Ridley vs. Woodhead on 3rd and 4.

courtesy of bostonglobe.com

The impact of Stevan Ridley was immense in Sunday's contest with the Titans.  However, when the Patriots were driving for Gronk's TD in the second quarter, Danny Woodhead took most of the snaps out of the "Snow Huddle Offense" Slow-No-Huddle...idk I like Snow Huddle, especially come January and hopefully February 3rd.

So, anyway... Brady called a timeout before a 3rd and 4 in the redzone. Brady wanted the Ridley goal line package to execute a 3rd and 4 from inside the 10.

First play, handoff to Ridley that goes for 7 down to the 2.  He gave no hint of a cutback, and he hit the hole as hard as he could.

Second play, is a play action to Ridley that gives Gronkowski single coverage.  We all know what Gronk does to single coverage in the endzone...He spikes the living hell out of it.  Gronk held on for the catch, but beefed on the spike.  I am confident that he will have a chance to redeem himself. OR maybe we are looking at a new TD celebration...eh eh?

The point is that Ridley is the key to big plays off play action.  His presence on the field will dictate the responsibilities of defenses that wish to stop him.  Certainly the Titans were playing him a certain way, and Brady chose to take his chances with Ridley over Woodhead.  This TD put the Patriots in command 21-3 before the half.

Even if it seemed as if he was alternating between being bottled up and breaking loose, he did enough with his opportunities to make up for it.  Ridley's success rate on his running plays was certainly better than 50%.   Ridley had 7 of his 21 rushing attempts go for less than 2 yards.  So, I would put his "success rate" at 2/3 or 67%.  Meaning that 2/3 of his rushing attempts gained 3 or more yards.  He also had 7 rushing attempts that went for 10+ yards, so the statistics break down evenly.