What happens is that you become the New England Patriots.
What a stable of backs Bill Belichick has accumulated in the past three years, doubling down on them in the 2011 draft with Shane Vereen in the second round and Stevan Ridley in the 3rd, bringing in undrafted free agent Brandon Bolden last year and adding veterans this offseason, signing free agent Leon Washington and trading for 250 pound load LeGarrette Blount...
...and while Washington was nabbed off the market to be a core special teamer, the rest represent perhaps the best kennel of young greyhounds in the NFL, and the best in New England in 35 years...
1978 was a season of turmoil for the New England Patriots - but also a season of great accomplishment.
Coach Chuck Fairbanks created most of the tumult by openly negotiating with the University of Colorado to become their head coach at the end of the NFL season, the arrogance of Fairbanks rubbing team owner Billy Sullivan the wrong way all season, the equally flaky Sullivan choosing the final game of the regular to tire of Fairbanks' act...
...suspending the eccentric head coach just days after the Patriots had clinched the AFC East division title and replacing him with dual head coaches in Ron Erhardt and Hank Bullough, then reinstating him just in time for their playoff game - where the entire fiasco blew up in their faces to the tune of a 31-14 drubbing at the hands of Bum Phillips' Houston Oilers.
It just goes to show how fragile the chemistry of a team can be, particularly when the entire organization was one big flake from top to bottom - so Patriots' fans should be grateful for the stability of Bob Kraft and the iron fist of Bill Belichick. They've had their moments for sure, but nothing a little winning couldn't solve...
But in spite of all of the turmoil off the field, the franchise earned it's first ever home playoff game, and did so primarily due to a running attack so punishing and so productive that the likes of it had never been seen before, and has not been witnessed since.
The National Football League record 3,165 yards and 181 rushing first downs still stand 35 years later, and was accomplished without boasting a 1000 yard rusher, rather, with a stable of backs that featured three work horses with at least 675 yards rushing on the season, plus a quarterback that chipped in with over 500 yards of his own.
Sam "Bam" Cunningham lead the punishing assault with 768 yards, Horace Ivory not far behind with 693, barely eclipsing Andy Johnson with 675. Grogan scrambled for 539 and Don Calhoun add nearly 400 in limited action - and the reason that they were able to spread the ball around and have such consistency was that all of the backs were seemingly interchangeable in terms of size, with one big difference.
Ivory, Johnson and Calhoun were all essentially the same size, with the precipitously larger Cunningham the "featured" back - and all ran through holes created by one of the greatest offensive lines in NFL History.
Fast forward 35 years.
The 2013 New England Patriots have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, a stable of young greyhounds in the backfield and have already gone through their turmoil for the season - the details of which are inconsequential in as far as the potential for the running game to approach the style - if not the production - of the 1978 team.
Dude, wait. What?
No one is suggesting that the 2013 Patriots are going to rush for 3000 yards, but the attack has the potential to be just as punishing as that great 1978 team, and the stable of backs is oddly similar.
Stevan Ridley, Brandon Bolden and Shane Vereen are all essentially the same size, with Vereen slightly smaller and faster, and LeGarrette Blount at 6' 1" and 250 pounds prepared to serve as the big, physical stick moving change up...
...but with a quarterback who runs a 40 that could be timed using a sun dial, the thought of Tom Brady contributing 500 yards on the ground is a ridiculous notion. But that's not his thing. Unlike Grogan's run-heavy '78 squad, the '13 Patriots will rely on a nearly even mixture of run and pass, and a razor sharp, frenetically paced attack that afforded last season's offense a mind-blowing 74 plays per game average, with Ridley and the other backs toting the rock on almost half of them.
There is only way to describe Stevan Ridley's style. Tough. He's a tough runner - not what you would call fast, but he has springs for feet and a quick first step when he sees the hole - and while he doesn't have tremendous speed, he gets to full gallop quickly, bursting through the initial resistance and does possess an extra gear when he gets loose on the second level.
As tough a between the tackles runner as there is, he could be even more effective initiating contact with the defender when contact is imminent, delivering the hammer and running through the tackle instead of absorbing the blow. Regardless, Ridley is a top shelf back and stands to gain a majority of early down carries.
Ridley is backed up by LeGarrette Blount, the former featured back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whom coach Bill Belichick acquired for a late round draft pick and running back Jeff Demps on draft day.
Blount is an enigma, possessing lateral agility and the nimble feet of a much smaller back, giving him a unique combination of elusiveness and power. For such a large man, he has the innate ability to make himself small, with defenders rarely getting a square hit on his frame, and defensive backs just bounce off of him anyway.
He does not possess the burst through the hole that Ridley does, which some find surprising given his size, but he is more effective keeping his feet moving in the hole and gliding through seams on the second level - and once into the second level, Blount is an intimidating runner with an excellent stiff arm and deceptive speed that allows him to outrun many defensive backs and has a variety of ankle-breaking moves that leaves defenders grasping at air.
Blount is an exceptional blocker and also sets up his blockers well in the open field - and has shown soft hands in the flat in game action, so he is an option on third down, especially in the red zone. He has been both under-used and misused in his time in the professional game, and while he will not unseat the incumbent Ridley, there is no drop off in production if the team goes to him.
Shane Vereen is smaller, but plays just as large as any of the rest of them. His success in running between the tackles can be attributed to his one-cut-and-go style and is just as explosive as Ridley in that regard - he doesn't waste time dawdling or dancing and will break to the outside if a hole doesn't develop quickly between the tackles.
Fortunately, he has the speed to make the corner. Not blessed with blazing speed, he still has enough to pull away from most corners in a foot race, which makes him equally dangerous in the passing game and as a third-down back.
Vereen is not the most effective pass blocker, but that's not his forte - he is at his best getting the ball in space where he can use his incredible vision and patience to create cut back lanes, then shift into an extra gear to fly past pursuit. An accomplished receiver, most of his receptions are on the bubble and in the flat, but he also will line up wide, taking a linebacker or safety with him and he has dependable hands, rarely dropping a ball that he gets his mitts on.
He will also work from the slot, joining a plethora of weapons that the team can align there to take advantage of a variety of mismatches. A linebacker or a safety on Vereen is patently unfair.
The wild card in the backfield is second year man Brandon Bolden, who is the same size as Ridley and mirrors the patriots' featured back in every way, but adds to his value by having soft hands in the passing game and can be illusive in space.
Bolden remains a work in progress, however, as his rookie year was interrupted by injury and suspension - but as he showed in a week four 137 yard effort against Buffalo last season, he has the skill and was actually the team's yards per carry average leader with a gaudy 4.9 so, again, not a big drop off in productivity if called upon for an increased workload.
None particularly fast, but all punishing runners - and while it's doubtful that the 2013 Patriots approach the 671 rushing attempts that the 1978 team accumulated, if you take away Grogan's 81 rushing attempts for 539 yards, they'll come damned close to what the backs produced on their own. still an incredible 2626 yards on 590 carries and 4.4 yards per carry.
Given the fact that the team bullied it's way for nearly 2200 yards on 523 carries last season, it doesn't seem so far fetched - and combined with what the immobile quarterback Tom Brady is expected to produce through the air with the fine new cheetahs in his receiving corps, this offense could become the most prolific in league history.
But whatever happens, if there's not a fourth big silver trophy in Belichick's hands at the end of it all, then it all means nothing.
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