Patriots Blog: Coaches Talk Stevan Ridley
FOXBORO (CBS) – On a team that loves to throw the football, it can be hard to be a rookie running back.
But Patriots rookie back Stevan Ridley is making the most of his time on the field, and his coaches are taking notice.
"I think he's a guy that's been improving every week," said offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien on Monday. "Early in the season, the Oakland game, he had some productive runs for us. We've just been trying every week to get him in there. It just seemed like in the flow of the game and the way the game was going, we try to play at a fast pace and he happened to be the back that was in there. He had a couple good runs so he was the guy that we stayed with based on what was going on in that game."
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Ridley carried the ball 13 times in New England's 27-24 win over the Dolphins on Saturday. After playing only eight snaps in the first half, the third-round pick was on the field 20 times as the Pats erased a 17-0 halftime deficit to claim their 12th win of the season.
"I think Stevan has run well for us all year," head coach Bill Belichick said after the game. "He had really a couple strong runs (Saturday), ran through a couple tackles. There are still a lot of things he could do better, but he made some plays and there are other plays that could have been better. But he runs hard with the ball."
After seeing the ball sparingly in November and the first half of December, Ridley has 24 carries for 124 yards over the last two weeks. He is second on the team with 360 rushing yards and his 72 carries are third among Patriots backs. He scored his lone touchdown of the season in Week 3 against the Raiders, when he ran for 97 yards on 10 carries.
Ridley will likely see some more carries in Sunday's regular season finale against the Buffalo Bills, and if he continues to play well those could carry over into the postseason. Fresh legs from Ridley, along with BenJarvis Green-Ellis' bowl 'em over style and Danny Woodhead's ability to catch and run out of the backfield gives New England a good running trio, if they chose to give Tom Brady a few throws off.
"He's a big guy. I think he's a slashing type of runner. I think they all have unique talents that they bring to the position," O'Brien said of his backs. "He's just a guy that fit in pretty well at that position. He has a little bit of size and things like that."
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"He's going to continue to improve and try to get better at the nuances of playing that position. That's a very, very difficult position to play as a rookie because you're involved in so many different things – running game, blitz pickup, the passing game, route running versus zone, versus man. There are so many things that go into playing that position and he's gotten better but he has a long way to go," O'Brien said of his rookie back.
Tune in to the Patriots final regular season game against the Buffalo Bills Sunday at 1pm on WBZ-TV and 98.5 The Sports Hub. Pregame coverage begins on 98.5 at 10am, with Patriots Gameday on WBZ-TV at 11:30am. After the game, tune in to The Postgame Show on 98.5, and Patriots Fifth Quarter on MyTV38.
