There was a lot of talk last year about how the Patriots had finally found a running game to balance out their offense, but the Patriots have always had an efficient running game. They just happened to use it a little bit more last year than in years past. New England has now ranked in the top four for run offense DVOA in five of the last six seasons. (The exception was 2009, when they were ninth.) Ridley is now their bellcow, but he benefits from the same things as all the other recent Patriots running backs: defenses set up to stop the pass (the average box faced by the Patriots last year was 6.15, 29th in the league) and lots of shotgun spread formations that give him space to find holes. In fact, Ridley is particularly productive when he runs from shotgun; in his two NFL seasons combined, he’s run 43 times from shotgun for 281 yards, with a 67 percent Success Rate and 51.5% DVOA.