Quite the contrary. Although he might have been accused earlier in the season of being prone to performing an old soft-shoe routine when he carried the ball, Maroney took a different approach against Jacksonville, running with purposeful strides for 122 yards on 22 carries, including a 1-yard touchdown.
Which brought Maroney back to the original question: Where did that kind of running come from?
"It's been there all the time," he said. "I do have the power; you just have to know when to use it and when not to use it and what type of game it's going to be. That was a physical, downhill game that deserved a downhill running style."
With wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour and an arctic front expected to plunge temperatures into single digits, Maroney expects he will need to take the same approach in tomorrow's AFC Championship game against the San Diego Chargers, whose defense forced a league-leading 48 turnovers (including 30 interceptions) during the regular season.
"They have a real physical defense, real big guys out there," Maroney said. "It's not going to be too many moves you can make out there on the field. It's going to be a one cut and downhill kind of game."
That might be easier said than done against the Chargers.
"It's going to be a challenge for us because they like to strip, they like to get turnovers, they like to cause fumbles," Maroney said. "So, hopefully, our stats stay the same and we don't give them the ball and give them opportunities to put points on the board and just keep the ball in our possession."
Maroney's 100-yard rushing effort against the Jaguars was his third in the last four games. The 122 yards ranked as the third most in Patriots playoff history behind Curtis Martin's 166 in a 1996 Divisional triumph over Pittsburgh and Corey Dillon's 144 against Indianapolis in the 2004 AFC Championship game.
And while on the surface it appeared Maroney ran with more authority, coach Bill Belichick seemed to disagree.
