The New England Patriots won their fourth straight game on Sunday to improve to 5-2 and maintain their lead at the top of the AFC East. The offense continued to look dynamic, even the rushing attack looking much improved against the Titans.
Many Patriots fans who were hoping for an RB upgrade by the Nov. 4 trade deadline may be changing their tune after seeing the production from their RB rotation, especially Rhamondre Stevenson.
Rhamondre Stevenson's Improvement Could Change Patriots' Trade Deadline
Stevenson has received a ton of well-deserved criticism all season. Coming into the game, he was averaging a miserable 3.1 yards per carry and continued to have ball security issues, recording three fumble in the last four weeks. But on Sunday, he put up his best game of the season, running for 88 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown. It was the most yards he had in a game all year, and averaged a season-high 4.9 yards per carry.
As a result, the Patriots were able to establish the run for the first time this season. Effective on the ground all game, New England ran the ball a whopping 36 times, not giving the Titans a chance to mount a comeback by not making any mistakes or turning the ball over.
This could make the Patriots change their plans at running back going forward. After Antonio Gibson suffered a season-ending injury, plenty of fans expected GM Eliot Wolf to be aggressive on the trade market to bring in another rusher. The organization, however, has highlighted its faith in their rushing rotation, and Week 7 will only prove their point.
A lot of this faith was placed on TreVeyon Henderson. He was taken off return duties with the idea that he would take on a larger role in Gibson's absence. However, the talented rookie has seen no increase in his usage. In fact, the second-round pick had his fewest touches of the season with only two carries for five yards, and no targets in the passing game, in his mere nine offensive snaps.
This is certainly concerning, considering that Terrell Jennings had five carries and a bigger workload than Henderson. This could still result in the Patriots addressing the backend of their rushing rotation in the upcoming weeks, but Stevenson's performance will at least earn himself some time. If he can handle this type of offensive load, the Patriots will feel fine not upgrading the RB1 spot.