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The Truth about the 2007 New England Patriots
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There is something that has said over and over both here, and in the media about the 07 Pats. Something that is so blatantly false despite both common belief and perception that I too was convinced that it was true until I decided to look it up myself.
The 2007 Patriots are not that bad of a rushing team. Seriously. This is not another rambling by a senseless pats fan (though some of you think I am a sesnseless pats fan, but that's besides the point.) This is an objective look at what turns out to be a commonly accepted lie.
Exhibit A
Here is the rushing stats for all 32 NFL teams, courtesy of NFL.com:
Interesting to note here that the pats are 8th out of all 12 playoff teams in terms of rushing, especially considering that Indy, Green Bay, and Dallas are below them. I think that this is extremely important, as if the pats lack of a running game hurts their Super Bowl chances, imagine what it should mean for the Packers, who are the worst playoff team in terms of running, and they too have to endure the hardships that come from playing in the cold. Assuming that the Pats and Colts meet in Foxboro to determine the AFC representative in the Super Bowl, they too would have to endure the cold. So why is it that the pats get the bad rep for the running game, when of the teams in the playoffs not playing this weekend, they have the best running game?
Now, the next thing I though of after this was that some of you would pull the Sammy Morris card on me. He was thriving as the Running Back early, but when he went down, so did the Pats running game, right? Wrongwrongwrongwrongwrong.
This Screenshot also takes care of another myth. That being the one that this year's pats rushing game is worse than it has been in previous years.
I now turn to...........
Exhibit B
In case you didn't pick up on it, the 07 pats are having their third best season rushing since 2001 in yards per game. For those of you who are TD friendly stat geeks (coughdaviscough), the 07 pats are having their second best season since 2001. In terms of ranking in the NFL, the 07 Pats were tied for the third highest ranked team in terms of rushing since 2001.
And Maroney and Morris are/were having almost identical seasons statistically.
So what does this all mean? The Pats are for real, and their rushing game is as strong as it has been in their recent success run. It also means that everyone who thinks that the pats will lose because they can't run the ball need a new excuse for hating the pats.
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