The Patriots lost one of their most experienced running backs, Antonio Gibson, against the Buffalo Bills Sunday, and he leaves a void in a position group that\u2019s already struggled through the first five weeks of the season.<\/p>\n
Could rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson find his footing as New England sees a friendlier set of foes through October and November?<\/p>\n
The Patriots enter Week 6 ranked 28th in yards per rushing attempt as a team. Their lack of production is a surprise because they look like they have the ingredients for a formidable ground game: a dual-threat quarterback in Drake Maye, an offensive line that looked stoutly capable of blocking for runners over the summer, and Henderson\u2019s dynamic preseason performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had some good runs, it\u2019s just not enough of them,\u201d Mike Vrabel said. \u201cNot enough doubt-digit runs that help your average. So again, I think that we\u2019ve got to stop talking about being one guy away, or one block away. I think that was a big theme from last week, and that will have to fix.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sure, not one guy away, but with one guy lost to an ACL tear, the pressure has to be on Henderson a bit more \u2013 especially considering Rhamondre Stevenson\u2019s continued fumbling tendencies.<\/p>\n
Monday morning, Vrabel discussed the rookie\u2019s growing pains in pass protection:<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, we practice it. I mean, you have to practice it, and again, we believe in TreVeyon. We’ve seen him protect a bunch in college, identifying who to block, then going to close the distance, coming to balance, not catching and all those things that are important. So, we’ll give him the tools, we’ll practice with him, he’s willing and I’m confident that that will continue to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henderson\u2019s issues picking up the blitz have shown up in game tape early this season. The steepness of the learning curve is quite the departure from the game Henderson showed in college. Executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf singled out that part of his game the night they drafted him last April.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as a third down standpoint, he’s a really good pass protector,\u201d he said at that time.<\/p>\n
Henderson has played 39% of snaps through five weeks, considerably less than Stevenson, who has played 55%. Their running production has been pretty similar, though: both backs are averaging 3.7 and 3.8 yards per attempt, respectively. According to NFL NextGen Stats, that ranks the two backs at 32nd and 33rd among others in the league, a few notches behind New York\u2019s Cam Skattebo, but ahead of say, Tampa Bay’s Bucky Irving. Unfortunately, those guys\u2019 total yardage is twice what Henderson has tallied, and still 100 yards greater than Stevenson\u2019s season total.<\/p>\n
Stevenson has also actively hurt the team with his fumbling habit. He’s turned the ball over three times in the last three games, with no tidy explanation or reasoning.<\/p>\n
As Vrabel previously noted, Henderson\u2019s pass protection mistakes aren\u2019t for a lack of trying, but more, a lack of experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s different, for sure. These guys, they work a lot. This is what they get paid for, to get to the quarterback. It\u2019s something I want to continue to grow at. I knew it was going to be a challenge coming in,\u201d Henderson told WEEI at his locker. \u201cBut, just being able to get reps out there in the game, and in practice, it\u2019s helping me a lot. I\u2019m learning a lot, and I\u2019m definitely trying to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Patriots travel to the Big Easy Sunday to face a Saints team who earned their first win of the season over the New York Giants Sunday. New Orleans has an average run defense, but they brought the blitz against quarterback Jaxson Dart on a hefty 36% of dropbacks<\/a> in that win.<\/p>\n In order to keep a balanced offense, the Patriots will need to unlock Henderson\u2019s speed, and he\u2019ll need to gain trust in pass protection \u2013 quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying my best to just earn a role on this team, wherever the coaches see fit, whether it\u2019s offense, special teams, running the ball or pass protection,\u201d Henderson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Patriots lost one of their most experienced running backs, Antonio Gibson, against the Buffalo Bills Sunday, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-198668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}