It’s time the Patriots go back to using James White heavily

The New England Patriots found spots for James White to capitalize against the Cardinals. That needs to happen more.

It felt like, during the latter years of Tom Brady’s tenure with the New England Patriots, the future Hall of Fame quarterback used shifty running back James White to bail the offense out when the unit was in a rut.

White was always there leaking out of the backfield with his sure hands to pick up a crucial first down on 3rd and 8. You wanted to neutralize Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman? That’s fine! Here’s White to catch six balls for 80 yards and two touchdowns.

In 2020? That’s hardly been the case. But there are a lot of reasons why. The early going of White’s campaign was derailed following the death of his father in a tragic car crash (thankfully, his mother, who was also involved, survived). Therefore. in addition to a run-first quarterback in Cam Newton taking over the offense, Rex Burkhead carved out a bigger role for himself when White missed some time.

But now Newton has a much better grasp of the system (though it doesn’t appear that way), Burkhead is unfortunately out for the year with a knee injury, and White has gotten the most consistent playing time he has all season. Time to unleash the crafty veteran.

White’s first touchdown of 2020 came against the Cardinals on Sunday, and he managed to score two on just six touches. His yardage numbers were nothing to write home about, but he was hardly used in the passing game (he caught one ball on a terrible throw from Newton and lost a yard on what was supposed to be a screen), and that’s where he does most of his damage.

The Patriots have a power runner and undisputed No. 1 running back in Damien Harris. They have a reliable No. 1 receiver in Jakobi Meyers and a solid No. 2 in Damiere Byrd. The nuts and bolts are there. Now it’s time to get secondary guys like White involved to expand the offense. He just needs more play designs that get him in open space.

This is hardly the same offense it was two years ago, but it’s not like opposing defenses have nobody to focus on, leaving White to get chewed up and spit out. Josh McDaniels just needs to pick his spots appropriately.

There are five weeks left in the season. White just had his breakout game, and the offense is in dire need of a playmaker to salvage their postseason hopes. Thankfully, Meyers has emerged and Byrd continues to make plays. Harris providing stability in the backfield has given the Patriots more of an identity in the running game.

Using White as the change-of-pace guy and a bailout option for Newton, who’s in need of one much more often than we’d like to admit, is the offense’s recipe for success as they enter what feels like a do-or-die stretch of football.

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