Prelude To A Championship, Part IV - White, Jackson Integral Part Of Patriots Super Bowl Run

The New England Patriots running game has been missing in action for, well, the majority of the season, ranking 30th in yards from scrimmage and an equally pathetic 29th in yards per carry.

Compounding the issue is a combination of injuries that have ravaged the Patriots' offense down to its very core, and the fact that offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has called upon the running game for the least amount of times in the 16 year dynastic run of New England under Bill Belichick, a number good for just 25th in the NFL.

None of the six teams with less carries than the Patriots even came close to making the playoffs, and only one other team - the Pittsburgh Steelers - finished the season in the bottom half of the league in rushing attempts and still made the post-season. On the flip-side, 10 of the 12 playoff teams made the top half of the league in carries, and six of the top 10 rushing teams are preparing for post-season play.

Needless to say, the Patriots and Steelers and the exception to the rule, mostly because of their prolific passing attacks - but even that has been missing lately for New England, and is perhaps the primary reason why the running game has been all but non-existent.

Even so, lead back LeGarrette Blount was actually on pace for a 900 yard season before he went down with a bum hip against the Texans in week 14, averaging a robust 4.3 yards per carry, but his numbers paled in comparison with the yards from scrimmage provided by scatback Dion Lewis, who gained 622 yards from scrimmage in just seven games before tearing his ACL against the Washington Redskins in week 9.

Of course, over half of Lewis' yardage came from the short passing game, running flat out patterns where he utilized his absurd,video game-quality elusiveness to make the first man miss in the flat in addition to perfectly executed wheel routes - and as those smarter than me are fond of saying, the Patriots short passing game is an extension of their running game and therefore Lewis was on pace for a 1400 yard season.

On paper, the Patriots had a certified one-two punch in their backfield up until Lewis went down, and still a certified juggernaut for an offense until receiver Julian Edelman suffered a broken bone in his foot the following week against the New York Giants setting off a chain of events that saw the Patriots drop four of their final six games.

Lewis is not coming back this season, but perhaps his knee injury has a silver lining for New England as his absence has made it possible for sophomore James White to blossom into a legitimate passing back.

Despite getting next to no action backing up Lewis - understandable given the electric talent of Lewis - White has established himself as the Patriots' "sub back", as Belichick calls him, gaining 354 yards from scrimmage in the passing game and scoring all six of his touchdowns since Lewis hit the skids and, in fact, is second on the team in both receptions and receiving yards to tight end Rob Gronkowski...

...somewhat amazing in that most of his snaps he's been kept in the backfield to help protect Brady by picking up the relentless blitzers, curling out into the pattern only when the blitz doesn't come and on the occasion when his number is called on the jailbreak or on the designed wheel route as the hot read - and all of this with both Edelman and Danny Amendola on the shelf, no power running game at all and an offensive line that has been overwhelmed by it all.

So just imagine what the second-year back from Wisconsin should be able to accomplish with both Edelman and Amendola making the pass catching corps complete and nasty, and now that newly acquired power back Steven Jackson has had nearly a month in the Patriots' system to pick up the play book and getting in as close to football shape as he's going to get.

The move to pick up Jackson was genius by Belichick - well part genius and part being the only team desperate enough to give the 32 year old former Ram and Falcon a roster spot - but it is just this kind of low-risk, high-reward personnel move that Belichick has made a career out of as a general manager. And the Patriots may be the only team in the NFL that could utilize everything that Jackson has left.

At 6' 2" and 240 pounds, Jackson is one of the biggest backs the Patriots have ever employed and is, in fact, the size of a "Move" type tight end, with prototypical speed for the position.

New England used their season-ending loss to Miami as an opportunity to get Jackson some work, as he hadn't played a down of football since the end of last season, had no training camp and had no preseason games. So it is a bit of a stretch to really expect him to tear it up on the field, particularly behind an offensive line that has been under siege from the injury bug since midseason.

Of course, having Edelman and Amendola back in the mix at receiver will help the power running game because it brings back Brady's ability to get the ball out of his hand quickly, the trickle down effect being two-fold: first, the defense can't stack the box and overwhelm the offensive line because they will need nickle and dime backs to cover the Patriots' weapons in the pattern...

...which means that the line will not have so many bodies to move out of the way, meaning more and bigger running lanes for Jackson. Secondly, the ability to establish the running game under such circumstances invokes the play action, which also helps the offensive linemen due to the fact that the defense will have to respect the run, and the play fake will have a greater impact on the pass rushers who will have to delay their rush for a split-second, enough for Brady to get rid of the ball.

That said, the biggest key for this offense will be to not leave themselves with third and long situations, as that makes the play calling more predictable and allows the pass rushers to pin their ears back and go after Brady - and the backs will play a huge part in that type of game plan.

That is also why having the versatile Jackson up to speed and in football shape is so essential. As mentioned, Jackson has the size and the speed of a Move-type tight end, and is an excellent pass catcher, as his 460 receptions and nearly 4700 yards over 11 years will attest so don't be surprised to see Jackson lined up in the slot or even split wide on occasion to take advantage of mismatches.

That goes for White as well, as we have already witnessed what the kid can do - and that will obviously feed into next season, when he and Lewis will form one of the scariest two-back tandems in the National Football League, Lewis with his cartoonish elusiveness and White with his north-south approach that wastes very little movement...

...but that is a discussion for another time. Right now the Patriots are gearing up for a blitzkrieg through the playoffs, and getting White, Jackson and all-purpose back Brandon Bolden involved in an offense that is nearing full health will make said offense that much more dangerous.

Next: How the offensive line will improve with health at the "skill" positions...

Prelude To A Championship, Part II - Edelman's Return To Right Patriots' Listing Offense

Not too long ago, the New England Patriots were mired in an injury issue much the same as they are faced with today.

In January of 2014, the Patriots hit the playoffs so injured that they had little chance of making the Super Bowl - tight end Rob Gronkowski had been taken out by Cleveland's T.J. Ward a month earlier and was done for the season with a torn ACL. Newly acquired wide receiver Danny Amendola was severely limited with a fully torn adductor muscle with which he had already missed four regular season games...

...rookie draft pick Aaron Dobson was limited with a broken bone in his foot and fellow first-year speedster Josh Boyce was in and out of the lineup with a bum ankle, though he rarely made any sort of an impact at all, even when healthy.

But injuries didn't just impact that team during the playoffs. Amendola's groin muscle was torn in the first game of the season at Buffalo and restricted him all season. Gronkowski missed the first six games of the season recovering from multiple surgeries, and played in seven games all year. Dobson missed four games and Boyce was in and out of the lineup all season.

So the Patriots turned to a running game that ranked in the top 10 in the NFL, LeGarrette Blount and Stevan Ridley combined accounting for nearly 1600 yards and averaged a stout 4.5 yards per carry to carry them through a treacherous playoff run that saw them blow the Indianapolis Colts out of Gillette Stadium before having to go to Denver to play the Broncos in the AFC Title game.

But by the time they got to Denver, Edelman was the only receiver who was anywhere near healthy, with Amendola out and Dobson with no speed or cutting ability, and an uninspiring tight end tandem of Michael Hoomanawanui and Matthew Mulligan offering little to no athletcism in the pattern - so the Broncos concentrated on stopping the Patriots' running game and dared Brady to beat them over the top.

That didn't happen, of course, and the Broncos managed a win for the right to go to Super Bowl 48 and get blown out by the Seattle Seahawks.

Point being, that the Patriots have seen this before, the only difference is that they are going to be getting healthy this time - or at least as healthy as they can be with so many players on the IR - just in time to defend the World Championship that they took from the Seahawks in 2014.

The main issue has been, of course, the loss of Julian Edelman.

The toughest cover in the National Football League, Edelman is what makes the Patriots quick-twitch, concept-based offense run. Sure, Brady is the catalyst, but without Edelman it just doesn't work the way it's supposed to.

For instance, in the nine games that Edelman has played in this season, the Patriots offense averaged 33.6 points per game and 418 total offense on 92 rushing yards and 326 passing yards per contest with six 300 yard passing games - but in the seven games he has missed, the points per game have dipped a full ten points to 23 and total offense has fallen off by over 100 yards per game, and Brady has had just one 300 yard game.

Even more telling is on third down. Where Edelman is a first down machine and helped the Patriots to a robust 54% conversion rate on third down, without him they are an abysmal 33%, meaning that the punt team is always on alert and the defense is on the field way too often.

In other words, Julian Edelman is the Most Valuable Player on this team.

Needless to say, the trickle down effect is much more than just losing his seven catches and 72 yards per game. Opposing defenses disrespected the Patriots' passing attack, even with Gronkowski at full health and Danny Amendola and Brandon LaFell being part-time contributors and loaded up the box to stop what little running game offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels threw at them and dared Brady to throw over the top.

Sound familiar?

The result was Brady being relentlessly pummeled like a pinata, as the offensive line couldn't hold back the tsunami wave that defensive coordinators threw at them week after week after McDaniels invariably abandoned the run, leaving the Patriots one-dimensional and Brady a sitting duck, the line overwhelmed by sheer numbers as the secondary was able to play New England's receivers straight up, knowing the pass rush was going to get there eventually.

And why not? Giving up on the running game is an open invitation for defenses to rush the quarterback, and with as thin as the Patriots' depth chart has been at receiver, teams have been staying in their base defense or running the Big Nickle, sending delayed blitzers through gaps left by the initial wave - sometimes they get there before Brady can deliver the ball and sometimes they can't, but in both instances, Brady is punished.

That can't happen in the post-season, and Belichick has done everything that he can to make sure that it won't.

Edelman will have had two full months to recover from surgery on his foot and fellow wideout Danny Amendola will have had a full month to repair from his knee issues as Belichick has been very careful in handling his garden gnomes - because with them, he's not thin at receiver and teams can't stack the box against the Patriots' running game, which just added a fresh, savvy veteran in Steven Jackson.

The move to bring in Jackson was a brilliant one on Belichick's part, as the 32 year old former Ram and Falcon brings size (6' 2", 240 pounds), speed (a reported 4.55 in the 40) and 11 years of toting the rock almost 2800 times and caught 460 more. Even though he is most likely a five-game mercenary, he is the most complete back the Patriots have employed since Corey Dillon retired nine seasons ago.

His running style is most closely tied to Dillon's, as a matter of fact, and his receiving style is comperable to that of a "move" type tight end, so you can expect to see Jackson lined up all over the formation, though his primary duties are going to be powering through the holes that the offensive line can open for him - a monumentally easier task with the pass catching corps fully stocked.

Brandon LaFell, Keshawn Martin and Chris Harper join Edelman and Amendola at receiver, with Rob Gronkowski and the seldom-used Scott Chandler at tight end. At full strength, this is one of the best, most diverse pass catching corps in the NFL, and what makes it even better is the presence of passing back James White and the hired gun Jackson, as both have proven that they are more than competent in the pattern.

So with that quick-twitch passing game back in working order, what can we expect to see from the Patriots' offense?

Next - Part III: The Passing game

Patriots Sign Steven Jackson As Hired Gun For Balance Of Season

Bill Belichick waited until he saw what he had in the backfield, then made his move.

According to a plethora of media outlets, the New England Patriots head ball coach and defacto general manager has signed former Rams' and Falcons' runner Steven Jackson to a contract, nearly a full week after having the 6' 3", 225 pound veteran in for a workout, and the timing seems just about right.

Belichick's Patriots topped the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, going with the trifecta of big back Brandon Bolden, passing back James White and sledgehammer Joey Iosefa in the stead of injured running back LeGarrette Blount, who hit the IR with a trick hip that was blown out in last week's victory over the Houston Texans...

...and although he got the production he needed out of those three, the logistics involved with bringing Bolden to the forefront as the lead back for the rest of the season from his usual place as a core-four special teams ace apparently left a bad taste in Belichick's mouth.

In Sunday's win, Bolden didn't play on even one special teams package, and for a unit that's already struggling with turning the ball over and with Punt protection, that is apparently deemed unacceptable.

Make no mistake, Bolden did enough to show that he could carry the load at tailback and be competitive, but in the end Belichick probably feels that it spreads him too thin.

In Jackson, Belichick gets a 32 year old veteran who is a pro's pro, can run between the tackles and has enough speed to turn the corner if asked to - not to mention that he's pure smooth hell in the pattern, as his 460 catches for 3663 yards and nine touchdowns will attest. In other words, Belichick and the Patriots get a true every down back who is a proven commodity,

Strike that, I meant to say the Patriots get a true every down back who is a proven commodity AND who has fresh legs.

Leave it to the Dark Master to pull a coup like this. He gets an experienced ball carrier with solid hands and who is excellent in pass pro on what amounts to a five game rental. Many question what Jackson has left in the tank, but with fresh legs and the desire to show the world what he does have left, it is a no-brainer to expect that Jackson can pull the wagon for five games, especially since there's a bye week smack in the middle.

For his career, Jackson has carried the rock 2,743 times for 11,388 yards and 68 touchdowns in his 11 NFL seasons, and while many fans are looking at this move as a reincarnation of Antowain Smith or Corey Dillon it should be recalled that Dillon was 30 when he joined the Patriots and subsequently enjoyed his finest season in the pros, while Smith was a spry 29, also enjoying his finest season upon his arrival in Foxborough.

It is also worth noting that Smith was done with the Patriots when he was 31, and Dillon was shown the door when he was 32, so as far as lead backs are concerned, Belichick is venturing into uncharted waters - but if platooning with Iosefa and White, there is precedence for success.

In the 2009 season, Kevin Faulk (32), Sammy Morris (33) and Fred Taylor (33) all platooned with Laurence Maroney to make up the 12th best running attack in the league, though Morris and Taylor broke down and didn't play a complete season - which should give some pause to the idea of bringing Jackson in, but in being a short-term hired gun, there really is no downside in the signing.