I know that earlier in the season, especially when Brady was still struggling a bit, many of us were complaining about the Patriots offensive play calling, and the lack of a consistant effort to try and run the ball. I think that argument was put on the back burner for a while as Tom Brady came around and the offense started to look more productive, as well as the fact that Laurence Maroney actually put together a couple of decent games, but...
Why do I feel like Bill O'Brien doesn't know how to use Kevin Faulk? Versus the Colts, Faulk was having a great first half with those little delayed hand offs from Brady. It seems like those plays, most of which went to the left side (go Seabass!) , worked really well, allowing just a split second for the o-line to open a hole (Faulk does a great job of knowing exactly where he is going with it even before he gets the ball) and make the LBs hesitate for a split second as to keep them off the line. Voila! Faulk uses his quick feet and decisive run style to just slide through the hole, and since the LBs and Safeties typically don't commit to the run on these plays, it gives Fualk a split second to pick up 5+ yards before he goes down.
What happened to that play, and the use of the run in general in the second half?
It seems like as soon as Laurence Maroney fumbled the ball, he became invisible. And what further frusterated me was that when they did use Faulk as the ball carrier after that point, it seemed like they were just trying to use him in more of a power rushing style-- just striaght up to the line trying to bust his way through a hole (if you're going to try that, and don't trust Maroney, why not use Benjarvis Green Ellis?), which is not Faulk's strong suit.
The combination of run/pass was a little troublesome too. Brady clearly was having a good game, and perhaps that's why it was going unnoticed, but as I sit here now and think back on it, it really does seem like the all but abandoned the run as soon as the Colts started to put points on the board. I mean, think about it now-- on one of those scoring drives the Patriots had in the 4th quarter that didn't take much time off the clock, what if they had mixed in even just two running plays? That would have easily run more than a minute off the clock and given the Colts less time to respond.
I just think that even if Tom Brady is back 100%, going down the stretch and into the playoffs against teams such as the aforementioned Colts who can put up points, the Patriots need to improve their use of the run. They don't need to have a dominant running game, they just need to use it somewhat consistantly in their play calling. And they need to use their personnel appropriatly! There were games early on where Faulk wasn't utilized on screen passes, and then there have been times when he's basically been asked to play the role of Maroney or Sammy Morris and just bust it up the gut. Has Bill O'Brien seen any game tape of Kevin Faulk? Does he know what he's been doing so succesfully for the past decade? Why not stick with it?
Hopefully Morris will be back this week, because I think the Patriots could have used him.
Onward and Upward!
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