Larry Brown Sports

Baltimore Ravens safety Bernard Pollard is known to many as “The Patriot Killer.” When he was with the Kansas City Chiefs, Pollard was the guy who hit Brady’s knee and tore his ACL in 2008. In 2010, when he was with the Houston Texans, Pollard was in the general area of where Wes Welker ripped up his knee at the end of the season. Last year, he made the tackle on Rob Gronkowski that injured his ankle and made him close to a non-factor in the Super Bowl.

On Sunday, Pollard took out yet another Patriot with his helmet-to-helmet hit on running back Stevan Ridley. The hit was perfectly legal since Ridley was a ball carrier and not a receiver, but the whole “Patriot Killer” thing is starting to get kind of eery. What’s even more eery is that a writer named Steve Roney from Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic called the injury.

Calling it right now: Pollard takes out Stevan Ridley. RB is the only position he hasn’t decimated yet. Latest CSN: bit.ly/WcmLgF

— Steve Roney (@Steve_Roney) January 18, 2013

Coincidence or not, that is some pretty crazy stuff. Pollard has now taken out arguably the best Patriots player at every skill position on offense. He certainly took out their best quarterback in 2008 and tight end in 2012, and Welker and Ridley were probably the best at their position at the time of their injuries.

Whether you believe in curses and jinxes or not, I’m sure there are very few New England fans out there who get excited about the Patriots taking on a team that Pollard is on.

H/T SI Hot Clicks

Patriots running back Stevan Ridley is only in his second year with the team, but that doesn’t mean he can’t act as a team leader. The LSU product got his friends at California Christiania Republic to send him several onesies, and he convinced his teammates to put them on. From left-to-right in the pic above, you’re looking at Jeff Demps, Danny Woodhead, Shane Vereen, Brandon Bolden, Ridley, and James Devlin.

“It’s just kind of a small joke to try and get some smiles on faces around the locker room,” Ridley said, per the Boston Herald. “It’s a team thing. I tried to get my running backs coach (Ivan Fears) one but he wasn’t going for it. The running backs pulled together as a unit and like Bill (Belichick) says, it’s all about the team. I can’t be the only one, so I had to get the rest involved.

Teammates say Stevan Ridley looked like an angry Telletubby. I think they all look funny. But hey, when you’re underachieving for a season, why not try anything to get going?

Photo via Shane Vereen/Instagram

Fine-tuning your fantasy roster is critical to having success on a weekly basis. You can draft a good team, but with injuries and bye weeks, there is always room for more depth. With that in mind, we have four running backs to suggest as free agent pickups for week four of fantasy.

Stevan Ridley is a rookie running back for the Patriots. The LSU product drew attention when he scored three touchdowns in the first preseason game. He followed that up by gaining 111 total yards in the second preseason game. Though he didn’t see action in week one, he had two carries in week two. Last week he saw significant action in the second half of the Pats game against the Bills. Ridley ran for 42 yards on six carries and added an 8-yard catch. The Pats still have BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead in the running back rotation, but Ridley has earned his share of carries. If you have room for him, we suggest adding him. He could be the team’s primary back in a month or so — he’s just better than what New England has.

Montario Hardesty is a second-year running back for the Browns. He was taken in the second round by Cleveland last year but he tore his ACL in his first preseason game and missed the entire year. He’s back healthy and acted as Cleveland’s primary back week three with Peyton Hillis out sick, going for over 100 total yards. Hillis will be back, but Hardesty was so impressive in his first start that he almost assuredly has earned a timeshare with the Madden cover boy. We loved Hardesty’s physical running style in college and were impressed by his ability to break tackles. The talent is there, the Browns have a good enough line, and Hardesty will get enough carries to be a passable bye week fill-in on your fantasy team. Don’t expect the same production in week four as Hillis will likely be back, but 10 touches is possible.

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