Is The Woodhead-Ridley Combination Working?

When BenJarvus Green-Ellis left in the off-season, a slot opened up for the starting running back. Despite some fumbles, the slot was always going to be filled by Stevan Ridley, and it was no surprise when he was named starter. And after a 100 yard game on opening Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, it looked like the start of something good on the offense.

However, I feel like this balance has been messed around with by Bill Belichick bringing Danny Woodhead into the offense far too much. I know everyone at the team likes him (and heck, anyone who can come back and bite Rex Ryan on the ass is in my good books), but I feel like this should be Ridley's time to dominate the running back position.

During the off-season, during training camp, I think Ridley proved that he was a good runner (as he proved against the Titans), a better runner than Woodhead (Woodhead has 2.5 yards a carry this year), and he can catch the ball well out of the backfield. And, when the offensive line isn't playing well, I think he's a better blocker than Woodhead, mainly down to his size advantage. In my opinion, the only area Woodhead has Ridley beat would be in the screen game, due to his Special Teams experience.

Now, I understand the need to mix things up. But if you name Ridley your starter, and give Woodhead 2 more carries against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday (15 to 13), I think you're messing around too much. Ridley's going for 4.5 yards a carry this season, and can break the big run with his explosiveness, and he has contributed 51 yards in the passing game.

The Woodhead experiment failed in the biggest game of the season, let's return back to where we can get reliable yards from our young running back, who could become a feature runner on this team in the next few years.

As always, you can follow me on Twitter, @Brendan_Annely