Getty
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – DECEMBER 01: TreVeyon Henderson #32 of the New England Patriots rushes for yards against Dane Belton #24 of the New York Giants during the fourth quarter of the game at Gillette Stadium on December 01, 2025 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
At 11-2, you’d be hard-pressed to find too much to complain about with the way things have unfolded for the Patriots this season. The five turnovers back in Week 3 against the Steelers still sting a bit, because without them, the Patriots would have won–they were the better team that day. And it’s hard to believe these guys ever lost to a ramshackle outfit like the Raiders in Week 1. Maybe one complaint is that this should really be a 13-0 team.
We say that tongue-in-cheek, of course. There are real concerns about this bunch. One of those–depth–is being tested now, with Milton Williams and Will Campbell on IR and Jared Wilson out, too, big blows to the in-the-trenches units that have been important to this team’s success thus far.
But another issue for the Patriots has not been solved at all, and has been one of the more intractable problems this team and coach Mike Vrabel have faced. The Patriots can’t run the ball, and if they’re going to truly fulfill their potential in a season in which the AFC appears to be wide open for the taking, they’ve got to find a way to at least make that better, if not fix it wholesale.
Patriots Run Game Among the NFL’s Worst
The Patriots run game has produced 1,468 yards, which is 20th in the NFL. Their average yards per carry is a problem: 3.9, which is 27th. Pro Football Focus rates their running game with a grade of 64.6, which ranks No. 31. Their run blocking is rated No. 22 in the league.
Their two main running backs–TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson–have had their moments, but both have had more bad than good, more instances where they plow pointlessly into a wad of defenders for a gain of 18 inches than they break free for long plays. Henderson’s two massive touchdown runs against Tampa Bay (69 and 55 yards) account for 20% of his 625 rushing yards this season. For a guy with 129 carries, that’s not great.
PFF grades Stevenson at a 57.5 this season, making him the No. 57 back in the NFL–out of 61. In other words, the Patriots are not great at blocking for the run, and they’re not great at the actual running, either.
GettyPatriots coach Mike Vrabel needs to find ways to fix the Patriots run game.
Patriots Run Game Could Get Tweaks
At NBC Sports Boston, the always erudite Phil Perry took a deep dive into the Patriots run game numbers and found that they most support what the eye test would suggest: The Patriots do not run well between the tackles or on gap runs, but they keep attempting them, anyway. They’re important because they help establish Drake Maye’s play-action passes, but they’re not productive.
But the Patriots have been at least around league average when running the ball in outside zones.
Writes Perry: “The Patriots have been fairly productive when they use outside zone over these last two months. They’re 15th in the NFL with 4.2 yards per attempt, but they’ve called only 25 outside zone runs in that span. Perhaps one tweak they could make to have a better overall rushing attack would be to try a little more outside zone.”
Red Zone Failures a Result
One of the issues with that for the Patriots, though, is that those plays can be long-developing and susceptible to losses. The Patriots need to tighten their running game down the stretch because, as the weather gets cold and the ball gets tough to handle, they’ll want quick-hitting runs that can work.
And they’ll want to produce when they get to the red zone, especially inside the 5-yard line. Those situations have been a disaster for New England. The Patriots are 24th in scoring touchdowns in the red zone, and the run game is the culprit. The Patriots average an EPA of minus-0.24 on run plays in the red zone per Sumer Sports, and that ranks just 31st in the NFL.
It’s Week 15, so it may be too late for the Patriots to fix the problem. But tweaks are needed.
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney
More Heavy on Patriots
Loading more stories