Maroney returns to practice

I'd rather see Jordan back before Maroney. The Maroney project is dead in my eyes. He should be the third back, at best, on that team. I'm just sick of watching "Dancing with Maroney".

maroney at the end of last year was sweet what happened? how could he possibly he hurt again.

I have to agree with Los Angeles.....Maroney has not been what they imagined he would be since they drafted him....Hurt alot and doesn't have that killer instinct up the middle like Morris and Jordan have. In fact, I would like to see the Pats release or trade Maroney this offseason and keep Jordan and Morris as the 1-2 punch.....Both of them are like Corey Dillon but younger, and look how well Corey worked out for us when he got here

I just don't get Maroney. What is it with this kid? Shows flashes then just reverts to old, frustrating form. I think the coaching staff may be at the end of their rope with him. I can see why they loaded up on the position with the addition of Jordan this summer.

"maroney at the end of last year was sweet what happened? how could he possibly he hurt again."

What a question? Sometimes I wonder if you guys really know anything about football. I'll give you a hint, it's a violent game. It's a collision sport. It's not natural for people to put their bodies through what football players do. So if their bodies start breaking down, it's not unexpected. A RB gets jacked up on about 95% of his plays. That's why their shelf life isn't that long. As for trading him or releasing him, only an idiot would do that.

Maroney is soft!

check Jordan's injury history. Most backs in the league rarely make it through a season w/o dings. look at Adrian Peterson, LT and Maurice Jones Drew. Let's not shovel dirt on this guy just yet. It would be nice to see the Pats develop a skilled high offensive pick.

I don't think Maroney is done yet, but he needs to make big strides in his development this year. It seemed like at the end of last year he was decisive in his running. To be fair, half the time, when he has gotten the ball, the blocking just hasn't been there for him. Still, he should be making his money on the other half of the times he gets the ball. This is his 3rd year (right?) if he wants to be a franchise back, this is the year to prove it.

I wouldn't be so quick to give up on Maroney. This has to be one of the hardest teams to play for in the NFL at running back. Last year, the team all but gave up on the run, an instead used an air attack the likes of which have never before seen in the NFL. On a week to week basis, the team constantly changes its gameplan to attack its opponent's weakness'. I like what the Patriots do (and who can argue with their success), but this makes it extremely difficult for a running back to get into any kind of a rhythm. Maroney is a great outside of the tackle, out-run you, make you miss kind of back. He is not a Lamont Jordan or Marion Barber (and never will be). There is a place for his style of running on this team. I wish the Pats used him more on screens!!!!

Maroney doesn't have to look further than Chad Jackson's former locker to see that the Patriots do not have any qualms about releasing a first-round pick. I do hope the he returns to what we saw at the end of the year because I think he has the talent to succeed. But he can only run within the plays that JMcD calls.

Maroney, Morris, Jordan, Faulk: a 1-2-3-4 punch! Despite no "star" running back, the Patriots have a good running attack. Ranked 16th, the running game is averaging 115 yards-per-game and 3.8 ypc. Last year, ranked 13th, the Patriots rushed 115.6 ypg and 4.1 ypc. The year before, ranked 12th, they rushed 123.1 ypg and 3.9 ypc. In 2005, ranked 24th, they rushed 94.5 ypg and 3.4 ypc. The year before that, ranked 7th, they rushed 133.4 ypg and 4.1 ypc. And in 2003, ranked 27th, they rushed 100.4 ypg and 3.4 ypc.
So, as I see it, they're doing just fine.

Hey Sean.....Yes it is a violent game. However, how do you explain RBs that never got hurt during there careers where it forced them to miss more than a game or in Maroney's case, at least 4 games a years since he came here.....Durability is a factor when you recruit talent. Maroney had injury issues all through college, and maybe the Pats thought he was over it when they drafted him.....Trading Maroney is a good idea in my opinion because if he keeps getting hurt, then his trade value becomes that of a bag of cookies....Combine that with 2 RBs that seem to be a better fit for the system than Maroney is.....It just seems like better sense to get a draft pick for him instead of getting nothing when he is beaten out next year in camp....And he will get beaten out if he keeps "progressing" back to the IR.....Calling a trade Idiotic just shows that you need to stick to hockey monsieur.....It is all about value....Value you get from a player versus value you get by trading him....

If you watch Maroney's runs from last week, there was no place to go. The O line run blocking was awful. In the 4th quarter it got better and Jordan got some yards. Maroneys one run his own guy was slammed backwards into him.
Also did anyone notice Morris ran for 0 yards on eight carries. Why is no one slamming him?

Prior to getting that chest injury during his rookie year with Corey Dillon Maroney was great !! He was the same kind of running back as his running mate at Missouri(Marion Barber -Dallas....After coming back from that chest injury he was a different back.....He started this dancing if there wasn't a hole there instead of juking to the outside or lowering his helmet and driving forward as Lamont Jordan does....They have addressed it on the team, and periodicly he does come out of it
but if you noticed Bellicheck when he started dancing in the Jets game ???He screamed at Morris to get in there and then he was seen talking very emotionally to Maroney and he didn't go back in the rest of the quarter...It might have been that he hurt his shoulder...I don't know ...I di know B.B isn't too happy !!!

I didn't get to finish what I started earlier:
In 2002, ranked 28th, the Patriots rushed 94.2 ypg and 3.8 ypc. The year before, ranked 13th, they rushed 112.1 ypg and 3.8 ypc. And in 2000, ranked 26th, they rushed 86.9 ypg and 3.3 ypc.

As you can see (between this and my earlier post), the Patriots running game is right where one would expect it to be. In fact, one could say that, thus far, this is the patriots 4th-best rushing year under Belichick, just behind last year's team and right in front of the 2001 team.

With Belichick and the Patriots, it's not about what one player does by himself--it's about the system and the unit as a whole. Maroney, while not racking up large sums of yards over a season, plays an important role in the system and is important to the team as a whole. If he wasn't, he'd be gone (like Chad Jackson).

If they get it done with one running back, or if they get it done with four running backs, who cares, as long as they get it done? And right now, they're getting it done.

Give Maroney a break. New QB and defensives are not afraid of Cassel and is jacking up all the running lanes. At the end of last year when teams were afraid of the patriots air attack they played safeties deep, which opened more running room. Its still early in the season. Maroney will come around after all the jets is a harder team to run on than they get credit for.

Hey sonny olivar.....Maroney and Barber played at Minnestoa not Missouri.

still i'd rather have maroney than reggie bush. he cost much cheaper and he doesn't get blown away 20yds in one hit. and don't compare chad jackson to laurence maroney terrible comparison. maybe heath evans will have a big day again vs miami.

I'm just glad there is a panoply of options: Maroney, Morris, Jordan, Heath, Faulk. None are likely to survive the year unscathed. But having Jordan in the mix gives us another pound-the-ball option if Morris goes down.

Maroney is not good enough to be sought in a trade, but not bad enough to be released. He has his moments, especially when he gets across the line of scrimmage. Once his rookie contract runs out, there may be some re-adjustment to create room under the salary cap for another #1running back, either in NE or elsewhere, but he still has value even if it is not first round draft pick value.

Maroney is such a good runner. He needs to get the rock more, and the Pats have to get out of the habit of saving their players for the playoff run