Overreliance on Zeke Elliott

[Aven8]

We over relied on Demarco as well.

Funny that in JG's 2 best years Demarco broke the franchise record for rushing, and Zeke goes for 1,600 and a rushing title as a rookie.

That's the only winning formula they know.

 

[RS12]

Offense has exactly one play maker so........................

 

[Toruk_Makto]

You’re not wrong but I think the 2016 draft was seen as such a weak draft on the top end which made the Zeke pick more acceptable. I don’t think we would normally draft a RB that high.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I can think of 3 skill position players taken in the first round by this team in the last 20 years(Zeke, Dez, Felix).

A lot of linemen, a lot of defense.

We had Ramsey and Zeke essentially tied on our board. Garrett was the tiebreaker. 4 of the top 5 players taken in the draft have made a probowl. The one guy who hasn't was Goff and he had some mvp chatter at different points this year.

Hardly weak.

We just made a mistake. Literally we would be better off with any player in the top 5 than the guy we got.

 

[HungryLion]

We had Ramsey and Zeke essentially tied on our board. Garrett was the tiebreaker. 4 of the top 5 players taken in the draft have made a probowl. The one guy who hasn't was Goff and he had some mvp chatter at different points this year.

Hardly weak.

We just made a mistake. Literally we would be better off with any player in the top 5 than the guy we got.

The last point of your post is wrong.

Zeke is one of the best players in the league. He is a stud. He is as good of a player as any of the other ones taken in the top 5.

 

[DallasDW00ds0n]

Ok. Normally the complaining focuses on us not using Zeke enough. Now it’s a joke that we use him so much.

It can’t be tough to keep up around here.

Try keeping yourself honest about it.

Do you use Zeke in three plays, first and goal, at the 3 against the Seahawks? Yes. Do you run your RB 30 times each week, most teams don't.

 

[Rockport]

I was in the camp to draft Elliott 4th overall.

I think he is one of the best players in football. I'd give him the rock every down if it were up to me.

But this idea that next season will be fine because he won't be suspended and simply has to stay out of trouble is mistaken. Running backs are often injured or dealing with an injury. It was never my intention that this team be built to rely on a running back to be available. That's poor strategy if I've ever seen it.

If you're going to be a run-first team, a physical smash mouth team, you're going to need the defense to back it up. If this passing game can't carry the team without Elliott, you need to refocus entirely on defense, period.

In the last 5 years the Patriots have drafted the following positions in the first 3 rounds

2017
3 - OLB
3 - Tackle

2016
2- CB
3 - G
3 - QB
3 - DT

2015
1 - DT
2 - Safety
3 - LB

2014
1 - DT
2 - QB

2013
2 - OLB
2 - WR
3 - CB
3 - SS

That's a total of 15 picks, of which only a third were on offense, none being 1st round draft picks and only one skill position player on offense outside of QBs.

The Patriots who have Tom Brady drafted two in back to back years. The Patriots drafted 4 QBs within the first 3 rounds since Tom Brady became the starter and have drafted a QB in about 50 percent of their drafts.

The last time Belichick drafted a skill position player on offense in the first round was 2006...

Reality is we need to focus on defense and use later picks for offensive players and develop them behind a strong offensive line. Find a QB in the draft, but outside of that, the top 3 rounds should be defense and offensive line only.

We keep dumping resources into the offense to cover up for Garrett's awful scheme and then complain when individual players underperform or aren't healthy. That needs to end.

So ignorant I don’t know where to begin.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

The last point of your post is wrong.

Zeke is one of the best players in the league. He is a stud. He is as good of a player as any of the other ones taken in the top 5.

lol rb

 

[robjay04]

We had Ramsey and Zeke essentially tied on our board. Garrett was the tiebreaker. 4 of the top 5 players taken in the draft have made a probowl. The one guy who hasn't was Goff and he had some mvp chatter at different points this year.

Hardly weak.

We just made a mistake. Literally we would be better off with any player in the top 5 than the guy we got.

We only had a choice between two of those players though. If you’re talking about trade ups, you have too many variables to consider.

I still don’t regret taking Zeke over Ramsey in the slightest. Zeke makes us a playoff caliber team and he may be the best player in the league. Ramsey is great as well but a corner is not going to have the same kind of impact considering we had no secondary pieces in place to make Ramsey better. Even without Ramsey, the Jags have a decent secondary. By taking Zeke, we basically emphasized our strength. If notfor our boneheaded coaching staff, that strength should’ve already paid more dividends. My point is...Ramsey wouldn’t have done for this team what Zeke did..and I’m not even taking into account the off the field stuff.

My point about the draft is not so much the top 5 but the top half of the first. If we traded back a few slots and got Zeke like we should’ve...if we lost out on him, we wouldn’t have landed a difference maker at all.

 

[CowboyRoy]

When you draft a RB you have to expect a short career anyways so use him while you got him.

If Zeke plays 8 or 9 years it will be a success.

2 years have gone by in his short career and we have nothing to show for it.

Zeke should get run 24 times a game and 5 receptions a game. The entire offense should be geared around him ala Emmitt Smith and Herschel Walker.

And we should have a young backup that is nearly as good.

 

[robjay04]

lol rb

There are decent running backs and there are elite running backs.

 

[HanD]

Try keeping yourself honest about it.

Do you use Zeke in three plays, first and goal, at the 3 against the Seahawks? Yes. Do you run your RB 30 times each week, most teams don't.

Im on board with most of the op but most teams dont get the ball to their rb 30 times because most teams dont have a rb like zeke. Gurley, bell and david johnson all get major touches; runs or catches. Such is life with an elite rb that can do everything and well. If we draft a rb high, use him. Worry about wear and tear as it approaches and he gets older at the end of his rookie contract.

 

[conner01]

I have no problem running him a ton. But the main point made is you need a passing game to complement that. You need the play action to be effective to get chunk yards and you need effective 3rd down passing to get another set of downs. Not blaming anyone in particular but it takes that effective passing game to make the run game be effective

 

[big dog cowboy]

Overreliance on Zeke Elliott

It's due to the lack of production from the WR spot.

 

[lk8701]

Drafting Zeke instead of trading up for Wentz was the real mistake.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

There are decent running backs and there are elite running backs.

Give me a 4th round rb every 3 years vs your 4th overall rb any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

 

[percyhoward]

I wanted to draft defense early and often to try and take advantage of Romo's rapidly closing window. Given how everything turned out, it's hard to argue with the Zeke pick now.

That said, I think the team relies on the 5 starting OL more than it does Zeke.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

We only had a choice between two of those players though. If you’re talking about trade ups, you have too many variables to consider.

I still don’t regret taking Zeke over Ramsey in the slightest. Zeke makes us a playoff caliber team and he may be the best player in the league. Ramsey is great as well but a corner is not going to have the same kind of impact considering we had no secondary pieces in place to make Ramsey better. Even without Ramsey, the Jags have a decent secondary. By taking Zeke, we basically emphasized our strength. If notfor our boneheaded coaching staff, that strength should’ve already paid more dividends. My point is...Ramsey wouldn’t have done for this team what Zeke did..and I’m not even taking into account the off the field stuff.

My point about the draft is not so much the top 5 but the top half of the first. If we traded back a few slots and got Zeke like we should’ve...if we lost out on him, we wouldn’t have landed a difference maker at all.

This is just silly talk.

We can't take Ramsey because we don't have other good secondary players around him. Just read that again and tell me the problem in the logic.

 

[xwalker]

I was in the camp to draft Elliott 4th overall.

I think he is one of the best players in football. I'd give him the rock every down if it were up to me.

But this idea that next season will be fine because he won't be suspended and simply has to stay out of trouble is mistaken. Running backs are often injured or dealing with an injury. It was never my intention that this team be built to rely on a running back to be available. That's poor strategy if I've ever seen it.

If you're going to be a run-first team, a physical smash mouth team, you're going to need the defense to back it up. If this passing game can't carry the team without Elliott, you need to refocus entirely on defense, period.

In the last 5 years the Patriots have drafted the following positions in the first 3 rounds

2017
3 - OLB
3 - Tackle

2016
2- CB
3 - G
3 - QB
3 - DT

2015
1 - DT
2 - Safety
3 - LB

2014
1 - DT
2 - QB

2013
2 - OLB
2 - WR
3 - CB
3 - SS

That's a total of 15 picks, of which only a third were on offense, none being 1st round draft picks and only one skill position player on offense outside of QBs.

The Patriots who have Tom Brady drafted two in back to back years. The Patriots drafted 4 QBs within the first 3 rounds since Tom Brady became the starter and have drafted a QB in about 50 percent of their drafts.

The last time Belichick drafted a skill position player on offense in the first round was 2006...

Reality is we need to focus on defense and use later picks for offensive players and develop them behind a strong offensive line. Find a QB in the draft, but outside of that, the top 3 rounds should be defense and offensive line only.

We keep dumping resources into the offense to cover up for Garrett's awful scheme and then complain when individual players underperform or aren't healthy. That needs to end.

The Patriots traded a 1st and 3rd for WR Brandon Cooks.

/end thread

 

[Toruk_Makto]

I wanted to draft defense early and often to try and take advantage of Romo's rapidly closing window. Given how everything turned out, it's hard to argue with the Zeke pick now.

That said, I think the team relies on the 5 starting OL more than it does Zeke.

I'd argue it's easier to argue the Zeke pick now. Because we know how the other option is also performing. Let's say they are both at an all pro level. You take the corner in that case EVERY TIME.

 

[Tommy]

Try keeping yourself honest about it.

Do you use Zeke in three plays, first and goal, at the 3 against the Seahawks? Yes. Do you run your RB 30 times each week, most teams don't.

The drive against the Seahawks is a different subject. You said “it’s a joke that we run Zeke 30 times a game.” Zeke actually averages about 22 carries a game. The same amount Emmitt averaged during his prime.

Calling it a joke is a bit of an exaggeration isn’t it? I don’t think I’m the one who needs to keep myself honest about it.