Despite the numbers, Stevan Ridley doesn't impress in week 2

Stevan Ridley shedding a tackler, via Fox News

Stevan Ridley ran for 101 yards on 25 carries Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. For the most part, anytime a running back hits 100 yards rushing it means they had a solid day. Ridley did have a solid day, but that doesn't mean he impressed.

When I reflect back on the game, I can't recall any memorable plays out of Ridley, and looking at the numbers, they explain that.

I took to NFL.com's play by play list for the game, and broke down Ridley's yards by quarter. Note that the total adds up to 97, so there may have been a couple of runs that were listed as "no gain" on the play by play that actually factored into the 101 total for Ridley.

First Quarter: 11 yards
Second Quarter: 16 yards
Third Quarter: 23 yards
Fourth Quarter: 47 yards

To go even more in depth, on the Patriots final drive Ridley had rushes of 16, 9, 4, and 5 yards, which alone accounts for 34 yards of his yards.

These numbers show that almost half of Ridley's yards came when the game was already in hand and the game was basically over. Compare it to a quarterback having a terrible game and then throwing a touchdown or two in garbage time. It pads the stats and makes an otherwise bad day look good.

I'm not saying Ridley had a bad game, I'm just saying he wasn't impressive besides the final drive. Even then, the final drive of a game that is over doesn't draw much attention, nor should it, since both teams are sort of going through the motions. If not for those two longer runs, Ridley's day is rather pedestrian from a numbers standpoint. Obviously, Ridley still had to execute on those plays so that's not to take away credit from him. The point here is that numbers don't always tell the story, whether good or bad.

Ridley is the Patriots most explosive and powerful running back. If he can hold onto the football, the sky is the limit for him. He's a solid player capable of posting 100+ yards on any given Sunday. That being said, I want to see more out of Ridley...more explosiveness and power that we all know he has. He didn't have that on Sunday, but that doesn't mean he can't bring it next week and the rest of the season.

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