Here’s an insightful message board post from Will S. over at Patriots Planet. I think he makes some interesting points, especially when it comes to time of possession. There haven’t been many Pats pundits banging any kind of drum about getting the ground game more involved but the case Will lays out certainly will make you think about it.
When McDaniels was last here he didn’t have the kind of young talent that the Pats have now at running back. How the Pats front office truly views Ridley and Vereen is somewhat the great unknown at this point. Will they bring in a veteran for insurance? Will they grab another high round pick to make sure they cover their bases? We can only wait and see. But after the draft we should have a pretty good sense of how the Pats plan on using their backfield personnel in 2012.
As defenses get smaller and faster to defend the dominant passing attacks, physical ground games could be the next evolution to exploit them. The Pats really wanted to pound the Giants on the ground and force their dominant pass rushers out of their comfort zone in 2011 but the Pats could just never get real traction. This year we might see more of a concerted effort to expand that part of their game.
