Shane Vereen is racking up receptions quickly
There hasn't been many good things to point out on the Patriots offense this season, aside from Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski (although even he hasn't looked like himself). Perhaps the third most utilized weapon so far this year has been Shane Vereen, a player who has shown flashes of brilliance in the past but never been able to perform at that level on a consistent basis.
So far this season, Vereen has been targeted by Tom Brady 20 times, resulting in 14 receptions for 96 yards (6.6 yards per reception, down from 9.1 last season). He has tacked on 28 rushing attempts for 122 yards (4.4 yards per carry) with 1 touchdown.
He is catching the ball at a steady clip, and is currently on pace to be the first Patriots running back to have 60+ catches in a season since Leroy Thompson, who had 65 catches for New England in 1994.
Typically these would be impressive numbers, but the result of these plays haven't been superb on the field. On many plays, Vereen has been set up on screens that ultimately go nowhere, either due to poor blocking, his inability to break tackles, or both. Most puzzling about Vereen's usage is that he is getting more runs between the tackles than Stevan Ridley, who is clearly the team's best power running. A good chunk of Shane's runs are coming out of the shotgun as well, one of the many questionable aspects of Josh McDaniels' overall play-call this year.
So long as he stays healthy, which he has not done consistently in the past, Vereen should rack up some impressive totals by years end, as he has proven to be a critical piece of what so far has been a terrible offense.
After Monday's fiasco in KC, it will be interesting to see if the team shifts back to utilizing Stevan Ridley more as the power back and playing to Vereen's strengths as a mismatch coming out of the backfield.
@LC_NEP
@PatriotsLife
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So far this season, Vereen has been targeted by Tom Brady 20 times, resulting in 14 receptions for 96 yards (6.6 yards per reception, down from 9.1 last season). He has tacked on 28 rushing attempts for 122 yards (4.4 yards per carry) with 1 touchdown.
He is catching the ball at a steady clip, and is currently on pace to be the first Patriots running back to have 60+ catches in a season since Leroy Thompson, who had 65 catches for New England in 1994.
Shane Vereen is on pace to become 1st #Patriots RB to hit 60 catches in a season since Leroy Thompson had 65 in '94. http://t.co/orm31sf72m
— Christopher Price (@cpriceNFL) October 1, 2014
Typically these would be impressive numbers, but the result of these plays haven't been superb on the field. On many plays, Vereen has been set up on screens that ultimately go nowhere, either due to poor blocking, his inability to break tackles, or both. Most puzzling about Vereen's usage is that he is getting more runs between the tackles than Stevan Ridley, who is clearly the team's best power running. A good chunk of Shane's runs are coming out of the shotgun as well, one of the many questionable aspects of Josh McDaniels' overall play-call this year.
So long as he stays healthy, which he has not done consistently in the past, Vereen should rack up some impressive totals by years end, as he has proven to be a critical piece of what so far has been a terrible offense.
After Monday's fiasco in KC, it will be interesting to see if the team shifts back to utilizing Stevan Ridley more as the power back and playing to Vereen's strengths as a mismatch coming out of the backfield.
@LC_NEP
@PatriotsLife
