New England Patriots: Josh McDaniels praises Sony Michel

New England Patriots offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, recently praised running back Sony Michel.

After a bit of a slow start to the season, the New England Patriots seem to be back on track. The last two weeks, the Patriots have looked very good, and their offense seems to have it all figured out once again.

The loss to the Detroit Lions was a real eye-opener, as the offense looked awful against a mediocre defense. One of the reasons for the turn around on offense has been the emergence of Sony Michel.

As one of the Patriots’ two first-round picks, Michel was expected to contribute right away this season. After missing the entire preseason and Week 1, Michel has seemingly found his groove the last two weeks. Recently, Josh McDaniels praised Michel. Here’s what he had to say via NESN.com.

"“Sony’s a tough kid,” Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said Monday in a conference call with reporters. “He runs hard, certainly willing to engage in contact, and he was at Georgia. I like the way he finishes runs, and he’s a tough guy to bring down. His run style, I think, fits what we try to do here, and hopefully he’ll continue to improve and get better and make progress as we go forward.”"

After starting to see his role increase against the Detroit Lions, Michel had his breakout performance against the Miami Dolphins in Week 4. In the win, Michel totaled 112 rushing yards and one touchdown.

Following up that impressive performance was another solid game for Michel on a short week against the Indianapolis Colts. Despite a big workload against the Dolphins, Michel carried the ball 18 times for 98 yards and scored another touchdown.

Michel has done a really nice job filling in the shoes of Dion Lewis, who was a notable loss this offseason. Lewis was nearly a 1,000-yard rusher for the Patriots last season, and that is not easy to replace. However, Michel looks like he will have a chance to reach the 1,000-yard rushing mark as a rookie if he is able to keep this up.

Even though the Patriots have a dynamic passing offense when healthy, balance on offense is extremely important. Michel is proving to be a hard-nosed runner, and he has certainly earned the praise from McDaniels the last two weeks.