Patriots | Bill Belichick has faith in Stevan Ridley
Tue, 05 Nov 2013 09:55:00 -0800

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick did not bench RB Stevan Ridley after his fumble to open the second half in the team's Week 9 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers like he had earlier in the year. "I thought Stevan did a good job," Belichick said. "It was really a tremendous play by (Troy) Polamalu. He did a great job. Stevan caught the ball with his back to the defender. As he turned, Troy came in there and instead of making a tackle he was able to dislodge the ball. He anticipated Ridley turning up and Troy made a good play on it. I don't think Stevan really had much of a chance to do anything but turn. Sometimes turnovers are a result of real good defensive plays." Ridley ran for 60 more yards in the half and went over 100 yards rushing for the first time this year.

Ridley has come on strong lately, and it's not a coincidence that it's happened with the returns of Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola. The return of Shane Vereen in Week 11 will complicate the backfield a bit, but i'll mainly hurt Brandon Bolden and not Ridley, as Ridley has rarely been involved in the passing attack.

Source: NESN.com - Doug Kyed