Patriots On Cusp Of Rebuilding, Or Will Belichick Somehow Reload With Slim Cap?

Ah, that devil salary cap.

Have the New England Patriots reached a point that they are entering a rebuilding mode?

Not quite yet, as you are about to read, but with many contracts ready to expire in the next couple of years, there is an urgency to find depth that will be able to ascend to starting positions as natural turnover occurs among aging players.

One such instance involves quarterback Tom Brady, whose insistence on playing well into his 40's destroyed what seemed to be the perfect succession plan at the position, as the Patriots were forced to unload backup Jimmy Garoppolo at the trade deadline - and while Brady did indeed play some of the best ball of his career in 2017, he also has shown some wear and a propensity for starting games slowly, needing a build up to return to form.

Will the Patriots have the cap room to bring back Amendola?

This is not to say that Brady is finished, as even a 41-something gunslinger at 80% of his former self is still better than anything else the National Football League can offer up, but having to resort to dealing off an obviously talented heir to the Patriots' quarterback position puts the team in a spot that they had covered, but now must spend time, effort and draft capital to realize once again.

Another position with some ambiguity to it is at tight end, where Rob Gronkowski claims that he's considering retirement, reportedly to go into acting or signing a contract to join the WWE as a professional wrestler - or both.

Even the thought of doing so sends chills down the spine of the most ardent fan, as Gronkowski opting out of his contract would leave the Patriots with an impossible hole to fill at the position as well as leaving their salary cap crippled with a $4 million dead money hit.

Speaking of the salary cap, the current numbers reflect that New England has $13,712,155 in cap space which rolls over into 2018 and should be accompanied by an $8 million increase at the start of the league year in mid-March, which means that they are not necessarily in dire straights so far as cap space is concerned, but they will still have to be creative to field a roster that will be competitive.

The problem is that the Patriots have slowly become top heavy in their cap, with the top six contracts on the roster - consisting of Brady, Stephon Gilmore, Devin McCourty, Gronkowski, Dont'a Hightower and Brandin Cooks - accounting for over 41% of the total cap space available, and if that is extended out to the top ten contracts, it absorbs nearly 55% of the cap, meaning that in accordance with the rule of 51, only 45% of the available money goes to the other 41 players on the roster.

This is a huge departure from years past when Belichick was able to build rosters with more balance to them, giving him the ability to attract the mid-level free agents that populated championship team after championship team.

It isn't that way any longer, so now Belichick will be forced to depart with some of his veteran players at other positions, not just to be able to afford to bring in free agents, but to keep his own proven players who are set to enter free agency in March - players that include the likes of left tackle Nate Solder, wide receiver Danny Amendola and running back Dion Lewis.

Fortunately, Belichick has some contracts on the board that can come off in favor of cap space if need be:

Martellus Bennett: $6,187,500 cap number, no dead money penalty. Bennett's 2018 contract becomes guaranteed if New England picks up his $2 million option before the start of the league year, and when gauged with talk of his retirement to pursue other projects, that makes his release a no-brainer - unless, that is, Gronkowski is serious about his own retirement, then Bennett becomes more valuable to the team than his cap number indicates.

Dwayne Allen: $5,000,000 cap number, no dead money penalty. Allen was invisible as a receiving threat in 2017, as his value to the team came as an inline blocker - which is a skill set that is plentiful on the team already, as swing tackles Can Fleming and LaAdrian Waddle have proven to be adept additions to the line in cases where six linemen are needed.

Alan Branch: $4,550,000 cap number, $1 million dead money penalty. Branch's production declined precipitously in 2018 as he entered camp out of shape and drew the ire of Belichick on more than one occasion. His time missed due to disciplinary procedure left New England without an experienced run-stopper on the line, but the Patriots do have options in the form of Vincent Valentine and Adam Butler, the former of which progressed to starter quality during the 2017 season.

Shea McClellin: $3,183,334 cap number, $833,334 dead money penalty. The former first round draft pick of the Bears lent some impact in 2016, but spent all of 2017 on the IR with a concussion and the resultant post-concussion syndrome. With a serious history of concussions and missing a full season with a serious one, the Patriots may find themselves in a spot to move on from a young, promising linebacker.

David Harris: $2,750,000 cap number, $675,000 dead money penalty. Unless they want Harris as a sideline cheerleader and a locker room presence, he's most likely gone. He played sparingly as one of the most curious usages of free agent talent in quite a few years.

Mike Gillislee: $2,181,250 cap number, no dead money penalty. This one is tough to figure out, as Gillislee did very well in Buffalo as a complimentary piece to Shady McCoy, but didn't show the burst and yards after contact, nor the receiving skill, that Belichick requires of his backs. That said, his fate probably rests on what Belichick decides to do with pending free agents Dion Lewis and Rex Burkhead.

Phillip Dorsett: $1,544,373 cap Number, no dead money penalty. Dorsett was seldom used in the Patriots' part-time vertical scheme despite possessing deadly speed. He is an expendable contract with the likes of Cooks already on the roster and Julian Edelman slated to make his return.

Kenny Britt: $1,453,225 cap number, no dead money penalty. See above, Britt was brought in as insurance against Chris Hogan's protracted absence due to injury.

Jordan Richards: $1,180,947 cap number, $239,827 dead money penalty. If Belichick holds true to form, Richards' performance in the Super Bowl will be his last straw. He plays like a sluggish linebacker and has no feel or intuition for where the ball is going as a safety. Belichick got rid of Kyle Arrington under similar circumstances.

Assuming that the offseason sees these contracts come off the board, the Patriots would stand to gain just over $25 million in cap relief, which when married to their current cap rollover and the projected cap increase from the league of $8 million, the Patriots would have a grand total of nearly $47 million to work with in free agency.

Unfortunately, they have some contract situations that figure to chisel away at that number.

Most pressing would be the status of Solder, who has been protecting Brady's blindside for seven years, but with a sometimes erratic style that sees him stoning some of the best defensive ends in the game one week then getting jobbed by ordinary ends the next. Injuries and health issues have plagued him his entire career, which is probably why the Patriots spent third round draft capital on Troy's Antonio Garcia last season, but saw Garcia spend his entire rookie campaign on the non-football injury list with an unknown ailment.

Whether or not Garcia can return to full strength after losing a reported 40 pounds during his fight with whatever bug he contracted may be the deciding factor as to whether New England offers Solder a free agent contract - but with experienced left tackles being at a premium in the league, the Patriots are going to have a fight on their hands to retain him at a number that won't break the bank, as he should be able to rake in $12 million a year on the open market.

Lewis is another pressing contract. He reportedly wants $6 million per season over three years with at least $10 million guaranteed, but as has been written, Lewis' injury history reads like a Mary Shelley novel and he has but one full injury-free year on his resume. If other teams take that into consideration and offers him one-year "prove it" deals, it may play into New England's hands as they would most likely be willing to pony up a James White-style deal for $4 to $5 million a year with a guarantee for performance only.

Lastly, Danny Amendola has earned a spot on this roster, but at age 32 and with a history of both injury and discounted contract moves, the Patriot would likely only offer him a two-year deal worth around what is listed above for Lewis.

There are other circumstances to consider, mostly revolving around a talented 2015 rookie class coming up for extension beyond 2018, but those will be handled individually as this series continues.

But given the scenarios above with Solder, Lewis and Amendola being given respective contracts, that would lower the cap space that Belichck has to work with to around $30 million, with forethought to draft picks, which will eat up around $4 million this year, and priority to the aforementioned 2015 rookie class coming up for contracts, don't expect Belichick to dole out a lot of money in open free agency.

After all, he doesn't really have to, as his core of players came within a few bad play calls of winning a sixth Lombardi Trophy a few weeks ago - so it would be good business to take care of his own, make sure he has an impact draft and use free agency as a last resort.

With Free Agency And Draft Prospects Meager, Re-signing Lewis Essential To Keep Patriots' Offense Diverse

A sage friend recently pointed out to me that the Patriots have never won a Super Bowl without a big power running back - and he's right.

The beginning of the Patriots' dynasty saw general manager Bill Belichick employ 6' 2", 235 pound Antowain Smith as his lead back for his first two title winners and the the 6' 1", 230 pound Corey Dillon to complete the run of three championships in four years - and more recently, 6' 0", 250 pound LeGarrette Blount did the heavy lifting as New England took home two more trophies in the span of three seasons.

In between, the Patriots lost two Super Bowls to the New York Giants utilizing first the 5' 11", 210 pound Laurence Maroney and then undrafted free agent, 5' 10", 215 pound BenJarvis Green-Ellis, then just recently lost their fifth Super Bowl with 5' 8", 195 pound Dion Lewis toting the rock.

But that doesn't mean that New England should let let Lewis walk away in free agency - quite to the contrary, in fact.

Lewis is a triple threat on offense, and not just in the context of doing enough to make defenses account for him - rather - in the context of doing everything so well that the defenses have to game plan for him. It's a discernible difference that draws a line between being a serviceable by-committee back, which is what New England features in their high-flying offenses, and a true feed-bag lead back.

But Lewis' body of work is a relatively short sampling size and his injury history reads like a Mary Shelley novel, but when he is on the field he makes the Patriots a better team, so Belichick is going to have to weigh the good against the bad and try to explain things the way that they are to Lewis, who will probably find a couple of running back-needy teams willing to pay him exponentially more that the Patriots can or will.

In thirty games with New England, Lewis has averaged 4.8 yards per carry across 293 attempts, which adds up to 1,413 yards on the ground, most of the production coming last season when Lewis was healthy for all 16 games, the only time in his career that has been true, with Belichick easing him into action by playing him sparingly in the first four games of the season...

...then unleashing him on the league in week five. Including the playoffs Lewis had a premium stat line of 1,031 yards on just 213 carries, an average of 4.85 yards per carry - finishing the season tenth in yards, 17th in attempts and 5th in average.

But he finished the season ranked first in yards gained after contact (3.17), forced missed tackles (49) and in Defense-Adjusted Yards Above Replacement (271), as listed by our friends at Football Outsiders. DYAR is a simple statistic that speaks volumes as to a back's value to his team's offense by measuring how much total yardage would be missing from said offense if that back had to replaced due to injury or illness.

It's sort of like what the NFL MVP award is supposed to be about (but seldom is).

Lewis didn't just earn top dog on that list, he blew the other competitors right off the spreadsheet and earned Pro Football Focus' top elusive rating despite not logging any significant playing time until a quarter of the way through the season. All of these things factored in, the Patriots are better off paying a known quantity that already knows the system than letting him walk and initiating an unknown quantity.

Many will say that Belichick doesn't value running backs, but nothing could be farther from the truth. As a whole, Belichick values running backs far more than what would be typical around the league - but the more versatile the back is, the more Belichick values him.

Hell, look at the extension he gave James White last offseason - four years at $4 million per, plus signing and roster bonuses. That might not seem like much, but it's proper compensation for a good passing back who works primarily as a change-of-pace option. He gave Rex Burkhead $3.15 million on a "show me" deal and is still locked into Mike Gillislee for another season at slightly less than that, though he is probably finished in New England.

Burkhead could very well be an every down back, but he's also slated for free agency which leaves White and Gillislee as the backs on the roster at present, which doesn't bode well for the group in 2018 unless Lewis and/or Burkhead are re-signed.

The story that unsubstantiated rumors lathered all over the Boston media tell us, Lewis is seeking a three year deal at $18 million, with at least $10 million of that guaranteed - so with the Patriots' salary cap floating right near $14 million for 2018, chopping six million off of that would severely handicap them for signing any free agents at all, as approximately $4 million will also be eaten up by incoming draft picks.

There are several roads the Patriots can take to clear cap space if they need to - and it appears that they probably should - but that is for another time and another blog entry. What matters in the here and now is that if the Patriots allow Lewis to get away, it could end up costing them far more than just money.

Lewis is Rotoworld's second-ranked running back on the free agent market - behind only Pittsburgh's Le'Veon Bell - and could command a lot more than he's asking for, meaning that his rumored asking price is probably what he would consider a hometown discount for the Patriots, which would put him in Marshawn Lynch territory so far as average salary goes...

...which is slightly more than what impending Broncos' free agent C.J. Anderson makes on his current deal with Denver, who is looking to move on in an effort to free up some cap space.

Anderson is perhaps the best free agent fit for New England should Lewis move on, but the savings in salary is negligible and when you combine that with both the investment the Patriots have already made in Lewis and his intimate knowledge of the New England system, it just doesn't make sense to let the 27-year-old walk.

However, if he does leave, the Patriots do have options in the draft, but that too is a step down in that there is no way to know how quickly a rookie coming out of college will perform on the professional stage, and certainly he won't be counted on to produce numbers ever close to what Lewis has in his time in Foxborough.

The "can't miss" list of running backs that would satisfy my friend's desire for a bigger bell cow running back through the draft doesn't exist, as all of the top backs are more compact in build and are more elusive than powerful - even the top back in the draft, Penn State's Saquon Barkley, though Barkley is a rare talent but will never fall to the Patriots, who select at 31.

The drop off in talent between Barkley and the rest of the pack is fairly significant, but LSU's Derrius Guice is a frantic, duck-footed runner in the mold of Marshawn Lynch whose calling card is gaining yards after contact, but doesn't check the box on receiving out of the backfield and his blitz pickup isn't his strongest asset.

Pass protection isn't an issue for Georgia's Sony Michel, but has banana peels for hands and isn't reliable in the pattern. More Patriots-like prospects exist in the second day realm, featuring Auburn's Kerryon Johnson and San Diego State's Rashaad Penny.

Johnson checks all the boxes as far as skill set - including blitz pickup and soft hands in the pattern - but is a little lean at 6' 0" and 215 pounds and the experts are concerned that his linear frame and upright running style will impact his durability - while Penny would give New England everything that Johnson would, but with a more compact and burly frame and an explosion out of first contact to keep plays alive.

Penny should be available with New England's first pick in the second round, but perhaps not their original pick towards the end of the round - but that's where they would likely find bigger backs like Oregon's Royce Freeman, who might represent the best value in the draft so far as running back are concerned.

At 6' 0" and 234 pounds, Freeman is a hybrid of what New England likes from their backs. He is a powerful inside runner with good awareness of cutback lanes from playing behind a zone blocking scheme and was often too much for a safety or outside linebacker to bring down on the outside - he's decent in pass pro and is adept at the screen game and is a polished route runner to the flat.

Freeman is projected to be a third selection, though a good showing at the combine could put him on maps earlier in the second round. If there is a decent prospect in the later rounds or even in undrafted free agency, it comes in the form of the 6' 1", 230 pound running mate of Giuce's at LSU, Darrel Williams, who is a short-yardage and third down specialist who could give the Patriots options, particularly in the red zone.

So with the options in free agency and the draft not as overwhelming as one would hope, it makes sense to retain Lewis by whatever means necessary. Burkhead may be an option to take over Lewis' workload, but thus far in his Patriots' career has proven fragile. Clearly there are obstacles to overcome if the Patriots wish to have a productive running game...

...but the offense depends on the backs to handle the ball up to seventy percent of the time in any given game plan, they can't just leave things to chance - they must solidify the backfield or risk making the offense one-dimensional - which is never a good thing.

Running Game, Defense Dominate In Patriots' Punking Of Buffalo

The Buffalo Bills came into their week thirteen contest against the New England Patriots averaging four yards per carry on offense, and giving up 4.1 yards per carry on defense, while the Patriots came in averaging that same 4.1 yards per carry but yielding an NFL worst 4.9 yards per run...

...obviously, both teams expected to be able to run the ball and both expected to give up some runs on defense - and both teams did just that.

The difference between winning and losing fell on the shoulders of each team's quarterback play - and when Tom Brady is in that mix, one can pretty much guess how Sunday's matchup at New Era Field turned out for both sides, everything else being equal.

Dion Lewis ran for 92 yards on fifteen carries and Rex Burkhead chipped in 78 yards on 12 carries to pace the New England's ground attack while Shady McCoy ground out 93 yards on 15 carries and three Bills' quarterbacks logged another 68 yards on seven scrambles to counter the Patriots' runners...

...but after a slow start, Brady put up 258 yards on 22 completions - nine going to tight end Rob Gronkowski for 147 yards - as the Patriots pulled away from Buffalo in the second half for their eighth straight victory, a 23-3 final score leaving the Bills teetering on the edge of playoff relevancy and pushing New England closer to an inevitable division title.

Overall, the Patriots totaled 191 yards on 35 carries while the Bills backs romped for 183 yards on 26 carries - a virtual wash which left the game in the hands of Brady and Buffalo's Tyrod Taylor, which just isn't fair.

Taylor has perhaps the worst pass catching corps in the National Football League, which helps explain his 9 for 18 performance for just 65 yards - and even a quarterback change in the fourth quarter didn't help, as rookie Nathan Peterman fared even worse, going 6 for 15 for 50 yards, but leading a late drive that nearly resulted in points, were it not for former Bills' cornerback Stephon Gilmore putting in his best performance as a Patriot...

...perfectly playing the ball on three Peterman passes, two of which were lofts into the end zone that Gilmore knocked harmlessly to the ground. How bad was it for Buffalo's maligned pass catching corps? Their leading receiver on the day was rookie Zay Jones, who caught just two of seven targets, for a miserable 22 yards.

Brady, on the other hand, has one of the best stables of pass catchers in the league, even with wide receivers Julian Edelman and Chris Hogan on the shelf - but he had a tough time connecting with them on Sunday as Buffalo's two-deep zone proved to be a brick wall outside the numbers during the first half of the game, holding the sure first-ballot Hall of Famer to just eight of fourteen for 98 yards.

But the Patriots rectified that by going to Gronkowski, who came out of the room at halftime like a lobsterman off the Calendar Islands, snaring passes from Brady for fifty of the Patriots seventy yards on New England's first touchdown drive, which would have been even more had he not been called for a sketchy offensive pass interference early in the drive.

Burkhead finished off that drive with a short power shot to give New England a two-score lead, then got loose on the second level for a 14 yard score on the next possession, set up by a Gronkowski 30-yard 50-50 jump ball over Buffalo's TreDavious White on a play that epitomized the massive man-child's athletic superiority over any defender he squares off against...

...and which may have precipitated an ugly incident at the end of the game where White was grappling with Gronkowski in the pattern, then gave him a shove as the ball was in the air, intercepting the ball with ease - but then had his bell rung on a cheap shot by a frustrated Gronkowski who gave White his own rendition of a WWE-style elbow to his head while he was prone on the sidelines.

The incident left a black stain on what was otherwise an outstanding half of football for Gronkowski and has resulted in a one-game suspension, but it may bring into focus the constant mugging that Gronkowski has to endure from defensive backs and linebackers, which could ultimately change the way that referees officiate and give him a little more latitude in the pattern.

Then again, maybe not, but the fact remains that Gronkowski's momentary lack of discipline stemmed from the frustration of having to fight off defenders just to get his hands on the football. "I felt like he pushed me and made the play, I just didn't understand why there wasn't a flag." Gronkowski said after the game, adding, "it was a couple of times in the game, and they're calling me for the craziest stuff ever. And it's crazy, like, what am I supposed to do?"

Well, the first thing he needs to do is meet with the league commissioner on Tuesday morning to appeal his one-game suspension handed down by the NFL on Monday afternoon, and plead his case.

His frustration is understandable, if not tolerated, and it makes one wonder if there are different rules for different players - but don't say that to the Patriots' defenders, who had a banner day covering Buffalo's receivers and, with sack yardage deducted, held the Bills' passing game to a putrid 89 net yards...

...all while holding their eighth consecutive opponent to less than 17 points, the lone field goal surrendered dropping their points per game average during their winning streak to 11.8 and elevates them to a top ten scoring defense at the same time.

Not bad for a defense that started the year being pummeled in their first four games to the tune of 32 points per game, which has now dropped to a season-low mark of 18.5.

Stephon Gilmore earned high praise for his coverage, allowing just two catches over six targets and notching tow passes defended - but he wasn't alone in the encouraging play as combined with Malcolm Butler, Eric Rowe and Jonathan Jones, the Bills' quarterbacks were 6 of 17 for 56 yards and a dismal passer rating of 54.2...

...while New England's pass rushers abused the Bills' offensive line, getting to Taylor for four sacks, former Buffalo practice squader Eric Lee in on the action for a sack-and-a-half , logged four tackles and picked off Taylor in the red zone to squelch an early Bills' scoring opportunity - and to add insult to injury, former Buffalo defensive tackle Alan Branch drove his mirror into Taylor as he released that ball, leading to the errant throw that Lee gathered in.

Ah, teamwork. Bill Belichick calls it complementary football, and combined with another instance of excellent special teams play, the Patriots are nearing their pinnacle of execution for the season - meaning that what we see now is what we get for the remainder of the season.

And with the running game dominating, opening up the play action for the passing game and the defense playing out of their minds, this 2017 version of the New England Patriots look like they are primed for yet another deep run in the postseason - and they can wrap up a ninth consecutive division title - and their 15th out of 17 with Brady at the helm - with a win at Miami next Monday night...

Dion Lewis Is Football's Version of Hockey's "Little Ball Of Hate"

Dion Lewis runs angry.

How else to you describe how a running back with the stature of a standard garden gnome averages over five yards per carry against some of the most ferocious front sevens in professional football, and especially when most of his carries go right into the teeth of the defense?

At 5' 8" tall (which may be a generous altitude) and 195 pounds, Lewis may be small in stature, but is hardly as fragile as the aforementioned garden gnome - his injury history has all been non-contact - as he possesses a powerfully built lower body which aids him in breaking arm tackles, as evidenced by his performance against the Miami Dolphins last Sunday, when he ran right through the tall trees a season-high fifteen times for a career-high 112 yards.

Used sparingly in the first four games of the season while the Patriots gave newcomer Mike Gillislee every opportunity to take the lead back role for himself, Lewis has effectively supplanted the power runner from Buffalo, his video-game like elusiveness combined with powerful getaway sticks providing New England with 5.1 yards per carry in the past seven games as their lead back.

But his success goes beyond simple statistics.

The folks at Football Outsiders provide an insanely complicated formula for expressing the value of a running back to their team called Defense-Adjusted Yards Above Replacement (DYAR) that tells tale of what would happen to a team's carries and rushing yards should the player be absent, however that occurs - not from how his replacement would fare, but how the league average for replacement players hold up against the absent running back.

Madness, all of it, but it paints a picture that may shock football fans as Lewis is rated as the fourth-best "lead back" in the National Football League - trailing only the Saints' Mark Ingram, the Cowboys' Ezekiel Elliott and Chicago's Jordan Howard - as it is estimated that for the season, the Patriots would have lost nearly 15% of their ground yardage without Lewis.

That's some rarefied air, but it gets better.

The same folks that provide the formula for DYAR also generate a formula to measure the effectiveness of a back based on several variables - like success rate in the red zone, down and distance and quality of opponent - that they call Defensive-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA), again the average being the average of all NFL running backs...

...of which Lewis rates an astounding 29.5% above all of his peers, with Ingram and Tennessee's Derrick Henry coming in second and third, respectively, lagging more that ten percentage points behind.

So, what is behind these statistics that label Lewis the best runner in the game? Patriots' safety Devin McCourty thinks he knows. "Man, it's tough." McCourty exclaimed when asked how challenging it is to face Lewis in practices, "We try to get as many players as we can around him, but he runs with such confidence and and runs with anger."

"It's football, you know?" Lewis said of what provocates his attitude when running the ball. "Football is an emotional game. It's a physical game. You put your all into this, so of course you're going to get some chippiness, but it's part of the game."

Kind of sounds like hockey player there, doesn't he? And with his stature married with his anger, Lewis could be considered football's version of a "Little Ball of Hate" - and he's in the right area to carry that moniker, as the Boston Bruins' Brad Marchand carries that title on the ice.

So Lewis doesn't deny that he runs with anger, but that is to be expected from a guy who has always been the shortest guy on the team no matter where he's been, be it at Pitt in college or in Philadelphia, Cleveland or Foxborough in the pros - so he can be excused for letting a thing called the Napoleon Syndrome emote while carrying the football. Or blocking in pass protection. Or in the pattern, or even in the return game...

...there is no limit to how far a chip on the shoulder can take a guy, so long as he is disciplined in how he uses it and projects it. "My job is to protect the ball and to make plays" Lewis says, bypassing the self-promotion that one might hear elsewhere, adding, "That's my job in the offense and it's what I try to do every game. Just protect the ball and try to make plays when I get the opportunity."

And his opportunities have increased incrementally with each game during the Patriots seven-game winning streak, but is still only averaging 13 carries per game in that time period - the rest going to Rex Burkhead who, because of injury, doesn't have enough carries to qualify for the list - with passing back James White thrown into the mix every now and then.

But it is Lewis that makes the running game go, which makes the play action work, which helps keep quarterback Tom Brady upright, which gives the pass catchers time to break into their routes, which...well, you get the picture.

"It's a part of the running game to help us out with play action" gushed a naturally upbeat tight end Rob Gronkowksi after the win over Miami, "When you get open like that, it's set up previously. We were running the ball super good today."

The Patriots are a pass-first team - and why not, with Brady calling the shots? But Lewis and the other backs provide the type of balance that Brady needs to force the defense to defend the entire field - and when they are forced to do that, someone is going to be open or someone is going to have a running lane...

...but even if the lane is not there, Lewis can make his own, as his absurd 4.47 yards per carry after contact will attest, ranking him first in the NFL by a considerable margin.

But, what else would you expect from a guy who is football's version of the Little Ball of Hate?

Brady Playing His Best Ball As A Quadragenarian, But He's Not Doing It All By Himself

Clearly, Tom Brady has escorted all of us in to the surreal.

The New England Patriots' quarterback continued his Old Geezer Tour by not only throwing for four touchdowns, nor just leading his team to their seventh-straight victory, but is doing so playing perhaps the best football of his career, delivering a standard-brand, workman-like thrashing of his old rival Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon...

...in fact, the 35-17 victory at Gillette Stadium was unremarkable with the exception of the fact that for the first time in Brady's 17 seasons at the helm, the Patriots' offense is truly balanced - but not balanced in the way that one would logically expect, because in New England, balance on offense means something different than it does elsewhere.

Traditionally, balance on offense in football is measured by the difference between running plays and passing plays, and in that respect, the New England Patriots could be considered anything but balanced, as they are decidedly pass heavy - but to understand the Patriot Way as it refers to roster building and game planning, all one has to do is look at the way Brady and his cohorts undressed the Dolphins' defense.

The Patriots ran sixty-six plays on offense against Miami, totaling 423 yards of offensive production - with the backs accounting for 33 carries and six targets in the passing game, ending the day with sixty percent of the total touches and 181 yards between them, accounting for 43% of New England's total offense and two touchdowns...

...receiver Brandin Cooks and tight end Rob Gronkowski accounting the majority of the rest along with three of the scores - Gronkowski hauling in two short scoring passes in the left flat and Cooks taking a shuffle pass that looked more like a jet sweep and following the massive man-child into the end zone - not bad considering that names such as Edelman and, more recently, Hogan have been on the shelf.

And, why not? After all, the Patriots' offense is lead by the greatest quarterback that ever lived, who is enjoying a supporting cast of pass catchers that buys into the concept-based offense that requires them to run whatever route necessary from whatever position along the line of scrimmage - and that doesn't just apply to wide receivers, as the tight end depth chart and stable of running backs are held to the same standard.

The result is what we've been witnessing since Halloween, and that should be scaring the rest of the National Football League in a way that zombies, vampires and unicorns can't.

The balance that the Patriots are enjoying comes in the form of total touches. This season, the Patriots have run 743 plays on offense, and when breaking those down between designated receivers, tight ends and backs, the numbers confirm the tremendous balance that Brady is succeeding with.

Of those 743 plays, the Patriots' running backs have handled the ball on 412 of those snaps, which is a full 56%. The tight ends have handled the rock 105 times (14%), which leaves a meager 30% of the offensive snaps actually targeting the wide receivers. Of course, the total yardage is skewed as the backs are not going to be picking up yardage at the pace the speedy wideouts are going to...

...but thanks to the efforts of Dion Lewis and Rex Burkhead, the actual running game is now averaging a potent 4.1 yards per carry, which means that Brady can more forcefully sell the play action, which, in theory, gives him more time in the pocket to go through his progressions without being stomped like a grape.

Which happened against Miami anyway, as Brady took several nasty shots as he was releasing the ball, mostly because the Dolphins' pass rushers took advantage of backups playing at center and at right tackle, but as he dropped back to pass just 28 times - completing eighteen for 227 yards and four scores - they were able to limit the amount of abuse he was subjected to.

Contrarily, the left side of the offensive line has really stepped things up with Nate Solder and Joe Thuney limiting the pressure to Brady's blind side to just two hurries. After missing two weeks with altitude-related flu-like symptoms, regular center David Andrews is due back against Buffalo, leaving only the right tackle spot manned by depth.

And that's important to remember going forward. The quadragenarian is on the cusp on uncharted territory, and his vow to play until he's 45 would be a lot more tangible were he to not take beatings like the one he took on Sunday, even in moderation. That's where the Patriots' adaptation of balance comes into focus.

Brady is playing the best ball of his career in large part to head ball coach Bill Belichick surrounding him with the best, most diverse set of weapons he's had in his career, providing the best balance he's had to work with and behind a line that has taken a while to gel, but has surrendered "only" eleven sacks during the seven-game winning streak - a stark contrast to the 13 they gave up in the first four games of the season.

It also helps if the offense gets off to a fast start and plays with the lead.

During their current seven-game winning streak, the Patriots have scored first in five of those contests - not surprisingly, the ones they didn't pull the early lead in against New York and the Los Angeles Chargers were games that they struggled in - and have not trailed in a game since the Chargers took a seven-point lead on them in the first quarter of a game played a month ago.

Do the math, and you will find that New England has not trailed in a game in what amounts to 225 minutes and counting - which means that the since New England came off of their week nine bye, they have posted three consecutive blowouts, outscoring the Broncos, Raiders and Dolphins by a combined 109-41, and 65-19 in the first half.

Of course, not all of that came from the effort of the offense, as the Patriots' defense has also figured into the balance equation by not only holding teams to just 12 points per game during their winning streak, but in doing so in tandem with superior special teams play that satisfies Belichick's insistence on complementary football.

But that is for another piece at another time.

Right now, we are celebrating the fact that Brady has broken a record that has been held since Warren Moon threw for 25 touchdowns in 1997, and equaled by Brett Favre in 2009, his 26 touchdown passes the most ever thrown by a 40 year old quarterback - a number that is sure to grow since the scoring strikes by Moon and Favre came in full 16-game seasons, while Brady has five games yet to play...

...and while that record is merely an incident of incongruous juxtapositions among a very limited field of athletes, it nevertheless conjures yet another example of why Brady is the greatest quarterback that ever played the game, and has now become the gold standard of passers playing into their forties.

Brady is at the point in his career that he is going to be breaking records virtually every time that he takes a snap from center - lost in all of this, however, is that it takes skill of the players surrounding him to do their jobs and a constant array of individual game-planning to put Brady in position to do all of these wonderful things.

It is a team effort, after all, and football is a team game. There is zero doubt, however, even among his most ardent critics that Brady is the greatest of all time and that the Patriots likely would not have enjoyed their current dynastic run of success were he not under center - so that wisdom cuts both ways.

Let's just say that Brady and his teammates play complementary football, and leave it at that.

Patriots Ride Opportunistic Defense, Vertical Offense To Hammer Raiders

The New England Patriots are averaging a far and way league-high twenty-five first downs per game, which is testament to their move-the-chains, small-ball philosophy that has helped them win five Super Bowls in the Bill Belichick era.

On Sunday afternoon against the Oakland Raiders, the Patriots offense matched their season average in first downs. In every other way that counts, they were decidedly above average.

Quarterback Tom Brady threw for 339 yards and three touchdowns and the New England defense continued their renaissance tour with another strong outing as the Patriots collectively took the Oakland Raiders behind the woodshed for a nationally televised stomping before a bi-partisan crowd in Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, the 33-8 final score telling the entire story.

Well, almost.

The performance was classic Patriots: Brady shuffling around in the pocket to avoid pressure before finding his third or fourth read, running back Dion Lewis leading the team in touches and breaking ankles, and the defense giving up yard after yard after yard, but always making a play to deny their opponent in the red zone.

In fact, the New England defense solidified their spot among the top scoring defenses in the league, their 12.3 points per game average over the Patriots' six -game winning streak being the best mark in the National Football league over that time, legitimizing an amazing turnaround from the first four games of the season when they were the worst scoring defense in the league...

...while also lending credence to the apparent fact that the offense has rediscovered their scoring touch, topping thirty points for the second week in a row after entering their bye week on a four-game skid in which they averaged just 21 points per game.

Brady and the offense have been next to impossible to stop since the break, following up a win over their arch-nemesis Denver Broncos in which they scored on seven of ten possessions by scoring on seven of nine possessions against the Raiders, balancing their mode of operations between the aforementioned move-the-chains, traditionally methodical scheme and a suddenly potent quick-strike, vertical attack.

Both were on full display against the hapless Raiders' defense on Sunday.

Brady took his time in the leading the Patriots down the field for a touchdown on their first possession of the game, a 15-play, 87-yard job that took up half of the first quarter and sucked the will right out of the Oakland defense, then channeled his inner Daryl Lamonica "mad bomber" mode in connecting with Brandin Cooks for 52 yards to set up a second quarter score...

...following that up with a perfect 64-yard strike to Cooks to start the third quarter, this time the speed merchant easily outrunning double coverage to paydirt, effectively putting the game out of reach with nearly a full half of football left to play.

On the day, Cooks caught six balls for 149 yards and the touchdown for his best statistical day as a Patriot while Lewis handled the heavy lifting, running right into the heart of the Raiders' front seven for six yards a pop while also snagging four balls in the pattern for another twenty-eight.

Kicker Stephen Gostkowski even got in on the long-range, high-wire act by nailing a 62-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, breaking his own franchise record of 58 yards, then adding kicks of 51, 40 and 29 to slowly bury the Raiders.

Lewis and receiver Danny Amendola also caught scoring passes from Brady, Lewis taking a ball in the right flat and pirouetting to the inside and juking through heavy traffic for the first score of the game while Amendola got loose at the back of the end zone for the second score of the game.

Conversely, Oakland's Derek Carr suffered through a miserable afternoon of watching his throws bounce off of his receivers like so many pinballs, completing just 28 of his 49 offerings for 237 yards, the fourth straight game in which the Patriots' defense has held the opposing quarterback under 300 passing yards.

The one down side to the defense's day was their continued sieve-like run defense, as Marshawn Lynch rumbled for almost seven-yards per carry before Oakland fell behind by three scores and was forced to abandon the running game and turn to the unpredictable passing game to try and catch up in a hurry - and they did manage to move the ball, but drops, a Duron Harmon interception and a Marquis Flowers forced fumble ended each drive...

...only a sole garbage-time touchdown saving the Raiders from being shutout. In fact, if one were to eliminate the garbage-time scores against the Patriots' defense during the team's six-game winning streak, they would find that New England has yielded just eight points per game with the contest still in doubt.

That, combined with Brady's mastery of the offense has New England sitting pretty at 8-2, tied for the best record in the conference and extending their lead in the AFC East to three games over their fading division rivals - and while five of their last six games of the season come against division foes, including two a piece against both Buffalo and Miami, the Patriots seem destined for their ninth consecutive division title and are favorites to play in their seventh straight conference title game.

Patriots Rounding Into Form; Special Teams Literally Special In Punking Of Broncos In Denver

The Denver Broncos should have known from the very start that they were in for a long night.

Well, from almost the very start - because, you see, the Broncos' defense started the game exactly as their fans (and, sadly, New England Patriots' fans as well) have come to expect and count on, forcing the visiting Patriots into a three-and-out on their first possession and into a punting situation just a minute-and-a-half into their nationally televised showdown in Denver.

Dion Lewis evades tacklers on his way to a kick return for touchdown

But from the point that the football left the foot of Patriots' punter Ryan Allen, the Broncos fortunes plummeted into the toilet, finding yet another creative way to victimize themselves and their fans, sinking further into the abyss of football despair by dropping their fifth straight game, a 41-16 thrashing at the hands of their arch-nemesis.

When Allen's punt reached it's nadir and spiraled down 46 yards later, Broncos' return man Isaiah McKenzie let it slip between his hands and to the turf, Patriots' gunner Jonathan Jones taking him out of the play and trailer Jacob Hollister falling cleanly on the ball to give the ball right back to Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady on the Denver 24 yard line...

...Brady finding running back Rex Burkhead twice in the pattern, the second throw covering the final 14 yards to paydirt and an early lead the Patriots would never relinquish.

New England head ball coach Bill Belichick employs an inordinate number of players on his roster who play primarily on special teams, Jones and Hollister among them, and who make the wholly ignored phase of the game a vital bridge between the offense and defense - often choosing to go against conventional wisdom in order to gain an advantage over every team he faces.

On Sunday night, that advantage came in the form of a dagger.

Leading by seven after the gift from his special teams - and after the Patriots defense did what they always do, giving up almost every inch there is between the twenties then shutting down the Broncos' offense to force them to settle for a field goal - Denver kicker Brandon McManus sent the subsequent kickoff three yards deep into the Patriots end zone...

...fifteen seconds and 103 yards later, Dion Lewis was celebrating with his teammates in the Broncos' end zone after skirting the home team's sideline and dodging weak efforts to shove him out of bounds, the second of three impact special teams plays giving the Patriots a 14-3 lead.

The third special teams standout effort came via a blocked punt four minutes into the second quarter, courtesy of running back Rex Burkhead who exploded between two Broncos blockers like he was shot out of a canon and easily got to Denver punter Riley Dixon, who fell on the ball at the Denver thirty, preventing a gaggle of Patriot rushers from picking up the ball and running it into the end zone.

As it was, the Patriots turned that gaffe into a Stephen Gostkowski field goal, essentially putting the game out of reach.

But the Patriots were far from finished putting points on the board, as tight end Dwayne Allen hauled in a tough grab for his first catch and first touchdown in New England, followed by Lewis displaying his super-human strength in dragging two Broncos into the end zone from seven yards out, culminating with fellow running back James White getting in on the fun, catching a quick out from Brady that left his mirror frozen on the turf.

Denver's offense pretty much had their way with New England's defense between the twenties in the first half, but drives of 58, 64 and 63 yards stalled short of paydirt, forcing the Broncos to settle for three McManus field goals - but quarterback Brock Osweiler led the Broncos down the field on their first possession of the second half, hitting receiver Demaryius Thomas from seven yards out to give Denver a brief spark of hope...

...though that lasted all of three-and-a-half minutes as Brady responded with a big play drive, hitting both Brandin Cooks and Rob Gronkowski with 25 yard heaters to get New England into Denver's red area, then handed the ball to Lewis three straight times to end any hope Denver had of climbing back into the game.

Brady was an ever-efficient 25 of 34 for 266 yards and three scores as his offensive line - despite missing regular right tackle Marcus Cannon - kept him upright nearly the entire game, allowing just one sack on a safety blitz that White matador'd on. In fact, the Broncos' vaunted pass rush got close just a handful of times, under pressure just six times all evening...

...and Brady, as he usually does, made the Broncos pay for generating extra pressure, completing all six throws for 89 yards and the touchdown to Allen for a perfect rating of 158.3.

Despite having just three outside-the-numbers receivers healthy, Brady targeted Cooks, Phillip Dorsett and Danny Amendola on exactly half of his throws, completing 12 of those 17 passes for 126 yards and completing 13 of 17 to his backs and tight ends for 140 yards and all three scores. Cooks led all Patriots pass catchers with six catches on 11 targets, most of them with Denver corner Chris Harris hanging all over him.

Gronkowski led the tight ends with four, first down-producing grabs while the newly-reacquired Martellus Bennett snagged three passes in playing just five snaps. Burkhead and White split the six targets that went to the backs.

Osweiler was 18 of 33 for 221 yards with the touchdown to Thomas and an interception by Patriots' safety Patrick Chung, who had his best game of the season, allowing three catches on four targets for just 14 yards. Most of the damage that Denver did on offense came via Osweiler targeting  receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who caught six of eleven targets for a game-high 137 yards, all but 23 of those yards coming against Patriots' corner Malcolm Butler, who Sanders screwed into the ground repeatedly while running some nifty patterns.

Thomas' touchdown catch and a defensive holding call were the only sore spots on the resume of cornerback Stephon Gilmore, who returned to action after a three week hiatus on the shelf to essentially lock down the 6' 3", 230 pounder to just 44 yards on five catches.

Denver's ground game proved potent, particularly with C.J. Anderson toting the rock for 5.4 yards per shot, but the Broncos were forced to abandon their running game as they fell behind by three scores and went to the air.

Overall, it was a solid effort from a Patriots' team that is starting to round into form and looking every bit the contender they were expected to be after a rocky start to the season, having now won five straight and in a deadlock with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the best record in the conference.

The Patriots will remain in Colorado for the bulk of this week before heading south of the border to take on the Oakland Raiders in Mexico City this coming Sunday.

Patriots' Lack Of Outside-The-Numbers Receivers A Concern Against Broncos' "No Fly Zone"

The New England Patriots are at a distinct disadvantage going into their matchup with the Broncos in Denver on Sunday night, and until this past Thursday afternoon, it was something that they could do little about.

The Denver Broncos, as usual, sport one of the best defensive units in the National Football League, ranking fourth in the league in pass defense and are fifth against the run - and when one adds in the fact that the Patriots have traditional had a difficult time generating offense in the Mile High City, all of the signs point to a stagnation of what is a potential juggernaut.

Adding to the Patriots' woes is the fact that they have only two wide receivers that are fully healthy and just three that are going to suit up for the game, a circumstance that plays right into the strength of the Broncos' defense: their secondary.

Known as the "No-Fly Zone", Denver's secondary has given Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady a rough go in the recent past, holding the greatest of all time to 177 passing yards in their last encounter, a hard-fought 16-3 Patriots victory last season - and that was with Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell in the lineup, three cats that won't be in uniform on Sunday night.

What they do have, however, may be enough to keep the Broncos' secondary busy, but in a different way.

That is mainly because one pass catcher who did miss that last contest and that will be dressed and ready for this year's battle is tight end Rob Gronkowski, who can change the complexion of a game single-handedly - and when combined with recently reacquired tight end Martellus Bennett, they give the Patriots a way to put stress on Denver's safeties and linebackers in manner that they weren't able to last season.

Bennett actually played in that game in Denver, but like everyone else not named Edelman, he struggled to get open, catching just two balls for 35 yards - though his real impact came in the running game, as his powerful pulling and blocking helped running back Dion Lewis pick up 5.3 yards per carry as the sole difference maker on the stat sheet.

That win actually seems like a precursor to what is going on with the Patriots' offense in the last four games of this season, red zone struggles leading to leaving points on the field, New England settling for field goals instead of scoring touchdowns - but things should be a little different this time around, especially if Bennett, who made the trip to Denver with the team and is a game-time decision, suits up and plays.

How effective he would be remains to be seen, but there should be a sense of optimism with Patriots' fans in regard to his readiness to play, as he is coming off three-weeks of R&R and has likely retained the Patriots' offensive playbook with intimate clarity - but if he doesn't play, New England is up against it against the Broncos' pass defense, as they will likely load up the pass rush and come after Brady with gusto.

And why not? The only healthy receivers on the depth chart are speedy vertical targets in Brandin Cooks and the seldom targeted Phillip Dorsett, and slot man Danny Amendola is going to try and play through a bum knee. Gronkowski is the only tight end worth note, and the lack of outside-the-numbers targets for New England could help the Broncos keep him penned up with linebacker-safety double teams...

...while the potent Denver pass rush could be compounded by rogue blitzers that could negate any potential contribution from the Patriots' backs, forcing them to remain in the pocket to help protect Brady.

Either way, there is no easy solution to what the Broncos are on defense, which is built in such a way that they can stop the run (second in the NFL by allowing just 3.4 yards per carry) and force the ball to the air, and with New England being so short outside of the numbers, that could make for a long evening - and don't be fooled by the fact that they are ranked 25th in the league in scoring defense, as their ranking has fallen precipitously by their injury-driven collapse in the past two games.

They gave up 29 points to a potent Chiefs offense two weeks ago and the Eagles offensive juggernaut hung a fifty-burger on them last week, but those teams are far healthier on offense than the Patriots are now, plus New England's well-known struggles in the red zone may very well come into play. The only solution is for New England to grind it out with the run, move the chains and take well-timed shots downfield.

The Patriots' defense and special teams play a major role in this scenario, as the way to beat any team in the National Football League is to make it as difficult as possible for the opposing offense to reach paydirt.

In the last four games, punter Ryan Allen, kicker Stephen Gostkowski and the New England coverage teams have managed to flip field position on their opponents with regularity, ranking second in the NFL in opponent's starting position, which forces the opposing offense to have to go further to get into scoring position - which is a good thing, since the defense has been giving up nearly forty yards per drive.

Of course, the Broncos' offense has been a middle-of-the-pack entity all season, but have taken a nose dive in the past four games - all four of them recorded as losses - failing to break the 200 passing yards plateau and being held short of seventy yards rushing in three of those games, and averaging a minute 13 points per game...

...which is almost exactly what the Patriots' defense has given up in that time span (12.5), though Denver can take solace in the fact that New England remains last in the league in total yardage surrendered, and that Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia has been holding his secondary together with duct tape and prayers.

They are dead last in total defense, in passing yards yielded and in yards per carry in the running game - which is mitigated to a large degree by the fact that New England stiffens the deeper the opponent gets into their territory, ranking fifth in the league in red zone defense - a stat line that justifies their bend-but-don't-break philosophy.

So what does all of this mean?

Absolutely nothing, as when these two teams get together it always seems to turn into a barn-burner, an instant classic with plenty of defense and usually the team that has the football last tends to win the game - but if the Patriots can somehow find a way to run the ball on offense and stop the run on defense, as tall task either way, they could cruise to an easy win...

...but if not, they could struggle mightily and turn a simple sweep and clear of a downward-trending Broncos team into a street fight that comes down to the last possession.

New England Patriots Midseason Forum - Part 3: Lewis Goes From "Bridge" To "Destination" For Patriots' Running Game

Finally, Dion Lewis is being used for what he is.

To be fair, no team that he has been with on the professional level has been able to take full advantage of his natural skill set, which falls in line with what is known in football as a "lead" back, a running back that can run into a vortex of very large humans twenty-plus times per game to make the opposition respect the running game.

That's what the diminutive Lewis did in college at the University of Pittsburgh, where he broke the freshman rushing record held by a guy named Tony Dorsett in 2009 and was named Big East Freshman of the Year and second-team All-American, plus was referred to by the Sporting News as the "most complete runner" in college football...

...then after a sophomore year in which his rushing yardage decreased but he still managed to keep his average per carry up in the stratosphere, Lewis declared himself for the NFL Draft, thinking that his work at Pitt would lead to an explosive NFL career.

But the Philadelphia Eagles buried him on their deep bench after selecting him in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, rushing just 36 times and catching three balls in two years, which goes to figure since the Eagles top two runners were All Pro LeSean McCoy and dynamic quarterback Michael Vick - but despite the low number of touches for Lewis, Cleveland General Manager Mike Lombardi knew enough of Lewis to trade for him before the 2013 season.

"He was the best back on the team" Lombardi said of Lewis during the Browns' training camp, "We brought him in to be our lead back." But before Lewis could officially take the reigns from eventual-bust Trent Richardson, he broke his fibula in a preseason game.

Lewis was out of football when Lombardi left and the Browns cut him in the 2014 preseason and after a brief stint on the Indianapolis Colts practice squad, reappearing on the football radar when Lombardi landed in New England as an advisor to head ball coach Bill Belichick, Lombardi suggesting to Belichick that he needed Lewis to complete his backfield.

Lewis and his agent, RJ Rickert, pondered futures contact offers from both the Patriots and Giants at the end of the 2014 season, eventually choosing New England because as Rickart put it, "The Patriots find a role for guys. They define a clear role."

His role, as it turned out was to provide a bridge between bruising power back LeGarrette Blount and rookie runner James White - because his skill set provided the best of both in one compact package.

When Blount was in the game, chances were very good that the Patriots would be running the ball, and with White in the game, the chances were excellent that New England was going to throw the ball - Lewis provided both power running between the tackles and ankle shredding linebackers in the passing game.

With Lewis in the game, the Patriots' offense was more dynamic and forced the opposition to defend the entire field, having to respect his running pedigree as well as his skill and elusiveness in the open field in the passing game - but a torn ACL against the Washington Redskins ruined his season midway through it, and a setback in his recovery doomed his 2016 campaign, though he did end up contributing when all was said and done.

But his injury opened the door for White to display his wares, and all White did with that opportunity was to become one of the best passing backs in the league as it stands today, and come within a whisker on quarterback Tom Brady's unshorn face of becoming the Super Bowl 51 Most Valuable Player.

Blount is gone - which is unfortunate, as Lewis is healthy once again and could provide the same bridge as he did in 2015 - replaced by former Buffalo Bills' runner Mike Gillislee, who has faded into the background in trying to replace what Blount did with the team, so Lewis has taken over the lead back role, a role he was born to fill.

Used sparingly to start the season as it was rumored that Belichick wanted to limit his exposure and ease him into the lineup slowly, Lewis has seen his ground touches increase incrementally the past four games, and is poised to take over twenty-plus carries per game.

Lewis has responded by posting a 4.9 yards per carry average in that time frame on 46 carries, and is averaging 4.7 yards per carry on the season - but hasn't been called on in the passing game as much, though his prowess in the open flat still forces teams to defend the field horizontally. The passing game touches have instead gone to White, who leads the team in receptions.

But despite his heroics in the Super Bowl and obvious skill in running the ball, White has been excluded from the ground game, where he still has posted an impressive 4.7 yards per carry in the second quarter of the season, mostly on trap draws with Brady in the shotgun.

Taking some of his snaps for the past couple of games has been Rex Burkhead, who returned from injury just before the rematch with the Atlanta Falcons and has run for 4.6 yards per carry and has caught eight balls for 80 yards in the two contests since.

All combined, these three backs have run for 479 yards in just 107 carries in the past four games for 4.5 yards per carry average, and even though Gillislee has seen his role reduced to the team's part-time four-minute back, he has run for nearly four-yards per carry in the same time frame - so the stable of running backs is producing and their individual roles are starting to come into focus...

...yet the pass-to-run ratio for the offense is heavily in favor of the passing game - 61% to 39% - and there seems to be no rhyme nor reason for such a disparity, it just is.

Which is neither here nor there, as that particular statistic is deceiving since New England's running backs account for half of the overall touches on offense and it has been a long-standing tactic of Belichick's to use the short passing game as an extension of the running game. But it's tough to get past the fact that Brady is taking a beating when he drops back to pass, because the lack of touches in the actual ground game isn't lending itself to the play action...

...and since these backs are all required for blitz pickup when needed, a defense with a good pass rush can eliminate the running backs' effectiveness in the passing game by forcing them to stay in the pocket to protect Brady.

That is how the Chiefs, Texans and Panthers managed to limit the backs' ability and availability in the passing game, by flooding the backfield with excellent pass rushers coupled with well-timed blitzes - and the only way to take that advantage back is by making their opponent respect the run which forces them into a heavy box and initializes the play action.

Brady is the master at the play action, and when the running game is going well, the play action causes a split-second pause in the pass rush, which allows the offensive linemen to anchor themselves against the bull rush and to set their edge against the speed rush, which in turn gives Brady that extra split second to survey the field to find a receiver that he otherwise wouldn't have had time to see.

It's a domino effect for sure, and one that breaks down if a team - any team - cannot or does not use their running game to it's full advantage, since everything in football begins and ends with the running game.

The Patriots are on a four-game winning streak - and while winning is all that matters and New England has won in previous seasons with a large void between their passing and ground games, in the here and now these Patriots are doing it with smoke and mirrors, but the magic act is exposed the closer they get to the end zone as the field shrinks and the opposing defenders can use boundaries to hem in the New England pass catchers.

Not only that, but also since the field shrinks the closer an offense gets to the end zone, defenders can get creative and exotic in their fronts to limit the running game as well. That said and true, it is in the red area where the Patriots need the aforementioned effect that the running game provides. This is not to say that New England doesn't run the ball in the red zone, just that if they want it to work so close to the end zone, they need to incorporate it more while driving down the field.

New England Patriots Midseason Forum - Part 2: Passing Game Revisiting 2015, But Has The Tools To Overcome Issues

When is the last time you saw a running back leading the New England Patriots offense in receptions?

The answer to that is 1977, when fullback Sam Cunningham caught 42 balls out of the backfield on a 9-5 team that missed the playoffs, barely eclipsing wide receiver Darryl Stingley for the team lead - and it makes sense, given that the play calling was run heavy by design, as it was a year before the NFL made rule changes that benefited the passing game to the point that it changed the face of the league.

Cunningham also eclipsed the thousand-yard plateau on the ground. But the thing is, back then running backs were expected to be heavily involved in the passing game, as it was far easier for a back to run a delayed pattern out of the backfield than it was for wide receivers and even tight ends to fight their way through cornerbacks and linebackers who could lay heavy contact on them without much notice from the referees.

Now, one could argue that it is far easier for receivers to break off the line and into their patterns, as corners, linebackers and safeties draw flags from the officials if they look at the receiver in the wrong tone past five yards down the field - not to mention that we see offensive pass interference calls at an alarming rate, congruent to those called on defenders.

For example, it seems that a game doesn't become official until tight end Rob Gronkowski is called for pass interference, and pick plays that used to be called rub routes before the wimpification of the National Football League often result in big plays being nullified.

In 1977, it was a fist fight between a receiver and a cornerback to gain separation, while today it's a dance contest and God help you if you touch a player on the opposing team more than five yards down the field - so there is significant risk in targeting receivers down the field...

...but it seems particularly risky for Patriots' receivers because when they lost Julian Edelman to a knee injury, they lost a throwback type player who wasn't afraid to mix it up and gained separation by being tougher than the defender.

That is one of the reasons for the recent trend in the league to bring draft and develop bigger receivers who can be more physical with cornerbacks, but even then when a ball falls incomplete, more often than not we will see a receiver do a fancy pirouette with his arms extended and palms facing towards the sky, barking at the officials because the defender make contact with him, no matter how significant the contact is.

The truth is the rules in the NFL, well-meaning as they are in trying to protect players from head injury while attempting to make the game faster and more exciting for the fans, have actually made the game slower and, honestly, more frustrating to watch - and it has gotten to the point that we will look to the bottom of our TV screens to make sure a yellow box with the word "flag" hasn't appeared to impact the play.

But while the rules have turned each passing play into an episode of Dancing With The Stars, many teams have mitigated that effect by turning to their running backs to compensate.

The Patriots have a deeper problem than a perceived lack of toughness, however.

Edelman is considered one of the toughest covers in the league, and his absence only serves to confirm that, as the Patriots' offense has struggled more and more as the season wears on and opposing defensive coordinators are seeing more and more film on what the Patriots have left in their outside arsenal.

Chris Hogan and Danny Amendola define toughness in their playing style, yet they lack the quick twitch / explosiveness combination to immediately separate in their routes the way Edelman does. Brandin Cooks and Phillip Dorsett have speed to burn, and play their best ball outside the numbers where their speed can compensate for their lack of physicality...

...while tight end Rob Gronkowski suffers from constant double teams and sometimes labors to get open while being mugged downfield - all of this assuming Brady has enough time to go through his progressions.

So what they have is not as important as what they don't have, which is Edelman's ability to gain immediate separation in his routes and provide quarterback Tom Brady the option to target Edelman on the "bang-bang" play that enabled Brady to get rid of the ball more quickly than anyone else in the league - and even more crucial than that is that the defense can concentrate more on the intermediate zone and make Brady hold the ball longer.

The same phenomenon occurred midway through 2015 when Edelman was lost for seven weeks with a broken bone in his foot. In those games, which covered the final seven of the regular season, the passing yards dipped by 90 yards per game and Brady took a nasty beating, but what really sent the offense into a tailspin from which they never recovered, was the loss of LeGarrette Blount with four games left to play.

Without the running game to have to defend, New England's opponents were able to concentrate solely on defending the passing game, which produced less than 200 yards per game. The Patriots were resilient enough to salvage two wins in that span, but with no running game in the playoffs, their defense carried them to the AFC Championship game and nearly to the Super Bowl.

The thing that prevented them from going to the Super Bowl? A lack of trust in the offense that caused curious play calling, going for it on fourth down deep in Denver Broncos' territory instead of kicking field goals late in the game, as Belichick admitted afterwards that he was trying to take the pressure off of his offense by going all four downs, not trusting that they had the gumption or the time to get down in the red area again to score any more points.

But in those games, Belichick and Brady didn't have a Cooks or a Hogan or a Lewis, nor a running game - all they had was a hobbled Amendola and an equally limited Gronkowski along with a recently activated Edelman and some street-signings, and ended up losing by two points.

It was during this stretch that Brady started targeting White, who has since turned into a major weapon in the passing game, last season breaking Kevin Faulk's team record for receptions and turned in a performance for the ages in the Super Bowl...

...a trend that has continued to flourish in 2017 as White is on pace for unprecedented numbers as the safety valve that Brady is missing in Edelman, with his target and reception numbers nearing what Edelman's have been, while the rest of the group are all languishing in mediocrity compared to their past production.

This is not to say that the effort is not there, just that the way the receiving corps is constructed limits their effectiveness, particularly in the red zone, when their skill sets married with coordinator Josh McDaniels' curious non-usage of what has to be one of the best running back situations in the league has led to meager point outputs in the last four games.

So the Patriots are more or less revisiting the 2015 season on offense, but with better personnel to work through losing Edelman with, and a great set of running backs that could take a lot of the heat off of Brady and the receivers if Belichick and McDaniels would just use them in the running game, which has been limited to just 39% of the offensive snaps this season.

Sadly, they haven't learned that lesson from two years ago, but Belichick is taking field goals when he has the chance to do so, and in doing so has been able to scratch out four consecutive wins - ugly wins, but victories nevertheless.

They have the tools and the talent to overcome their lack of quick-twitch ability in the pattern, and have four running backs who are versatile enough to take over some of Edelman's function, particularly White and Lewis, though a healthy Rex Burkhead may be they key to getting this passing game back on track, as he helps form an imposing trio of passing backs that could well start forcing defense to defend the entire field.

That would open up the intermediate zones enough to help Cooks, Amendola and Dorsett more of a factor down the field and also open up the seam for Gronkowski...

Patriots' Running backs Taking Over Despite Lack Of Ground Work

At the midway point of the 2017 season, the New England Patriots have a logjam among their pass catchers, with four players within three receptions of each other - but the receiver that has distinguished himself as the go-to player in the absence of Julien Edelman is not a receiver at all.

Running Back James White has caught 43 balls on the season, twelve more than Danny Amendola, ten more than both Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan and nine more than Rob Gronkowski, and is on pace to obliterate every existing team record for a running back in the passing game - not only that, but his total is good for a seventh-place tie atop the NFL...

...tied with Detroit wide receiver Golden Tate and Philadelphia tight end Zach Ertz, and just six behind Carolina rookie Christian McCaffrey for the most catches by a running back.

There is reason to believe that White would be on this pace regardless of Edelman's season-ending knee injury in the preseason, as in 2016 he grasped quarterback Tom Brady's trust with a season for the ages, breaking Kevin Faulk's team records for receptions and receiving yards in a season, then stamped his name in football lore with an MVP-worthy performance in the Super Bowl.

If White stayed on this current course, he would catch 86 balls for 730 yards and a couple of touchdowns, and should also contribute in the running game with 56 carries for 240 yards and a 4.3 yards per carry average.

In that light, the running back corps are naturally the most dynamic of all of the skill positions on offense, and have collectively handled the football in exactly half of the Patriots snaps this season - yet there is a disparity in plays called between the passing game and the running game, something that head ball coach Bill Belichick lamented in his weekly conference call following his team's win over the Los Angeles Chargers.

"We've got to do a better job of running the ball, period." the Dark Master emphasized, sternly. "That's coaching the running game, designing the running game, blocking the running game, running the ball and other things associated with it."

Belichick  paused for dramatic effect, then offered, "We need to have more production than what we had yesterday or, I'd say, what we had overall over a period of time. We need to get more out of it."

Belichick's lengthy monologue was in response to a question about how teams defend the Patriots offense by dropping a strong safety into the box 90% of the time, specifically mentioning that teams routinely put a player in the six-technique over the tight end while everyone else is in a one-gap, gap-control alignment, which puts the running game at a disadvantage...

...which shows the respect that the opposition has for the Patriots' backs, an alignment that limits the backs in the ground game to four yards per carry on the season.

Which isn't bad, but certainly not elite - and that's not what the Patriots are about anyway.  Routinely, the short passing game has been used in New England as an extension of the running game, which would account for the aforementioned 50-50 split in touches between the passing game and the running game, and if one looks at these numbers from that angle, the Patriots' offense features tremendous balance.

The problem with taking that angle, however, is that it masks the fact that the offense is pass-heavy, which causes the opposing defenses to load up the box with a strong safety at the six-technique to harass Gronkowski while the designated pass rushers go full-throttle after Brady, who doesn't necessarily have the play action to fall back on simply because the defense doesn't respect the run.

Yet some reporters queried Belichick on the "extended" usage of the running game against the Chargers, and what made him stick with the run even though it was clearly not working against one of the worst run defenses in the league, even though the pass-to-run ratio was a typical 60-40 split.

"You've got a ball carrier and you've got a quarterback, so that's nine against eleven." Belichick huffed, "So you can't get a hat on every hat on the field, but you can get a hat on a hat at the point of attack in the running game. In the end, you have to block them, and at some point, a good back needs to gain some yards on his own and break a tackle or make somebody miss on a player that's not blocked."

As usual, it's tough to decipher exactly what Belichick means by his ranting soliloquies, but if taken at face value, one could conjure that he was unhappy with the run blocking against the Chargers, and leveled a bit of criticism at his stable of backs for perhaps not doing enough to elude tacklers that are not blocked.

Regardless, the Patriots' backfield is a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust entity, but the criticism appeared to be leveled at Gillislee, who ran for exactly three yards per carry, but offers next to nothing in the passing game, rendering him a one-dimensional player whom the opposition can key on when he is in the game - which may be the reason why he has lost snaps to Lewis and Burkhead, who are far more dynamic.

Perhaps Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels expected the Gillislee would produce more towards his 2016 numbers when he subbed-in for Shady McCoy in Buffalo, averaging an absurd 5.71 yards per carry, 3.34 of which came after contact.

Absurd to think it, let alone expect it? Well, considering that Lewis is averaging 3.91 yards after contact for the 2017 season, it's not too hard to guess why the diminutive yet powerful Lewis has usurped Gillislee as the Patriots' lead back, as Gillislee's 2.6 yards after first contact isn't even in the same area code as Lewis, nor Gillislee's numbers in Buffalo.

One would think it was a scheme thing, and maybe it is as Lewis is accumulating that yardage behind an offensive line built more for a sliding zone blocking scheme rather than Buffalo's drive blocking scheme that Gillislee's skill set is more attuned to, while Lewis thrives in the zone scheme where a back must cut and explode through cutback lanes.

White is another back that is used to playing behind drive blocking units in college at Wisconsin, but has found his niche as a "draw" back, a passing down back that accumulates 5.5 yards after the catch and averages 4.3 yards per carry, as does combo-back Rex Burkhead, whose wares were on full display last Sunday against the Chargers.

With Lewis clearly on the fast track, White ingrained as the draw back and Burkhead finding his footing in the Patriots' backfield as a change-of-pace, all-purpose back, it seems that Gillislee's impact on the offense will be as the four-minute back, though Lewis has seen time in that capacity as well.

There may not be another team in the NFL that gets as much balance out of their backfield, and certainly not one that has four backs contributing consistently, but the bottom line is that even though the Patriots' runners handle the ball on half of the offensive snaps, true balance cannot be attained until the running game mirrors the passing game...

...as only then will the opposition respect the Patriots' ground game, which will force the defense to defend the entire field because the play action can be invoked properly.  Until then, Brady will get the ball to his playmaking backs any way that he can and hope for the best.

Lewis Leads A Talented Backfield That Can Balance Patriots' Offense

The quarterback takes the snap, pivots at a ninety degree angle and holds the ball out and down, so as to place it squarely into the breadbasket of his demure running back.

The back secures the ball and jump-cuts to the spot on the line where the run is designed to go, but he finds several three-hundred pound bodies blocking the gap, so he instinctively spins away from the scrum just out of the reach of gigantic hands attached to those large bodies, plants his left foot in the turf and sprints toward the sidelines.

Defenders give chase, some trying to catch him from behind while others attempt to calculate the proper angle to head him off at the pass, as it were - but when the back clears his offensive line and gains the flat, he finds that at full speed he has beaten both the trailers and the anglers to the edge, where he again plants his foot and bursts upfield for an eleven yard gain.

Finally tackled out of bounds by a safety, the back quickly regains his feet and wags a finger in the direction of the tacklers, as if signaling that there is no way that they can stop him...

That happened on Sunday, when Dion Lewis bounced off a scrum that had clogged all of the interior running lanes, then quickly gained the edge and ran hard for a first down in the third quarter, part of a drive that ended in a Rob Gronkowski catch and run for a 33-yard touchdown that gave the New England Patriots their first lead of the afternoon against their most hated rival New York Jets.

Unremarkable, really, when one considers that when an offense effectively mixes the run in with the pass, good things usually happen - but when considering the Patriots' offense this season, those types of balanced drives have been few and far between.

The Patriots have a wonderful stable of running backs, and the more work they get, the more their roles are becoming defined. Lewis is rounding into what should be a lead back-type role, twenty-two of his thirty carries and 105 of his 153 yards on the season coming in the last two games after four games of seeing a very limited work load...

...and while Lewis has pretty much lived on the injured list since entering the league as a fifth-round pick of the Eagles in 2011, he handled bell cow duties at the University of Pittsburgh for two years, breaking Tony Dorsett's freshman rushing record and being named second-team All-American while he was at it.

For the first time in four years, Lewis appears to be completely healthy and is running like he did in college, which makes it easier for head ball coach Bill Belichick to lean on him as a lead back, which is also a job that a finally-healthy Rex Burkhead also had in college at Nebraska. Burkhead's body of work is minimal, but seems a natural change of pace back with excellent hands in the passing game.

Power back Mike Gillislee seems destined for the heavy bag work in the four minute offense, which is the manner in which he was used in the fourth quarter against the Jets, an 11 play, 63-yard clock sucker that ended with a Stephen Gostkowski field goal and a two score lead for New England - Gillislee handling the ball five times for 21 yards and three first downs.

Passing back James White has pitched in as he normally does, leading the team in targets and receptions in his already clearly defined role, carrying the ball on mostly trap draws out of the shotgun that are a staple of the New England offense, and he has developed a nice punch to stone the blitzer in pass protection.

The problem is that for what they are capable of, the scenario scripted above is an anomaly for the 2017 version of the Patriots, as they seldom find a rhythm that allows them to be what they have been for two decades running, a methodical, chain-moving machine that both lulls a defense to sleep and forces them to defend the entire field at the same time.

But considering that the Patriots come up with a balanced drive about once per game, one has to realize that it's the play calling mixed with circumstance that is to blame. In the first game of the season, power back Mike Gillislee was the featured back, and he was racking up carries, yards and touchdowns until the Chiefs started racking up chunk plays, forcing New England to the air.

That was their most well-balanced game of the season as Gillislee and James White hauled most of the load and producing the team's high yardage total of the season, followed closely by their week two performance in a win at New Orleans - but the running game has taken a back seat to the passing game ever since.

In those two openers, the balance was a very Patriots-like 54/46 pass-to-run ratio - keeping in mind that with Brady, the Patriots are a pass-first entity - but in the four contests since, the ratios has been an absurd 65/35 split in favor of the passing game. Curiously, the production has been about the same, which makes the play calling favoring the passing game by a large margin make even less sense.

It's a shame that there is such imbalance happening this season, when they have the perfect personnel all over the offense to be able to impose their will on opposing defenses - but if they want to start making a habit it, they have an excellent opportunity to do so when New England hosts the Atlanta Falcons this coming Sunday night.

Excellent in pass defense due to an amazing amount of speed throughout their roster, the Falcons give up a miserly 210 yards per game through the air and just over 100 yards per game on the ground, but those rush numbers are skewed by the fact that when the Falcons faced two teams without a certifiable lead back, they gave up an average of just 65 yards per contest, but when facing three teams with established running games, that number escalates to 127.

In all three of those games, the opposing offense threw for under 200 yards - yet Atlanta lost two of those three, both at home and both against New England's AFC East rivals.

The problem is with the Falcons' offense falling off the map in the second half of games, able to generate only eight points per contest after halftime, not just because the opposing defenses are able to adjust, but also because the opposing offense that could feature a four-minute offense, did so. This is evidenced by the Falcons ranking dead last in the league in second half time of possession, averaging just 12 minutes per game.

In their opener, Chicago was able to run on them all game, but panicked when they fell behind by ten early in the fourth quarter and went to Mike Glennon to throw 26 consecutive passes against Atlanta's excellent secondary, losing the game by six points. Green Bay was next and abandoned their running game in favor of Aaron Rodger's arm when they fell behind 31-7 early in the second half and the next week Detroit abandoned their running game after falling behind just a touchdown early in the fourth.

The Falcons were 3-0 after that stretch where all three NFC North teams panicked in the face of a Falcon's lead in the second half, coming home to face AFC East teams on consecutive Sundays - but unlike the first three teams, the Bills and Dolphins set up shop in the trenches and dictated to the Atlanta defense...

...the Bills loading up a preposterously balanced nineteen play, 82-yard drive that chewed up nearly an entire quarter of play to take a seven point lead in the fourth quarter, then laid in wait for the Falcons to start throwing the ball, picking off two Matt Ryan passes to seal the deal - then the Dolphins learned from the other's mistakes and didn't panic despite falling behind 17-0 at halftime, sticking with their running game to create enough balance to dominate time of possession, their defense then picking off Ryan to seal a win.

The lessons are clear: maintain balance in your offense by running the football, sticking to your game plan against a Falcon's squad that starts fast, but fades down the stretch.

Where have we seen that before?

The Falcons are vulnerable on the edges, as they give up 5.25 yards per carry when teams run to the left and 4.76 when teams run to the right - even a decent push up the middle will gain nearly four yards per carry, so there is no reason not to establish a consistent running game against them...

...but it must be maintained because as Denzel Washington said as coach Herman Boone in the film Remember The Titans, the running game against the Falcons is "just like novocaine; give it time, it always works."

The Bears, Packers and Lions panicked and went to their passing game when they fell behind and they all ended up losing, while the Bills and Dolphins stuck to their game plan and came out victorious. Patriots' fans should have intimate knowledge that the way to beat the Falcons is to have patience to ride out the initial blitzkrieg, avoid panic and stick to your game plan.

That game plan needs to include the young greyhounds in the running back kennel, with Lewis providing the initial spark, White spelling him on passing downs and with Burkhead providing spot duty all over the formation, and then with Gillislee hammering it home in the four-minute offense.

That's the running game, how it's supposed to work. Hopefully the Patriots get back to using this collection of amazing runners in balance with Brady and the passing game, as they naturally complement each other - and the more balance achieved, the easier it is to score...

...which is, by the way, the entire purpose of the offense.