Longtime Patriots coach Fears pumps up his running back pack
Lack of preseason hitting concerns coaches
Ivan Fears has had some pretty good running back groups to work with during his 24 seasons with the Patriots, and 30 seasons in the NFL overall.
While he didn’t rank his current group, which features Sony Michel, Lamar Miller, Damien Harris, James White and Rex Burkhead, it’s pretty obvious he holds this collection in high regard.
Looking at the Patriots collectively, along with having an elite secondary, the running backs stand as a position of strength for the offense.
“I’ve had some pretty good guys, and pretty good groups, that I’ve felt good about. I definitely feel good about this group. I really do,” Fears said during a video conference with reporters Wednesday. “All these guys are talented. Damien is the only one who really hasn’t had the chance to prove what he is on the football field as far as game play goes. But from what we’ve seen, and the training camp he’s had, I tell you what, he’s pretty exciting. Yeah, I have a helluva room, no doubt about it.”
Fears pointed to Miller and Michel as being in the question mark category, given both are coming back from surgeries, but in terms of overall talent, it’s tough to beat the current crop.
When it comes to Miller, Fears knows the reputation. He knows Miller has been an exceptional back. It’s just a question of getting him as close to top form after last year’s ACL surgery.
“It’s really too early to say a whole lot. He’s coming off a major injury from last year. You have to give him a chance to get his legs up underneath him, get back in the groove,” said Fears. “It’s only been a day or two. We threw him in the fire pretty fast, just because we’re running out of times where you can be physical in practice.”
Fears said thus far, Miller has passed those initial tests.
“We wanted to give him a little taste of being bounced around a little bit. He’s done a great job,” said Fears. “I really expect Lamar to bounce back and be the guy he was, but I’m sure that’s going to take a little time.”
As for Michel, he’s trimmed down after gaining some weight and getting a bit “heavy” following foot surgery. Fears said he has “fresh legs” but still needs to show he can handle the rigors of the position.
“We have to beat on him a little bit more first and then we’ll see what he has going,” said Fears. “He’s coming back off after missing the first 2-1/2, three weeks of training camp — hell yeah, he’s going to be fresh and quick! His weight is good, no doubt. We’ve worked hard on that. He looks good. He doesn’t show any signs of slowing down from the injury, anything along those lines. We just have to finish getting him ready for a season. That takes a little more beating on.”
Fallout from no contact
The Patriots, like every team in the NFL, are dealing with not having the type of contact provided by preseason games, and trying to assess players without the benefit of seeing them get hit.
“We’re just doing the best we can in the situation that we’ve got. It’s new and different for everybody, DBs included. None of us have seen live game action,” said Patriots outside linebackers coach Steve Belichick. “We do the best we can to simulate that in practice and create game-like situations. You can’t simulate a game — I’m definitely not saying that — but we’re doing the best we can as a coaching staff to try to present challenges and make it as game-like as possible. It’s definitely been a challenge, but we’re working through
it, and we’ll see how it goes in a couple weeks or 10 days, whenever it is.”
Fears agreed. But he said it would have been nice to get a look at J.J. Taylor, the undrafted back out of Miami, in game-type action.
“The guy you miss seeing is J.J., as far as that goes. What the hell he is going to be able to do when he is one-on-one with a guy and he has to make a play,” said Fears. “Yeah, I miss that. I would really love to see him with some live action before you have to make a big decision on him. So make the plays, hold on to the damn ball, all those things are really kind of important to see. You only have what you got from college and that’s not the NFL. I’m sorry, it’s not the NFL.”
Newton progressing
During the last practice the media was allowed to view Sunday, Cam Newton looked the best he’s been since training camp started. He was so much better with pre-snap reads and his decision making. Quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch acknowledged Newton’s progression.
“Absolutely, there has been great improvement, and each day we’ve seen a substantial difference in regards to knowledge,” said Fisch. “A lot of times you get involved in repetition and the more you do the same thing over and over again, the better he gets it. Every rep that he’s had up at the line of scrimmage is one more additional rep running our offense at a full-speed tempo. So if we are able to continue to do that, each day I can see a nice jump in terms of his comfort level at the line of scrimmage.”
Troy Brown fan
Along with his duties coaching kick returners, Troy Brown has been working alongside Fears with the running backs. Fears couldn’t say enough about the Patriots Hall of Fame receiver, and how well he’s transitioned into a coaching role.
“The man is incredible. If you ever really thought about all the things he’s done as a player, and then you add that the guy is an excellent communicator — and he’s been able to really, really blend in with the guys,” said Fears. “He’s firm when he needs to be firm. He’s also compassionate when he needs to be compassionate. He understands what they are going through, and he knows how to tell them. I think he’s going to be an awful, awful good coach. I really do.
“Troy is a winner from the very bottom of his feet all the way to the very top of his head. The man knows how to perform, and he’s done nothing but win, and I think he knows how to project that to his guys ... I can see him being an awful, awful good coach at any position that he wants to take over.”
A Wise choice
Deatrich Wise proved to be one of the best defensive players during training camp. He added some weight, bulked up, and looks like he’s going to be a huge contributor in the defense.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick called him a “unique” player and has been impressed with his transformation.
“I think his play has improved. I think some of that is due to technique and experience, but he is a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger. I think that’s a good thing, not a bad thing, but in the end, I think the major improvement in his play from what I’ve seen so far this year in training camp has been his technique, how quickly he reads and reacts and recognizes plays and just improving in some of the fundamentals. He’s a very hard worker, and he’s the type of kid that when you ask him to work on something, he really goes all in and makes a strong commitment to try to improve it and make it better. That’s been evident this year in the areas that he’s dedicated himself to improve in and that’s shown up on the field. So, I’ve really been impressed with what he’s been able to do so far.”