According to the difficulty he had lowering his shoulder to run the ball in 2008 wasn’t due to a lack of effort, it was
due to the broken bone in his shoulder which hampered his ability to perform. During a recent charity event held by Patriots running back Kevin Faulk, Maroney told reporters that the injury happened in the second game of the season. “I had a broken bone, I was trying to play with, and it’s kind of hard to play and not tell people what’s going on,†Maroney said according to the Boston Herald. “I challenge anybody in this crowd to try and play football with a broken bone in your shoulder and you tell me how long you are going to last out there.” Maroney said he looks forward to playing alongside veteran RB this year. Maroney sees Taylor as a mentor similar to former Patriot Corey Dillon. “I look at him as a replacement for Corey Dillon,” Maroney told the Herald. “He’s somebody you can just learn from and a great guy to be around.” Playing in the NFL is tough, playing through injury is even tougher. Maroney and Taylor have both faced criticism for their injuries. Now they’ll have each other to carry the load if one needs time to recover. The Patriots can only hope the Taylor-Maroney combination is nearly as successful as the Dillon-Maroney combination. In Dillon’s final season, he paired with Maroney to gain over 1,500 yards on 374 carries and 20 of the team’s 40 touchdowns on offense.
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