As long as Belichick is in NE, and especially now that they've reverted to the old system, there will be a place for Woodhead.
danny woodhead is alright, hell play a bunch at the beginning of the season and then probably get buried by whomever the pats draft for rb though
Good call(s) by you. It's pretty obvious. When the Jets line up to run, it's like, "We're running the ball and you're not going to be able to stop it." Much more pronounced, "power running" type of game. The majority of Woodhead's carries were out of multiple receiver sets (with Gronkowski and/or Hernandez in the mix) or draws out of the shotgun. The Patriots relied on his ability to make a guy or two miss before he was tackled. Which is a lot easier to do when the other team's secondary is chasing receivers around or are spread out. Which makes it really baffling as to how he was used in the playoff game against you guys. Too many runs up the gut. Woodhead will stick around in NE. Faulk will be back but will likely be limited, and he's not getting younger. Woodhead basically has the inside track on the 3rd down, change-of-pace guy. I'm also not convinced that the Patriots will draft a RB early. Maybe 3rd or 4th round, but I honestly don't see it happening in the 1st or 2nd. I think Belichick is comfortable going into next season (whenever that does happen) with Green-Ellis getting most of the work.
I wish more people realized that. The Patriots had a statistically good season running the ball but they are NOT a team that can line up and run it down your throat at will.
Great post. I don't think anything else really needs to be said, but I'm sure some posters will disagree.
Yup. They run effectively by doing it out of non-run-type formations. And they throw out of a lot of those two TE sets. That's the thing with the running game... you don't have to be great at it to win. You just need it to be a legit threat and not have other teams just ignore it. That's what killed Indy this year, I think. No one took their run game seriously, and for good reason. I think Rex actually had a good handle on the Patriots play-calling by the time the playoff game rolled around. Then NY got a lead, making NE predictable, and boom... game over. Thanks... you nailed it months ago! Woodhead would get pounded if he had to run the same plays that LT and Greene run in the Jets' offense. Not big enough or strong enough.
Fwiw, and I say that because I don't pretend to know this for sure, but I have to wonder how well he would hold up if he really got tackled so hard his shoes came off. He's small and elusive, and I get that he's been able to avoid hits. But RB's eventually get nailed. He lowers the odds but doesn't elminate them. A guy his size, however tough he is for his size, it's just the laws of physics that if he really gets hit hard by some NFL linebacker, something tells me he might not be quite the same.
Rob Gronkowski Little do all these players and voters know that Rob Gronkowski has already secured the rights, John Madden will appear on 2011 cover of the now renamed EA Sports NFL game called Rob Gronkowski. Rob only agreed to allow Madden do the over if he was shot in a pink dress crying, and John Madden agreed.
