Sportsnaut
Mike Vrabel and the New England Patriots picked up another win on Sunday to improve to 4-2 on the season. The Buffalo Bills lost on Monday Night Football, too, which means the Patriots are now at the top of the AFC East.
Even though the Patriots picked up another win, it wasn’t the prettiest performance, especially from the running backs. Quarterback Drake Maye was the team’s leading rusher with just 28 yards- that is simply unacceptable and will not be good enough.
The most surprising part about the Patriots’ lack of success on the ground is Week 6 is that the Saints have a mediocre run defense. Even after holding the Patriots to 73 rushing yards, the Saints are 17th in rushing yards allowed per game.
After the game, Vrabel spoke on his team’s disappointing ground game.
“We’ll keep working. We’ve had some good runs, we’ve had some pitiful ones, too,” Vrabel said on Monday, via a team-provided transcript. “We just have to make sure that there’s a consistency, that we’re coaching the details, that we’re coaching the demeanor, understand that it’s going to be some dirty runs in there.
“We’re going to have to make a guy miss or break a tackle, things that we’ve done throughout the season, and be able to do all those while taking care of the football and trying to move the line of scrimmage. Probably wished we had some more production in the run game there at the end.”
Rookie TreVeyon Henderson rushed 9 times for just 27 yards, while Rhamondre Stevenson rushed 13 times for 18 yards. The Patriots have not had an individual running back rush for 50+ yards since Stevenson ran for 54 in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins. However, Stevenson has also continued to have fumbling problems, which certainly hasn’t helped.
It’s surprising to see a Vrabel-led team be so ineffective at running the ball. The team will have to figure something out eventually, as Maye cannot carry the entire offseason into the postseason.
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