There's nothing that Bill Belichick values more than versatility. Over the course of his Patriots tenure, we've seen the hooded head coach deploy offensive lineman and linebackers as receivers, put Julian Edelman in the secondary, and have Troy Brown line up under center as a quarterback. Heck, he even had Doug Flutie drop kick an extra point back in 2006. 

Over the course of this season, Belichick has seen the development of another two-way player in New England. With season-ending injuries to James Develin and Jakob Johnson, New England's depth a fullback vanished and, in turn, Elandon Roberts found a new role. The fourth-year linebacker has lined up as the fullback on a number of occasions this season, including four times in Sunday's Week 12 win over Dallas. With each rep, Belichick and company are more impressed with how he's taken ahold of the challenge. 

"Elandon's got a very physical style of play, and he's got a good skill set," Belichick told reporters during his Tuesday conference call, via NESN.com. "He can run. He's a very compact guy with good lower-body strength and leverage and power. I think we've all seen that on the defensive side of the ball and in the kicking game. We lost a couple fullbacks here on our roster with James Develin and Jak, so we've used Elandon some at fullback. He had a big block in the (Dallas) game at the end of the game in the four-minute offense — probably one of the best blocks we've had all year."

The block that Belichick referenced in his conference call came with about 90 seconds to play in the game on Sunday. New England was bleeding out the clock and gave the ball to Sony Michel on a second-and-5 attempt from the Dallas 20 yard line. Roberts was able to clean out a lane for Michel, who then took it 12 yards down the field. 

"He does everything you ask him to do," said offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. "We've asked him to play a lot of different roles. I think he played in the kicking game a number of snaps, on defense, on offense — whatever he can do to help the team. He's got a great attitude. He's physical. He's aggressive. He loves contact and hitting, and he made a few really important blocks that would have made James Develin very proud towards the end of the (Cowboys) game there. We have a lot of confidence in him in that (personnel) grouping."

Not only did Roberts' performance help spring the Patriots running game into one of their best showings of the season against Dallas, but the return of starting left tackle Isaiah Wynn also seemed to have improved their efficiency. With injuries to receiver Phillip Dorsett and Mohamed Sanu, along with the inexperience of rookie's N'Keal Harry and Jakobi Meyers, the Patriots will need to lean on the running game at times to put up points offensively. As they enter the final leg of the regular season, the unit seems to be shaping into a group that may be able to answer the bell.