During career year, LeGarrette Blount's unique style stands out to Patriots
Mike Reiss
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Everyone, including New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, was stumped.
The question was about running back LeGarrette Blount, who is having the best season of his seven-year NFL career, entering Week 14 ranking fifth in the NFL in rushing yards (957) and No. 1 in rushing touchdowns (13). If Blount scores a rushing touchdown Monday night against the stingy Baltimore Ravens (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET), he will tie Curtis Martin’s single-season Patriots record (set in 1996).
So, in terms of playing style, who does the 6-foot, 250-pound Blount remind Brady, head coach Bill Belichick and others of?
No one, it seems, can come up with the answer.
“That’s a unique style. I don’t think there have been many like him, I really don’t,” said Brady, now in his 17th NFL season. “We’ve played [former New York Giant] Brandon Jacobs [6-4, 264], he was a big back. But someone that’s big and shifty, it’s hard to find, and that plays both styles -- one play it’s one style and the next play it’s the next style. That’s a hard thing to defend.”
Belichick, with 42 seasons on his NFL résumé, also struggled to find a comparable.
“That’s a good question. I don’t know if there’s a lot of guys really that I would compare him to right off the bat,” he said, later allowing that there is some connection to Corey Dillon (6-1, 225) and Ottis Anderson (6-2, 220) because they combined skill and athleticism with their size. “You see him making some tough runs and running guys over, and then you see him hurdling guys like in the Miami game [Sept. 18], and then you see an open-field run like he had last week against the Rams where he kind of spun the safety around and ran by him [on a 43-yard TD run].
“So he’s got a good combination of moves and style. It’s not all one thing. He’s effective. He’s got an effective stiff-arm. He can be elusive, he can be powerful. And he’s got good run vision. It’s hard to find another guy like him.”
Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who has been in the NFL since 2001, said parts of Dillon, Steven Jackson (6-2, 240) and Antowain Smith (6-2, 232) might qualify when thinking about a Blount-style runner. It starts with the size, but Blount, in some ways, also has the shiftiness of a smaller back.
“Corey was an incredibly big man; ran hard, incredible size and power. Steven was a big guy, had good feet, great speed, [but] LG is really a different animal than most backs,” McDaniels said, adding that Blount’s ability to create yards after contact while limiting turnovers has been impressive. “He’s got a really rare blend of size and speed and elusiveness and vision.”
The rarity of Blount’s combination of size and skill set is what has particularly stood out to Brady, who has noticed the struggles that defenses have encountered with him this year.
“He’s a big back, very, very hard to tackle that has great lateral quickness, which makes him even harder to tackle because I think it makes the defenders very uncertain on how to get him on the ground," Brady said. "Cut him, and he jumps over you. Or they go in at a normal pad level and he gets low and destroys them.
“So I think it’s a really hard thing for a defensive back when you have someone running at you who is 250 pounds. You’re thinking, ‘How am I going to get this guy on the ground?’ Because he has all the moves. And once he gets by you, people don’t catch him.”
When informed of Brady’s remarks, Blount flashed a smile that has been hard to miss from him this season. Unlike some other years of his career, when he encountered on- and off-field turbulence in Tennessee, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, Blount is clearly in a good place with the Patriots, where he cites a strong support system for helping him achieve his potential. Then there are positive developments off the field for him, which include his faith and his fiancée, Merissa.
“A lot of things trickle down to the way I’m playing, and all of those play a factor,” he said.
Improved offensive line play by the Patriots, which has coincided with the return of longtime offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia after a two-year retirement, is a big part of it, too.
So is Blount’s commitment to his health, as his 2015 season ended almost one year ago to the day with a hip injury in a win over the Houston Texans. Blount said rehabbing with fellow running back Dion Lewis, who was coming back from a torn ACL, was instrumental as he never doubted he would return to form.
In past years, the Patriots have favored more of a rotation with their big, power running backs, but not in 2016. It’s been all Blount, who turned 30 on Dec. 5, which he said is something he appreciates because “it takes a lot to get their trust, and it takes a lot more to keep it.”
As for his unique style of play, Blount seemed to like that Brady, Belichick, McDaniels & Co. couldn’t easily come up with a running back who was a carbon copy.
“I’ve never been asked that question,” he said, when asked if there was a player he’d pick. “I don’t compare my style to anybody; it’s just a unique thing. There are not a lot of guys you can compare to.
“I’m a big guy, with nice feet and can run a little bit. I haven’t drawn a lot of comparisons to a lot of running backs because I feel like I’m one of the first ones to be this big that can run this fast and be this elusive and agile in the open field.”
