The Patriots Ground Game Didn’t Do Much In The Playoffs

by Chase Stuart on February 12, 2017

In 22 team games in the 2016 playoffs, just four times did a rusher crack the 100-yard mark — or even exceed 75 rushing yards. In the Patriots three wins, their leading rusher never cracked 50 yards, and James White was three yards away in the Super Bowl from giving New England three different leading rushers in three games.

									Rushing
Rk		Date	Tm		Opp	Result	G#	Week	Att	Yds ▼	Y/A	TD
1	Le’Veon Bell	2017-01-15	PIT	@	KAN	W 18-16	18	19	30	170	5.67	0
2	Le’Veon Bell	2017-01-08	PIT		MIA	W 30-12	17	18	29	167	5.76	2
3	Thomas Rawls	2017-01-07	SEA		DET	W 26-6	17	18	27	161	5.96	1
4	Ezekiel Elliott	2017-01-15	DAL		GNB	L 31-34	17	19	22	125	5.68	0
5	Devonta Freeman	2017-02-05	ATL		NWE	L 28-34	19	21	11	75	6.82	1
6	Lamar Miller	2017-01-14	HOU	@	NWE	L 16-34	18	19	19	74	3.89	0
7	Lamar Miller	2017-01-07	HOU		OAK	W 27-14	17	18	31	73	2.35	1
8	Tevin Coleman	2017-01-14	ATL		SEA	W 36-20	17	19	11	57	5.18	0
9	Russell Wilson	2017-01-14	SEA	@	ATL	L 20-36	18	19	6	49	8.17	0
10	LeGarrette Blount	2017-01-22	NWE		PIT	W 36-17	18	20	16	47	2.94	1
11	Christine Michael	2017-01-08	GNB		NYG	W 38-13	17	18	10	47	4.70	0
12	Ty Montgomery	2017-01-15	GNB	@	DAL	W 34-31	18	19	11	47	4.27	2
13	Aaron Rodgers	2017-01-22	GNB	@	ATL	L 21-44	19	20	4	46	11.50	0
14	Devonta Freeman	2017-01-14	ATL		SEA	W 36-20	17	19	14	45	3.21	1
15	Devonta Freeman	2017-01-22	ATL		GNB	W 44-21	18	20	14	42	3.00	0
16	Dion Lewis	2017-01-14	NWE		HOU	W 34-16	17	19	13	41	3.15	1
17	Latavius Murray	2017-01-07	OAK	@	HOU	L 14-27	17	18	12	39	3.25	1
18	Spencer Ware	2017-01-15	KAN		PIT	L 16-18	17	19	8	35	4.38	1
19	Thomas Rawls	2017-01-14	SEA	@	ATL	L 20-36	18	19	11	34	3.09	0
20	DeAngelo Williams	2017-01-22	PIT	@	NWE	L 17-36	19	20	14	34	2.43	1
21	Zach Zenner	2017-01-07	DET	@	SEA	L 6-26	17	18	11	34	3.09	0
22	Jay Ajayi	2017-01-08	MIA	@	PIT	L 12-30	17	18	16	33	2.06	0
23	LeGarrette Blount	2017-01-14	NWE		HOU	W 34-16	17	19	8	31	3.88	0
24	LeGarrette Blount	2017-02-05	NWE	@	ATL	W 34-28	19	21	11	31	2.82	0
25	Jonathan Grimes	2017-01-07	HOU		OAK	W 27-14	17	18	4	30	7.50	0
26	Paul Perkins	2017-01-08	NYG	@	GNB	L 13-38	17	18	10	30	3.00	0

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table

White’s Super Bowl heroics aside — you know, he scored a record 20 points and caught a record 14 passes — New England certainly didn’t get much production from the ground game in the playoffs. Even as a team, the Patriots averaged only 86.3 yards per game in the postseason. Among the 51 Super Bowl champions, that slots in just between two other Patriots teams, giving New England three of the four Super Bowl champions that failed to crack the 90 rushing yards mark in the playoffs. But one team averaged just 37 rushing yards per game in the postseason. Can you guess? Scroll to the bottom of the table to see.

Rk	Team	Year	G	Rush	Yd	YPC	Yd/G
1	PIT	1974	3	158	708	4.48	236
2	MIA	1973	3	158	703	4.45	234.3
3	RAI	1983	3	112	624	5.57	208
4	WAS	1982	4	172	792	4.6	198
5	MIA	1972	3	133	575	4.32	191.7
6	DEN	1997	4	150	748	4.99	187
7	DEN	1998	3	112	549	4.9	183
8	DAL	1977	3	125	546	4.37	182
9	DAL	1971	3	133	522	3.92	174
10	NYG	1990	3	123	518	4.21	172.7
11	WAS	1987	3	103	513	4.98	171
12	OAK	1976	3	127	504	3.97	168
13	SFO	1984	3	97	501	5.16	167
14	SFO	1989	3	120	485	4.04	161.7
15	PIT	1975	3	128	477	3.73	159
16	NYG	1986	3	128	469	3.66	156.3
17	GNB	1996	3	120	455	3.79	151.7
18	IND	2006	4	147	604	4.11	151
19	SFO	1988	3	99	450	4.55	150
20	NWE	2004	3	99	448	4.53	149.3
21	NYJ	1968	2	77	286	3.71	143
22	SEA	2013	3	93	424	4.56	141.3
23	SFO	1994	3	100	423	4.23	141
24	DAL	1992	3	97	418	4.31	139.3
25	CHI	1985	3	126	405	3.21	135
26	BAL	2012	4	139	539	3.88	134.8
27	WAS	1991	3	120	404	3.37	134.7
27	PIT	1979	3	113	404	3.58	134.7
29	GNB	1967	3	118	403	3.42	134.3
30	PIT	1978	3	111	398	3.59	132.7
31	PIT	2005	4	142	527	3.71	131.8
32	SFO	1981	3	105	389	3.7	129.7
33	DAL	1995	3	106	378	3.57	126
34	BAL	1970	3	116	365	3.15	121.7
35	DAL	1993	3	95	358	3.77	119.3
36	NYG	2011	4	112	466	4.16	116.5
37	GNB	1966	2	57	232	4.07	116
38	KAN	1969	3	111	336	3.03	112
39	NWE	2003	3	94	335	3.56	111.7
40	OAK	1980	4	149	442	2.97	110.5
41	TAM	2002	3	112	320	2.86	106.7
42	NYG	2007	4	118	415	3.52	103.8
43	GNB	2010	4	108	404	3.74	101
44	DEN	2015	3	91	298	3.27	99.3
45	BAL	2000	4	140	392	2.8	98
46	NOR	2009	3	75	290	3.87	96.7
47	PIT	2008	3	96	275	2.86	91.7
48	NWE	2001	3	80	268	3.35	89.3
49	NWE	2016	3	79	259	3.28	86.3
50	NWE	2014	3	74	248	3.35	82.7
51	STL	1999	3	51	111	2.18	37

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Tagged as: Patriots, Playoffs

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