BenJarvus Green-Ellis had more offensive "tocuhes" than anyone else on the Patriots this season. (AP)

With the Patriots off this weekend and the postseason ready to begin, we’ve got the Patriots Positional Playoff Preview, a weeklong, position-by-position look at the Patriots and how they look heading into the postseason. First up, the running backs.

Depth chart: BenJarvus Green-Ellis (181 carries, 667 yards, 3.7 yards per carry, 11 touchdowns), Stevan Ridley (87 carries, 441 yards, 5.1 yards per carry, one touchdown), Danny Woodhead (77 carries, 351 yards, 4.6 yards per carry, one touchdown), Kevin Faulk (17 carries, 57 yards, 3.4 yards per carry), Shane Vereen (15 carries, 57 yards, 3.8 yards per carry, one touchdown), Lousaka Polite.

Overview: The Patriots’ running game has evolved over the course of the 2011 season, going from a system that featured Green-Ellis almost exclusively for the first half of the season to one that’s been more rotation based over the second half of the season. Whether that was because of injury (Green-Ellis was slowed by a toe problem roughly two-thirds of the way through the season) or the fact that they’ve seen something in Ridley that allowed them to feature him more frequently, but with the playoffs looming, it’s clear that New England will go to multiple backs on a regular basis.

While it’s going to be Green-Ellis and Ridley doing most of the traditional, between-the-tackles work for the Patriots, expect Woodhead to continue to get the majority of reps as the third-down, changeup back, while Faulk will fill in as needed. In addition, look for Polite’s role to grow a bit, as he looked solid working as a fullback. (Based on his injury history and the fact that he’s a rookie, look for Vereen to be the odd man out this postseason.)

Whoever does get the reps once the playoffs begin, it figures to be a tough postseason for the New England running backs: Of the five other teams in the AFC field, four of them — Baltimore (second), Houston (fourth), Pittsburgh (eighth) and Cincinnati (10th) — are in the top ten in every major category when it comes to rushing defense.

Best Moment: The performance of Green-Ellis in New England’s Oct. 9 win over the Jets. In that one, the back put on a show all afternoon, but was at his best down the stretch. With the Patriots needing to kill some clock in the second half, Green-Ellis was Corey Dillon, circa 2004. He had 85 yards in the second half and allowed New England to engineer 11-play and 13-play drives to keep the clock moving and close out the game. On the 13-yard drive, Green-Ellis got the ball on nine of the plays and came away with 59 of the 69 yards (including runs of 15, 14, eight and seven yards) that led to a 28-yard field goal from Stephen Gostkowski to make it a two-score game with just over a minute left. He finished with a career-high 136 yards on 27 carries.

Worst Moment: Much of the problem was situational — the Patriots fell behind and had to throw to get back into the game — but New England was unable to get anything going on the ground in an Oct. 30 loss to the Steelers in Pittsburgh. The 43 rushing yards from the Patriots as a team represented a season-low, as Faulk (32 yards on six carries) was the only running back to finish in double digits in terms of total yardage.

By the numbers, courtesy of Nuggetpalooza: The Patriots longest rush at home this year was just 21 yards, the shortest longest run in any home season by Patriots runners since they began tracking the stat in 1991. Only three AFC teams since 2000 had a shorter long run at home than the Patriots this year: the 2002 Colts (20), the 2001 Raiders (20) and 2009 Chargers (20).

Money quote: “Benny, he’s a great guy to block for. He’s going to read the play, he’s going to find the right hole. He’s not going to fumble. He’s going to do the right thing. He’s going to give you everything he’s got. He’s a great guy to block for.” – Offensive lineman Logan Mankins on Green-Ellis