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Pats' Maroney Looking For Balance

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By ROY CUMMINGS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 31, 2008

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - It turns out that playing on the same team as Tom Brady, Randy Moss and Donte' Stallworth isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Not if you're a running back.

The Patriots lean so much on Brady, Moss and their passing game that their running backs sometime get lost in the shuffle. That's how it was for second-year back Laurence Maroney most of this season.

During the Pats' first 11 games, when they were averaging 23 rushes per outing, Maroney was averaging 10 touches per game. Is it any wonder that Maroney is hoping for rain and an open stadium roof on Super Bowl Sunday?

A rainy day could force the Patriots to run a more balanced offensive attack. That likely would mean more carries for Maroney, who has certainly proved in recent weeks that he is capable of playing a bigger role.

With an average of 21 carries the last five games, Maroney has run for 100 yards or more four times, including a season-best 156-yard effort against Miami and a pair of 122-yard efforts in the playoffs against Jacksonville and San Diego.

The only team that has really shut Maroney down the last two months is the Giants. They held him to 46 yards on 19 carries in their season finale, but Maroney walked away from that game actually feeling good.

For starters, the Patriots won (of course). They also showed tremendous faith in Maroney, who was leaned on more than ever in short-yardage situations and in the red zone, where he twice ran for touchdowns.

"That let me know they really believe in me," said Maroney, who has spent the better part of the last two years trying to prove he can power his way for tough yards when necessary.

Some long have wondered whether he had that kind of guile in him. Apparently included in that group was Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who reportedly was overheard saying "Maroney's finally running hard" during the Jaguars game.

Maroney came out of the University of Minnesota two years ago as a first-round pick (21st overall), but with a reputation for dancing behind the line too much and for not hitting the hole hard. He didn't do much to shed that image during his first year and a half with the Patriots, which might help explain why he carried the ball less often than he hoped he would during that span.

In the last few weeks, Maroney has begun to prove that not only can he carry a heavy workload, but he also can carry the ball through a hard-hat area, if that's what the situation calls for.

"Different games deserve different things," he said. "If you're playing a really physical defense, you know you've got to run downhill. But if you're playing a defense that likes to move, you've got to set the edge, get to the outside, cut and run."

Maroney mostly did the latter at Minnesota, but he says that became the case because he was teamed in the backfield with Marion Barber, a power back now playing for the Cowboys.

The situation didn't change when he arrived in New England. Teamed at first with Corey Dillon and then with Sammy Morris, Maroney decided to stick with the shifty style of running that got him there.

All the while, the Patriots were trying to hammer home to Maroney that he needed to run harder, run meaner. Now, with Dillon retired and Morris lost to a season-ending injury, he's doing that.

He really doesn't have much choice. Kevin Faulk, Maroney's running mate, doesn't have the size or the power necessary to run between the tackles, so that job has fallen to Maroney. That's probably a good thing because Maroney never was going to be considered a true feature back until he proved he could run as well between the tackles as he does on the perimeter. The last few weeks have allowed him to do that.

"You see the way he is running right now and fighting for every inch and that is really all you can ask of a guy and that's what he's giving us," Patriots guard Logan Mankins said.

What Maroney hopes to get from the Super Bowl stage is a chance to further prove he has the ability to be considered one of the league's best overall backs, his style notwithstanding.

"All you hear is stopping Brady and the passing game, and I like the way that sounds," Maroney said. "I want them to forget about the running because that way I can slide in, slip through a couple of cracks and that will be all right."

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979 or at rcummings@tampatrib.com.

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