The popular storyline for Sunday's Patriots-Packers game is the first meeting of Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. But as we talked about in the latest Weekly, it's possible you'll see the Patriots come out with a lot more running than passing.
That's also how the Boston Herald sees it, writing that they think the Patriots will favor the running game, with LeGarrette Blount and Jonas Gray. And it seems that Blount would be the preferred back after he was added last week and led the way in the win over Detroit. Gray didn't touch the ball in that game.
Although maybe the Packers will also expect New England to favor the run, so naturally New England will change things up and emphasize the pass! It can be tricky trying to outguess what teams will do, when they're also trying to outguess the opponent. You end up overthinking it and outguessing yourself.
The Packers are softest against the run and New England runs more in the second half of the season. These are things we know. That makes Blount potentially a really good fantasy spot start. Green Bay probably doesn't have the personnel to stop the ground game, and no matter what, it's still going to have to play things honestly on defense, or Tom Brady will have a field day.
I'm thinking about starting Blount, and if I had Brady and his key receivers, I'd use them too. Doesn't seem likely Green Bay will be able to slow any of those approaches down. They'll just have to try to outslug them.
--Andy Richardson