Fantasy Football: 6 Things We Learned in Week 4

The Patriots Are a Running Team Now

The New England Patriots have a new look on offense in 2018. Despite featuring an all-time great quarterback in Tom Brady, the Pats have a new-found devotion to running the football.

The team made their intentions clear in the NFL Draft when they selected an offensive lineman and a running back with their two first-round picks. Now that their first-round running back is healthy, they are fully committing to him and to running the football.

It didn't work against the Detroit Lions, but the strategy paid off in their 38-7 rout over the Miami Dolphins. In the win, the Patriots called 24 run plays on first downs, compared to just 9 pass attempts. The positive game scripts certainly affected their play-calling decisions, but it was striking how often they called up run plays when they had Tom Brady standing right there.

For fantasy this led for huge games for both James White and Sony Michel, who both managed to finish in the top 15 at the position in PPR leagues. Michel dominated the carries with 25 to White's 8, but White played an important role in the passing game, catching 7 of 9 targets.

The question of "Which Patriots running back do I start?" has been answered -- it's both.