LeGarrette Blount was a wrecking ball. He didn't just run; he collided. Watching him in a New England Patriots jersey was like watching a heavy-duty truck navigate a crowded parking lot, except the truck was intentionally aiming for every luxury sedan in sight. Most people remember the hurdles or the touchdown celebrations with the Minutemen behind the end zone, but the real story of Blount in Foxborough is about a specific brand of situational football that basically doesn't exist in the NFL anymore.
He was a "fixer."
When Bill Belichick had a problem—usually a physical defense or a freezing rainstorm in January—he turned to Blount. It wasn't always pretty. Sometimes it was just three yards and a cloud of black rubber pellets from the Gillette Stadium turf. But then, suddenly, he'd rip off a 40-yarder where he'd literally carry a safety on his back for the final ten. It was brutal. It was effective. Honestly, it was the most "Patriot Way" thing imaginable because it was about utility over ego.
The Weird Path to Foxborough
You have to remember how he got there. Blount wasn't some blue-chip prospect the Patriots groomed from day one. He was a guy with "baggage" who had been through the ringer in Tampa Bay and was eventually traded from the Buccaneers to the Patriots in 2013 for Jeff Demps and a seventh-round pick. Think about that. A seventh-rounder.
New England has this reputation for taking "reclamation projects," but Blount wasn't a project. He was a finished product that just needed the right environment. In Tampa, he was inconsistent. In New England, he became a specialist.
He left for Pittsburgh in 2014, which was a disaster. He famously walked off the field before a game was even over because he wasn't getting touches. Most teams would have blacklisted him right then and there. Not Belichick. The Patriots scooped him back up off waivers just days later. It felt like a glitch in the Matrix. He went from being "toxic" in the Steelers locker room to scoring three touchdowns in the AFC Championship game against Indianapolis just a few months later.
That 2016 Season Was Absolute Insanity
If you want to talk about the peak of the LeGarrette Blount New England Patriots era, you have to look at 2016. The numbers are stupid. He rushed for 1,161 yards, which is solid, but the 18 rushing touchdowns? That's a franchise record.
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He was 250 pounds of pure North-South aggression. In an era where the league was moving toward "scat-backs" and pass-catching specialists like Dion Lewis or James White, Blount was the throwback. He was the hammer.
What's wild is that he did this while Tom Brady was serving a four-game suspension to start the year. The Patriots needed a ground game to survive with Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett under center, and Blount just put the team on his shoulders. He didn't dance. He didn't look for the sideline. He just hit the hole.
Why the "Bruiser" Archetype Worked
Football nerds love to talk about "efficiency metrics" and "yards after contact," but with Blount, it was more psychological.
- Defensive Fatigue: By the fourth quarter, linebackers didn't want to hit him anymore. It hurts to tackle a guy that big twenty times a game.
- Clock Management: He was the ultimate "four-minute offense" weapon. If the Patriots had a lead, Blount killed the clock.
- The Hurdle: For a big man, he had weirdly nimble feet. Seeing a 250-pound man jump completely over a 6-foot-tall cornerback is something that defies physics.
The Indianapolis Colts Nightmare
If you ask any Colts fan from that era about LeGarrette Blount, they might start twitching. He absolutely destroyed them. In the 2013 Divisional Round, he ran for 166 yards and four touchdowns. Then, in the 2014 AFC Championship (the infamous Deflategate game), he went for 148 yards and three scores.
It wasn't just that he beat them; he humiliated them. He made professional athletes look like high schoolers.
The Patriots' coaching staff knew the Colts played a "speed-based" defense that struggled with power. So, they didn't overthink it. They just ran "Power O" and "Lead" plays until the Colts gave up. It was coaching malpractice to do anything else. Blount was the perfect tool for that specific job. He was a situational superstar.
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Why He Left (And Why It Made Sense)
Business is business in New England. After that massive 2016 season, Blount wanted to get paid. The Patriots, true to form, didn't want to pay a 30-year-old running back big money. They offered him a "tender" that was pretty low, and he eventually signed with the Philadelphia Eagles.
A lot of fans were mad. People thought the offense would crumble without that goal-line presence. But that's the thing about the Patriots—they value the role, not necessarily the player. They moved on to a committee approach.
The irony? Blount went to Philly and won another Super Bowl—against the Patriots. He ran for 90 yards and a touchdown in Super Bowl LII. Even when he was playing against them, he was still doing exactly what New England taught him to do: find the soft spot in the defense and exploit it with violence.
The Legacy of Number 29
Blount finished his career with three Super Bowl rings. Two with New England, one with Philly. He’s one of the few players who can say they were a core component of a dynasty while being a journeyman at the same time.
He wasn't a Hall of Famer. He won't have his number retired. But if you look at the most important Patriots games of the 2010s, he is everywhere. He provided the physical identity that allowed Tom Brady to be Tom Brady. You can't throw for 400 yards if the defense doesn't fear the run, and nobody feared a runner more than they feared Blount in a cold January game at Gillette.
Honestly, the most impressive thing wasn't the stats. It was the fact that he fit in. For a guy who had some high-profile outbursts early in his career, he became a quintessential "team first" guy in Massachusetts. He bought into the meetings, the film study, and the grueling practices.
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Real-World Takeaways from the Blount Era
Looking back at the LeGarrette Blount New England Patriots run offers some pretty clear lessons for how modern football (and even business) works. It’s about fit over talent.
- Specialization Beats Generalization: Blount wasn't the best pass-catcher. He wasn't the fastest. But he was the best at being big and mean. The Patriots didn't try to make him a 3rd-down back; they let him be a closer.
- Culture is Contextual: People called him a "problem" in Pittsburgh. He was a leader in New England. The environment dictates the behavior.
- Know Your Value: Blount knew when to walk. He took his 18-touchdown season and parlayed it into a deal elsewhere because he knew the Patriots' internal cap wouldn't budge.
If you're looking to replicate that kind of success, whether you're building a fantasy roster or a corporate team, stop looking for the "best" person. Look for the person who solves your specific, most annoying problem. For Bill Belichick, that problem was "how do we get four yards when the weather is trash and the defense is stacked?"
The answer was always LeGarrette Blount.
To really appreciate what he did, go back and watch the highlights of the 2014 AFC Championship. Don't look at the ball. Look at the defenders' shoulders when they try to hit him in the second half. They stop lowering their heads. They start reaching with their arms. That's the Blount effect. It’s a disappearing art in a league that’s becoming more about 7-on-7 passing schemes.
Next time you see a massive running back subbed in on 3rd and short, remember #29. He was the last of a dying breed of "pure power" backs who actually mattered in the Super Bowl era.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts:
- Study the "LeGarrette Blount" archetype when evaluating incoming rookie RBs; look for high "Yards After Contact" (YAC) combined with low fumble rates rather than just 40-yard dash times.
- Review 2013-2016 Patriots film to see how offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia used "angle blocking" to create the tiny creases Blount needed to get his momentum started.
- Check the historical betting lines from that era; the Patriots were statistically more likely to cover the spread in high-wind or snowy games specifically because their rushing EPA (Expected Points Added) stayed stable while opponents' passing EPA plummeted.