Gresh & Zo: Will Patriots Maintain Excellent Running Game?
On Monday's show, after the Patriots' Week 1 win over the Titans, Gresh and Zo talked about the importance of establishing a run game for the Patriots offense. Tom Brady agreed.
"I think it's something we've been doing all season long -- all through mini-camp, training camp, regular season games, we've made a commitment to running the football and you saw it today," Brady said after the victory. "It's a lot of carries by the backs. They have a lot of opportunity. When you can control the tempo of the game, it really helps out the rest of the team — it helps special teams, it helps defense. ... You just can't drop back and throw it 50 times a game, right around 30 passes a game is where you want to be.
"The toughness of your team is built around running the ball and stopping the run," Brady added. "In the critical games and the critical situations, that's the foundation of your team and that's what you're built on and that's what you've got to be able to do. You've got to run it when they know you're going to run it, and I say that all the time. I think with what we do in the run game and play-action game and you spread them out and you run screens, you run draws, you run traps, you spread the ball to all the different receivers it really makes it hard for the defense to just key in on something and say this is what we need to do. You really have to defend everything."
Do you think Stevan Ridley, who had 125 yards and a touchdown on the ground, can be an elite running back for the Patriots this season?
