunday that the Patriots' offensive line looked like they were pass blocking on running plays...

...the Jets' forcing a pocket to contain Michel as if he was a quarterback dropping back to pass. Even when the Patriots tried running wide, the aggressiveness of the defense overwhelming the offensive line allowed their edge-setters to force the play back inside.

So it's no mystery why Burkhead has replaced Michel in all three games. In fact, both Burkhead and White are skilled enough in both phases of the offense that they can be split wide, pulling a linebacker or safety to the perimeter, helping the offensive line, which is starting two backups and has little to no help from the tight end position without the retired Rob Gronkowski or Dwayne Allen.

But the best of both worlds rests in the hands of Harris, who is a hybrid of White and Burkhead.

Harris has been active for just one of three games this season, dressed and on the sideline against the Jets, but only so because White was excused from Sunday's game to witness the birth of his son - but Harris saw no action on offense.

That said, it's time for Harris, particularly given the fact that New England's receiver corps is also crippled by the injury bug, which may force White to play more of a wide receiver role just so Brady has a full complement of pass catchers to target.

The other part of this equation is Johnson.

In addition to being placed on the IR, Develin was given a designation to return, meaning that he could be taken off IR sometime in November - but that is a stretch for two reasons. First, neck injuries are weird. Nothing throws the fear of God into a football player quite like injuring a susceptible area, and with Develin's brute force attacking style, any collision carries the possibility of compression.

So teams are very careful when dealing with neck injuries. But secondly, the IR already carries starting left tackle Isaiah Wynn and rookie wideout N'Keal Harry - and since NFL rules prohibit more than two players returning from the injured list during the season, it forces Belichick to make a tough decision.

Wynn has to return. Nobody wants to see Marshall Newhouse protecting Brady's backside if there is another option in the wings - so that takes care of one spot. Harry's status is a little more muddled, but if injuries continue to pile up in the pass-catching corps, Harry becomes a priority to return, if he isn't already.

That leaves Develin out in the cold, which means Jakob Johnson for the rest of the season.

So James Develin is probably gone for the season, and Michel is bogged down by his lack of versatility. The Patriots may be able to get away with that scenario against the cupcakes that they play the first half of the season, but will need an effective running game to get past the border wall that they face in the second half...

...so there's no time like the present to get Harris and Johnson incorporated into the system, so that they can acclimate and gain the experience that will help the offense when the weather turns cold and running the ball is key.

#runthedamnball