The last time New England Patriots running back Sony Michel faced the Chiefs, he had a career-high 29 carries for 113 yards and two touchdowns. That was in last season's AFC Championship Game, when Michel was a rookie. At 10-2 in the 2019 season, the Patriots need all they can get from Michel in order to beat Kansas City next Sunday.
The second-year running back out of Georgia is undoubtedly going through a bit of a sophomore slump. After a promising rookie campaign that saw the 5-foot-11, 215-pound running back rush for almost 1,00 yards, Michel has regressed only rushing for 645 yards on a not-so-good 3.5 yards per carry.
Naturally, Michel's regression can also be applied to the Patriots rushing offense as a whole. Last year, the Patriots were the fifth best rushing offense in the NFL. This year? They've slipped all the way down to No. 21.
The Patriots defense may be great but so is Patrick Mahomes and if New England wants to keep up on offense, they'll need to be firing on all cylinders and Michel is an important cog in that machine.
Michel has recorded less than 50 rushing yards in four of his last six games. Fortunately for Michel, the Chiefs have one of the worst rush defenses in the NFL ranking 30th of 32 teams which gives the second-year pro the perfect opportunity to get his season back on track.
Michel's carries per game have steadily gone down throughout the season but with Brady not getting the greatest production out of any wide receiver not named Julian Edelman, perhaps New England will look to rely more on the run against the Chiefs.
Last game against the Texans, the former Georgia Bulldog rushed the ball only 10 times — one of his lowest totals all season. To be fair, the Patriots dug themselves in a hole and thus had to pass the ball and play catch up.
Michel's lack of pass-catching skills allowed fellow running back James White to steal the show. White ended up out-carrying Michel 14-10 and also added a team-high eight catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns.
However, the Chiefs are much better at defending the pass than they are the run so that might give Michel, a bigger, more physical back a leg up on his backfield mates.
Either way, the Patriots, coming off a big loss to the Texans need to get back on track. They have the perfect opportunity to do that at home against the Chiefs but will likely need a consistent rushing attack from Sony Michel to do so.
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