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Belichick: Would take a lot for Lewis to get White's passing-down role

David Butler II / USA TODAY Sports

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is in no hurry to mess with an offensive formula that has his team alone atop the AFC at 7-1, even with one of last season's standout players nearing a return.

Running back Dion Lewis is practicing and appears ready to be activated from the physically unable to perform (PUP) list any day, but Belichick said Lewis may not get his old job back.

Lewis was a breakout star in a passing-down role for the Patriots last season, but tore his ACL in November and hasn't played since.

James White took over as the passing-down running back when Lewis went down, and has been impressive, if unspectacular.

Belichick suggested Friday he's committed to keeping Lewis in that role.

"I think James White is a good player. What he does is good. Could somebody do it better? I don't know. But it would take quite a bit, I would say, based on where he is and how consistent he's been with what he's done," Belichick said, according to ESPN's Mike Reiss. "It would take somebody playing pretty good to be better than him."

This could be a case of Belichick trying to provide both White and Lewis with a little more motivation, or it could be that Belichick knows his team is in prime position to earn a playoff bye and has no need to rush Lewis back.

Either way, having two passing-down backs healthy on the roster is a nice problem for the Patriots to have.

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