Loss of LeGarrette Blount a trauma for the Patriots? Hardly
Brandon Bolden rushes against Kareem Jackson at NRG Stadium in Houston. (Getty Images)
COMMENTARY
What’s the over/under set for Montee Ball touchdowns in the Super Bowl?
Happy trails to LeGarrette Blount and all, but the bruising New England Patriots running back seemingly was playing the role of Nimble Two Toes rather than the second coming of Terrell Davis as of late. That being said, he was en route to one of his better games this season (53 yards on 10 carries) in Houston Sunday night before having to leave the game with a hip injury that appears to have ended his 2015 season.
Blount joins the integral Dion Lewis as sidelined New England running backs, leaving the Patriots sifting through a rubble pile of James White, Brandon Bolden, Ball (the former Denver Bronco signed to the practice squad on Tuesday), and possibly even 32-year-old Steven Jackson at the position. Like it matters.
Blount’s ability to plow the line for a yard or two was a valuable asset to have, but it’s not like his loss is going to affect the team in the same way that Lewis — who had emerged as a threat in both the running and passing game — did when he went down with a torn ACL last month. Bolden might be able to be that guy in short-yardage situations, while White has emerged the last two games as a pass-catching threat out of the backfield (14 catches, 152 yards combined against Philadelphia and Houston), even as he hasn’t been allowed much of a chance to run the ball (only three attempts combined).
Ball, who rushed for 559 yards and four touchdowns in his rookie season with the Broncos in 2013, is nice insurance, and quite possibly another diamond in the rough in the same vein as Lewis. A report on Wednesday linked the Patriots to Jackson, the longtime St. Louis Ram who is familiar with Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who held that role with the Rams in 2011. Jackson ran for 1,145 yards that season. He hasn’t played since 2014 when he amassed 707 yards on 190 attempts, an average of 3.7.
Other options to consider: Joseph Addai. BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Laurence Maroney. Ricky Williams. Robert Edwards.
(Yes, Edwards is 41, but his knee is a young 41.)
Former flash in the pan Jonas Gray just signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, ironically two days after his new team dropped 51 points on the Indianapolis Colts. But Gray, who ran for 201 yards and four touchdowns against the Colts last season only to be buried on Bill Belichick’s depth chart and doghouse after an alarm clock mishap, also represents the reason why the loss of Blount isn’t a big deal.
As WEEI’s Christopher Price noted Wednesday morning, despite his season-ending injury, Blount will likely lead New England in rushing yards with 703, making him the seventh different back in 11 years (Gray, Stevan Ridley, Green-Ellis, Maroney, Sammy Morris, Corey Dillon) to lead the team in that category. Last year, the Patriots became the first Super Bowl winner since the 1987 Washington Redskins to have four different running backs finish with 40 carries or more (Gray, Blount, Ridley, Shane Vereen). Bolden only needs five more carries and White 24 over the final three games to possibly repeat that scenario.
Next man up? Hell, in this case, it’s any man available.
Lewis was a different case because of his dynamic contributions (234 yards on the ground, 388 in the air) over the first seven games of the season, leaving coaches in Cleveland and Philadelphia scratching their heads over what they had missed with the 25-year-old fifth-round draft pick. Guys like Blount though, they’re a waiver wire call away, if not a hissy-fit with the Pittsburgh Steelers from landing in your lap.
In a world where the Patriots have lost Lewis, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins, Nate Solder, and now, Dominique Easley to injuries and/or sickness, Blount rates somewhere along the same lines as losing Aaron Dobson. Useful, but he’s ultimately not a pivotal piece.
“I don’t know how unsung anybody is really,’’ Belichick said during a conference call with the media on Tuesday. “The unsung player is just probably 40 or 50 of them you could put in that category legitimately from game-to-game or from the different situations that come up or things they do that don’t get noticed on Sunday but they’re still an important part of the team and the team’s preparation. You can go to the assistant coaches and a lot of the other support people, too, for that matter – guys that again do a lot of work behind the scenes that aren’t on the field on Sunday but they help prepare or care for or train or whatever their job or role is on the team that they help those players at that time in those situations, and again that’s very valuable.’’
Valuable. But not exactly irreplaceable in the running game. We’ve seen this movie before.
Set the Super Bowl mark at one, and put me down for the over with two for Ball in February.
Or White.
Or Bolden.
Or Jackson.
Whatever. Whomever.
Contact Eric Wilbur at: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @GlobeEricWilbur and Facebook www.facebook.com/GlobeEricWilbur
Photos: Significant Boston sports injuries
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