Treasure Blount at RB
Time to dig up buried run game
FOXBORO — After watching Tom Brady take a pounding last season, it made a lot of sense to think the Patriots would add a power back to help ease the load on their soon-to-be 39-year-old quarterback.
The need seemed especially urgent given LeGarrette Blount’s exit last year with a season-ending hip injury and the extensive rehab facing Dion Lewis following his reconstructive knee surgery.
In the end, Bill Belichick wasn’t compelled to make a move, and instead is once again rolling the dice with Blount, who was on the field for the first day of training camp after missing all of the spring camps.
That being said, with Brady out the first four games, the importance of having a running game is that much more significant to help minimize the pressure on Jimmy Garoppolo and keep defenses honest.
The value of having a guy who can pick up those tough yards in a pinch is magnified even more.
Can Blount still be that guy? He’s going to have to prove it before the season starts or else Belichick might have to find someone else. That’s especially true if Lewis, who did not practice yesterday while on the active physically unable to perform list, still isn’t quite 100 percent.
“I’m going to do whatever Bill needs me to do to make sure we’re successful,” said Blount, when asked if he was prepared to carry more of a load.
On Wednesday, running backs coach Ivan Fears basically said the Patriots were putting the ball in Blount’s hands and it was up to him to sink or swim.
“I want to see the LeGarrette I know that can be a dominant player when he’s playing up to his stuff. I want to see him get back to that. He’s been hurt. He’s been away from us. There’s a lot of opportunity there for him. Let’s see what he can do,” Fears said. “There’s gotta be some consistency to his play. There’s got to be production. And, of course, a guy with his size, there’s gotta be some physicalness. All that’s important.
“Most importantly, LeGarrette has a chance to tell us what he wants to be and what he’s going to be. So we’re going to give him the opportunity and see what he does.”
On Day 1, Blount looked fit, didn’t seem slow hitting the holes in a noncontact practice, and caught the ball pretty well out of the backfield. Told of Fears’ remarks, Blount was on board.
“Everything that he tells me to do, I feel like that’s how I can get to how he wants me to be,” Blount said. “I love (Ivan). He’s an amazing guy. He’s always going to have my back. Everything he tells me to do, that he coaches me up on, I’m going to do.”
Blount carried the ball 165 times for 703 yards with six touchdowns in 12 games last year. He wasn’t quite as good as he was the year before, but neither was the blocking up front.
Add the unknown of a hip injury, and the 29-yearold Blount knows he has a lot to prove.
It’s interesting to note that he joined teammates Devin McCourty and Logan Ryan to train at the Fischer Institute in Arizona in order to help him better prepare for the season.
The trimmed-down Blount wouldn’t reveal his weight, only to say he was “where I want to be at this point.”
As for being a running back Garoppolo can rely on during those first four games, Blount said the name of the QB doesn’t matter. He’s just trying to be dependable no matter who’s out there.
“I’m just out here to do what I gotta do to make sure I hold my part up, and I’m not the one to fall off at any moment to make us not be successful,” he said.
So, he’s been working on catching the football with the hope he can be used more on passing downs.
At one point, he made a one-handed catch in the end zone of a ball thrown from Garoppolo during 11- on-11 drills, and Blount celebrated like a school kid.
“I feel like my hands got Super Glue on them. I have hands like Gronk. They’re just not as big,” Blount said with a laugh about All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski. “I’ve been working on catching the ball a lot this offseason. That’s a part of my game I want to work on a lot. I feel like if I can show them I can catch the football, hopefully I can do a little more in the offense.”
First things first. He needs to run effectively with force. We’ll see how that plays out during the team’s first practice in pads tomorrow — if he’s allowed to participate — and in the weeks to come.