New England Patriots: Pressure falls on James White

With Sony Michel getting hurt in the New England Patriots Week 7 matchup, all the pressure now falls on James White.

The New England Patriots narrowly escaped with a win in Week 7. They narrowly beat the Chicago Bears 38-31, but the Patriots suffered a big loss on Sunday afternoon.

Sony Michel went down and it wasn’t pretty. Michel’s leg was twisted in a way that human legs aren’t really supposed to. You may have noticed that the leg that was twisted is the same knee that Michel injured in college.

There is no timetable for Michel’s return so Patriots fans will just have to sit and wait.

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This is a big blow to the Patriots. Michel was having a great start to the season. He looked like he was about to become a major part of the Patriots offense.

Michel was raking up the yards and looked like he belonged in the NFL. He was able to make defenders miss on almost every single play. Now Michel has to presumably put everything on pause.

All eyes on James White

So that leaves one running back that started the season with the Patriots, James White. White is Tom Brady’s Mr. Reliable. Whenever Brady needs a first down he usually is looking for White.

Now White will have to establish himself as a true running back, something he hasn’t exactly done in his career.

White ended up being the Patriots leading rusher but wasn’t able to rack up the yards like Michel.

So now White has something to prove. We all know he is great at catching the ball out of the backfield, but can he be great running the ball?

White hasn’t eclipsed 171 rushing yards in a single season. Not exactly the most promising of stats. This season White already has 149 yards so he should have a new career high.

This is James White’s chance to show that he is the only running back that the New England Patriots need.