The Patriots ground their way through a very difficult showing in Tampa Bay on Sunday in Week 10, pulling out a win over the Buccaneers to win their seventh straight game and run their record to 8-2, tops in the AFC. While the big-play performance of rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson (147 yards on 14 attempts) highlighted a remarkable day for the offense, there is a nagging concern tugging at the running game.
Henderson was great on his big plays. But with Rhamondre Stevenson out because of a toe injury, the run game was mostly stifled outside of the obviously hugely impactful touchdown runs of 55 and 69 yards from Henderson. Those two runs went for 124 yards, though, and the other 25 Patriots runs went for 42 yards.
It was truly an all-or-nothing performance from the running game. Making matters worse was the fact that Stevenson’s replacement, Terrell Jennings, went out with a knee injury in the first half. Making matters even worse than that is the fact that the Patriots have a short week on hand, facing the Jets on Thursday night in Foxboro.
Patriots Not Revealing Rhamondre Stevenson Details
The Patriots have been tight-lipped on the status of Stevenson and the progress he is making toward a return. Asked about Stevenson–and Jennings–on Monday, coach Mike Vrabel was still less than forthcoming.
“Terrell’s being evaluated, and we’ll see where he is,” he said. “Again, today’s a walk-through, we’ll try to do our best with the injury report. We’ll see what he’s able to do. I would say the same for all those guys that weren’t available for the game yesterday.
“They’re working extremely hard, and we’ll see what they can do at the walk-thru. They’ll probably do a little bit more, and then we’ll try to evaluate so we can make some decisions for the game.”
Blocking Downfield Helped Break Big Patriots Runs
As for Henderson, Vrabel was pleased with how the Patriots rookie handled himself on Sunday and was equally pleased with the growth in an area in which the Pats had struggled: run blocking. The team had been waiting to break off a big run, and it finally came to fruition.
Also of note: The Patriots are making more and more use of Khyiris Tonga as a blocker.
“We got into the second level, Mack (Hollins) blocked the safety and we ran away from the post safety. And then I thought we were able to get him to the edge,” Vrabel said.
“I thought that Hoop [Austin Hooper] and Will [Campbell] did a good job of getting the edge. And then [Khyiris] Tonga was able to get out on the safety, and TreVeyon did everything else. So, it was a tough sledding on a lot of those runs. But again, if you’re able to stick with it and you’re able to break a couple, that helps.”
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