Shane Vereen kicked down the door.
But the Patriots still have to figure out who’s going to be walking through it each week.
The Patriots running back mimicked injured teammate Stevan Ridley’s touchdown dance when he scored in the first quarter last night, a tribute to his friend who is out for the season with a knee injury.
“When a brother goes down, it takes a toll on everybody, especially the running back corps,” Vereen said, via Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald. “We’re so tight. I just tried to play for him.”
The two backs were drafted together in 2011, and grew intil complementary roles. Vereen’s the more explosive of the pair, but Ridley was more of the every down back, who could grind away at defenses.
With Ridley gone with a torn ACL and MCL, they’re going to have to find new ways to replace his production.
Vereen had 11 carries for 43 yards in addition to his five catches for 71 yards and two touchdowns. They gave practice squad promotion Jonas Gray three carries, but their game plan skewed to the pass.
“Each game is different,” Vereen said. “Even during the game, things are changed, adjustments are made. We knew we were going to be rotating. We knew a couple guys were going to be getting in there. We were going to be switching up groups. So whenever your number is called, be ready to go.”
They had 38 pass attempts and just 15 runs, which may be the way things have to lean without Ridley in the lineup. They can use screens and short passes to augment the running game, but it’s a different team without Ridley, and that’s going to take some getting adjusted to.