There was a time when Kevin Faulk was a household name for the Patriots. Now people remember the name buy forgot who he was. He was the change of pace back running for 3607 yards. He was a receiving back catching 3701 yards on 431 catches. He was a special teams player and a returner who averaged 9.3 yards a punt and 22.6 yards a kickoff.
If the Patriots needed to give the main back a rest for a play or two or if they needed a spot filled, they turned to Faulk. Faulk was never that big either, 210 pounds was about the largest he ever got but he had the fight of some of the more larger backs.
While Faulk was used wherever Belichick needed him, the Patriots have only had the following fullbacks over the course of the Belichick era: Tony Carter 98-00, Jeff Paulk 00, Marc Edwards 01-02, Larry Centers 03, Fred McCrary 03, Patrick Pass 00-06, Kyle Eckel 07, Heath Evans 05-08, James Devlin 12-19, Joey Losefa 15, and Jakob Johnson 19-21. The Patriots have also utilized the H-back tight end role.
Notice who's name wasn't part of the group. Kevin Faulk wasn't a fullback. In fact he was no more a fullback then Brandon Bolden who has played that role on a down or two for the Patriots. Wanna know who Faulk was? He was the guy the Patriots turned to when they needed a play. At least 338 times we heard "Faulk with the first down," and at least 33 times we also heard "Touchdown Kevin Faulk."
For the change of pace, receiving back and third down back role since 2000, the Patriots employed J.R. Redmond 00, Kevin Faulk 00-09, Woodhead 10-12, Bolden 12-15, Vereen 13-14, Dion Lewis 15-16, James White 16-21, Rex Burkhead 17-20. The have only been few change of pace backs: Redmond, Faulk, Woodhead, Vereen, White, Lewis, Burkhead, Bolden. And maybe J.J. Taylor can be included in this list.
NBC Boston wrote, "As runners, Faulk and White are almost identically . . . average. Faulk, though, was given more opportunity in that role (third down back). He was a second-round pick in 1999 and had the lead-back gig during Bill Belichick's first season in New England in 2000. Though his job morphed into that of a third-down specialist, he finished his 13-year career with 864 attempts for 3,607 yards (a 4.17 yards-per-carry average) and 16 touchdowns. In 161 regular-season games, he averaged 5.36 carries per game.
Harris Danao of Bleacher Report wrote, "Never has a third-down running back ever been more important to a team then Kevin Faulk. Faulk was known never to talk, celebrate or act out. He has been behind many running backs in his career (Corey Dillion, Antwoin Smith and Laurence Maroney) and never has a public complaint been issued."
Then there is what Bill Belichick has said about Faulk. Bill said, "Well, I mean that’s a pretty high bar. You’re talking about Kevin Faulk. We have guys like James White or [Shane] Vereen going back that had similar roles and had production. Kevin’s pretty special. As I said this summer, I think many impressive things about Kevin, amongst them would be that I thought he played his best football in the biggest games, the most critical situations, the most critical plays. The times when we need him the most is when he came through with some of his best plays."
Belichick would continue, "Instead of sometimes trying to make a role different, instead of embracing the role that your team wants you to have and needs you to have, some players want a role that they want to have and then sometimes that’s a little bit of a conflict. I think Kevin was a great example of coming in here he started off as a returner and was a great runner, but kind of worked his way into more of a third-down sub back but he always had good run skills and he had a lot of good runs for us. He was great in the passing game, he was great in the return game when we needed him, he was a great leader."
Lastly there's one more place people are going to turn to, so here's what Wikipedia says about Faulk. "Dubbed the Patriots' "Swiss Army knife" because of his multitude of tools and versatility, he played a wide variety of roles on the team. Besides his primary position as running back, he also played some as a wide receiver, special teams as a gunner and a return specialist. He was rarely the team's feature back, but was adept at catching the ball, blocking, and running as needed. In 2016, he was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.[8]"
You know who else has been called a Swiss Army knife? The under appreciated Brandon Boldon, In fact, I would say Bolden is a lesser version of Faulk. Since thus article is about Faulk I'll keep this short but here is what Ryan Spagnoli wrote about Bolden January 10, 2022: "The “big brother” of the Patriots’ running back room looks to continue to be a Swiss army knife for the Patriots offense."
Faulk was many things and played many roles but with how much time has passed and with how much the players have accomplished since then, it was only fitting to honor the guy when people show they forgot what he meant to the franchise.
Siting:
https://www.patspulpit.com/2017/3/2/14787040/17-years-new-england-patriots-analyzing-running-backs-bill-belichick-blount-white-lewis-faulk-dillon
https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2016/09/17/bill-belichick-explains-why-kevin-faulk-was-such-a-special-player/
https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/patriots/great-patriots-debates-kevin-faulk-vs-james-white
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/580859-new-england-patriots-kevin-faulks-legecy-and-future
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Faulk
No comments:
Post a Comment