Laurence Maroney of the Patriots is ready to bust out!
May 22, 2007 by James Edwards
Filed under Sports
NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
Number 8? Really? Wow!
Maroney was a monster of a back at Minnesota.
Believe it or not, Laurence played in the same backfield as Marion Barber III of the Cowboys.
In Big Ten circles, Laurence was the more celebrated of the two backs…
Now Maroney is playing for the New England Patriots and is the full time starter with Corey Dillon moving on.
As bizarre as it seems, Coach Bill Belichick called Laurence and Corey Dillon the best running back corps he had ever seen, then the Patriots promptly released Corey at the end of the season.
Guess Bill had not seen many running back corps.
Anyway, it is Laurence’s turn now to star for the team that many are picking to win the Super Bowl. This is a star studded team of Tom Brady, Donte Stallworth, and Randy Moss.
Wait a minute, doesn’t that sound like pass, pass, pass?
NFL Football Laurence Maroney factoid
Maroney attended Normandy Senior High School in St. Louis, Missouri, where he garnered four varsity letters in football, three in track, two in basketball, and one in baseball….
Maroney holds Normandy High School’s single season rushing record, with 1,903 yards in 2002.
source
Now Maroney is good and all that, but it will only be year number two.
Still Mike Harmon of Fox Sports has him rated as the number 8 back in the NFL.
8. Laurence Maroney, New England Patriots
Maroney’s stock rises with the loss of Corey Dillon, but concern about the status of his shoulder remains. At this juncture, it’s presumed that Maroney will be ready to go full-tilt once training camp opens. As such, he assumes a lofty ranking in the re-tooled and potentially explosive Patriots offense. Maroney averaged 4.3 yards per carry and rushed for 745 yards on the year in spite of the fact that he never reached 20 carries in a game.
The potential is certainly there for Maroney to rise to elite status this season. Dillon scored 13 touchdowns in the efficient New England attack. While the additions of Donte Stallworth and Randy Moss will certainly pad Tom Brady’s passing touchdowns, there’s no question that the running game will benefit as well. source
Hey, count me as a huge Maroney fan, but the number 8 back in the NFL????
Given time Laurence will be an awesome back. Right now he needs some time to grow. Maybe we need to be patient.
NFL Football Fan Question Are there only 7 running backs in the NFL better than Laurence Maroney?
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He’s a downhill runner, which makes the delays and draw plays less effective – BUT – once this guy gets to the second layer of the defense, it’s some depressing shit to watch if you’re team is trying to bring him down.
I think Bellichick releasing Dillon was for Dillon’s sake more than anything else. He wanted more carries and not as much time in between as there was with him sharing time…and I can’t fault someone for ego when they get the shit kicked out of them for a living like running backs do, but he lost something around January the year before last, and really had the stuff come that time last year.
Whatever – - – like I said, he takes the licks, so his life is his own, and for the price we paid for him the years he was in new england, I’ll always root for the guy no matter what.
The man that nobody ever talks about unless the game is in progress though is Kevin Faulk…with him and Patrick Pass in the backfield as well as Maroney, the running game should be full force. One subtraction though is Daniel Graham, who will be missed in that aspect of the game.
#8 is about right if you’re talking fantasy #s…inside the 5, the Pats load it up and bulldoze!
Dillon got very large towards the end last year. It made him look out of shape or something.
You should not be allowed to complain. My Lions had their top 5 backs all get injured for the remainder of the season. 4 out of those 5 were not even any good! so think what number 6 was like.