Pats Pulpit
Following a turnover-heavy Week 3 loss, the New England Patriots have turned their attention to an out-of-conference matchup with the Carolina Panthers. It will provide a prime opportunity for the Patriots to get back to .500 and win their first game at Gillette Stadium this season.
Here on Pats Pulpit, our focus this week both wrapped up the loss to Pittsburgh and prepared for the Panthers. For anything else not covered previously, let’s clean out the notebook. Welcome to this week’s edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.
As the New England Patriots offense takes the field Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, they may do so with running back Rhamondre Stevenson in the backfield.
Despite a pair of costly fumbles in a one score loss last week, head coach Mike Vrabel indicated Stevenson will not face any discipline in terms of playing time.
“We have different packages. I don’t know what the first package is, but if you’re asking me if Rhamondre [Stevenson] is on some sort of discipline, no. The discipline is we need our best players to play in a game and do their job and take care of football. And we all have to do that. Drake [Maye] had an interception and a fumble, we’re not going to play Josh [Dobbs] right now.
While Stevenson has now put the ball on the ground nine times dating back to last season — including a league-high seven fumbles in 2024 — he has been New England’s most productive back to start the year.
That was evident in a career game in Week 2 against the Dolphins, where Stevenson totaled 142 yards behind 88 receiving yards. Stevenson is also the only Patriots back to force more than two missed tackles this season while his 17 rushing yards over expected rank 14th among 40 qualified backs league wide.
Stevenson, who leads the Patriots running backs playing 55 percent of the offensive snaps, also remains their best option in pass protection on third-down.
The production led to Vrabel quickly stating after his two fumble game that they “need” Stevenson moving forward. The head coach was also quick to point out this week that turnovers are not just an individual stat, perhaps referencing two missed blocks on both of Stevenson’s fumbles against the Steelers.
“We have to fix those things, the people around them have to be better and I’m confident that we will,” Vrabel said. “I’m not going to talk about the alternative. I’ll go down that road later, but those are things that we have to get fixed, but we also have to do good things with the football, make people miss, make yards and catch it and block when they blitz.”
While Stevenson appreciates the confidence from his head coach, he knows it doesn’t matter unless he holds onto the ball.
“The main thing is still the main thing. I still have to take care of the ball,” Stevenson said. “I’m glad he still trusts me in...
