The Patriots’ rushing attack isn’t as nearly good as it seems

There’s a misconception surrounding the Patriots’ rushing attack.

The New England Patriots are not a good rushing team.

There seems to be a myth brewing that the Patriots are a strong rushing offense. They’re not.

Their 4.2 yards per carry puts them at 18th in the NFL, even if their total yardage (142 yards per game) is 10th-best. They just have one player, Cam Newton, who runs the ball well, particularly at the goal line, where he’s scored four rushing touchdowns. The running backs, however, are struggling, much like they were last year.

Sony Michel is averaging 3.3 yards per carry, Rex Burkhead is averaging 2.6 yards per carry, James White is averaging 4.4 yards per carry and J.J. Taylor leads the team’s running backs at 5.4 yards per carry.

Newton was asked about his running backs’ inability to move the ball in Week 2 when the Patriots averaged 2.7 yards per carry in a loss to the Seahawks.

“When they take that away, you have to find different ways to move the football,” Newton said on Sunday night. “They watched film and probably saw us last week have a lot of success in the run game and they had a plan. Make no mistake about it, the Seattle Seahawks are a great football team. We are a great football team as well. It was great for us to be able to see where we can kind of figure it out and we just fell short.”

The consequences of the running back struggles are that Newton carries an increased share of the workload.

Though the Patriots rushing offense was crucial against Miami, it was mostly Newton’s production that carried New England. He had 15 carries for 75 yards and two touchdowns. The same was true in Week 2 against the Seahawks when he had 11 rushes for 47 yards and two scores. He led the team in all categories in both games.

New England’s rushing offense has been enormously reliant on Newton’s success, though he doesn’t seem to mind it. But they’re not necessarily an effective or efficient running team.

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