New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots have performed well over their last five contests, but their running game has raised some concerns.
Pro Football Focus currently ranks New England’s running game near the bottom, placing it second to last.
Head coach Mike Vrabel understands that the running game must improve if the Patriots want to continue winning. He told reporters on Wednesday that the team needs to keep working on it consistently.
“Just keep working at it,” Vrabel said, via 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Alex Barth. “It has to be better at the line of scrimmage, at the second level, and try to finish and break some of these. We’ve had some good runs, but not enough of them. We’ve got to stop talking about being one guy away, one block away.”
As New England continues to work on enhancing its rushing attack week by week, running back Antonio Gibson suffered a season-ending torn ACL during its 23-20 victory against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, dealing the Patriots a significant setback.
With Gibson out, rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson and starting running back Rhamondre Stevenson will need to shoulder a much greater workload. Hopefully, Henderson and Stevenson can turn around New England’s running game this week when it takes on the New Orleans Saints, who have given up 122.2 rushing yards a game this season.
