Pass-happy Pats surprisingly effective on ground

Laurence Maroney leads an underrated Patriots' ground attack with 467 rushing yards this season. Heinz Kluetmeier/SI

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They have a wide receiver who's an MVP candidate on pace to break Jerry Rice's NFL single-season record for touchdown catches and is probably headed for the Hall of Fame.

They have a quarterback who's definitely headed for the Hall of Fame, an MVP candidate and on pace to break Peyton Manning's records for touchdown passes and passer rating -- not to mention Kenny Anderson's NFL record for completion percentage.

In their most recent win, they ran 28 pass plays and one running play in the first half, and their longest run of the night was fashioned by their quarterback.

And despite all of this, Bill Belichick knows that if his Patriots are going to win their fourth Super Bowl in seven years, they're going to have to run the ball. And even though few have noticed, they are quietly one of the NFL's best rushing teams. They're not flashy and they're not explosive and their running backs aren't going to make any highlight shows, but when New England needs to run the football, it can.

That comes in handy playing in the Northeast, in the wind and snow and rain. And it also comes in handy in the playoffs, when the Patriots will almost certainly be home in Foxboro until the Super Bowl.

With five games left in the regular season, the team with a capable but anonymous cast of running backs is somehow ranked seventh in the NFL in rushing. The Patriots are averaging 124 rushing yards per game, the franchise's highest since coach Raymond Berry's 1988 team, with rookie tailback John Stephens.

New England's leading rusher is Laurence Maroney, who doesn't have a 20-yard run all year and is averaging 10 carries in his last five games.

Its second-leading rusher is Sammy Morris, who had just two games with more than 54 yards before his season ended with a chest injury in mid-October.

Its third-leading rusher is Kevin Faulk, who has gained zero yards in his last two games, followed by Heath Evans, who is averaging fewer than three carries per game.

Yet the Patriots have more rushing yards this year than the Chargers and LaDainian Tomlinson, the Ravens and Willis McGahee, the Colts and Joseph Addai and the Eagles and Brian Westbrook.

Somehow.

Maroney is on pace for 679 yards, which would be the lowest total by the leading rusher of a team ranked seventh or higher in rushing in 10 years, since Greg Hill led the Chiefs with 550 yards in 1997.

But when the Patriots do get challenged -- later in the regular season as they try to become the NFL's first 16-0 team and then during their inevitable postseason run -- there will be times they have to run to win or to run out the clock to protect a lead.

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