Patriots face a big test running the ball

Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez

We are fast approaching the Patriots' week 11 Monday night matchup against the Carolina Panthers. The bye week affords us the opportunity to really learn a lot about the types of players New England will have to contend with throughout the game. Pro Football Focus tweeted an interesting stat this morning about one player Josh McDaniels is probably losing sleep over.

At 6 feet 2 inches tall and 315 pounds, Lotulelei represents the type of space eating run stuffer the Patriots lost when Vince Wilfork and Tommy Kelly hit the IR. As the tweet suggests, he's been very effective this season at clogging the middle of the field and shutting down the oppositions running attack. McDaniels will have to find a way to run the ball away from Lotulelei in order set up the play action passing game. The Patriots need the play action game to take some pressure off of their young receivers and help them create separation down the field. It will be very interesting to see how the Patriots game plan changes when they go up against such a force in the trenches.

 -@allpatsallday

 -Ryan Cereola

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