FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – For all of the talk about how the Patriots could replace the receivers they lost in the offseason, little attention was paid to the talent they had amassed in the backfield. On Sunday, New England running backs made it clear that the Patriots offense still has plenty of weapons to work with in a 41-28 AFC divisional round victory over the Chargers.
Rookie Sony Michel, a first-round pick that some found curious, was at the forefront of New England’s rushing attack, racking up 105 yards on 16 carries with three touchdowns before halftime. His third touchdown gave the Patriots a 35-7 lead with 1:14 left in the first half. That lead allowed the Patriots to work the clock for much of the second half, and Michel finished with 129 yards on 24 carries.
“He’s just had a great year,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said after the game. “He’s just battled and fought hard and I really love Sony as a person and his commitment to the team. He’s just been a lot of fun to be out there with. He’s making a lot of hard yards and he had a great game today. Great to see.”
After missing much of training camp and the season opener with a knee injury, Michel was heavily scrutinized after combining for 84 yards on 24 carries in the first two games of his career. Despite missing three games, he went on to gain 931 yards in the regular season, the most by a Patriots rookie since Robert Edwards in 1998 (1,115). In 14 career games, including the postseason, he has now rushed for 100 yards five times.
“It’s all about trust and patience,” Michel said. “You know, we’ve got faith that coach is going to call the best play possible for us to succeed, and guys are going to take pride in executing the play – the offensive line, the receivers, everybody is going to do their job, and it’s our job to do our job. I think today guys did a great job of doing that.”
The Patriots recent reliance on the backfield may seem a bit surprising, but New England has won 39 consecutive regular-season games when it has a 100-yard rusher. On Sunday, the team ran for 155 yards on 34 carries (a 4.6 average). James White also caught 15 passes – tying the postseason record held by Darren Sproles – for 97 yards. Rex Burkhead added a touchdown run and had 19 yards from scrimmage.
“Sony did a great job running, Rex too,” White said after the game. “We just have a great offense and guys don’t care who gets the credit. Each week is different. It could be that somebody has a big week one week. The next week you may get two targets. So what? You just go out there and play and hope you get a win.”
After the Patriots traded Brandin Cooks and lost Danny Amendola to free agency, many wondered how they would replace the production of those players. Julian Edelman’s four-game suspension at the beginning of the season heightened the urgency of that question and the loss of Josh Gordon late in the year again left people wondering. But for the second time in the last three games, the running game carried the load, particularly in the first half of this one.
Even with Rob Gronkowksi producing only one catch, the Patriots also moved the ball with ease in the passing game. Brady completed 34 of 44 pass attempts (77.2 percent) for 343 yards and one touchdown with a passer rating of 106.5 as Edelman hauled in nine catches for 151 yards. Had the game been close in the second half, one could easily imagine a scenario in which Brady could have thrown for 400 yards.
In next week’s highly anticipated rematch with the Chiefs, the Patriots could once again look to their rushing attack. While Kansas City’s passing defense was ranked 12th in efficiency, its rush defense was last in the league this season. Michel had 106 yards on 24 carries in their Week 6 meeting, a 43-40 Patriots victory in Foxborough.
(Dave Brown is a freelance correspondent who covers the Patriots for the Monitor. You can follow him on Twitter @ThatDaveBrown.)