The New England Patriots opened the 2025 campaign with a tough 20-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, and not much went right for them in this one. On offense, it was tough sledding for rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson, which led to Mike Vrabel weighing in on his NFL debut in the aftermath of the loss.
During training camp and preseason action, Henderson was one of the Patriots’ standout performers. The buzz got so high that many folks expected Henderson to be the team’s No. 1 running back to open the season over Rhamondre Stevenson.
Instead, Henderson ended up splitting reps with Rhamondre Stevenson pretty evenly, as he racked up 27 yards on five carries, in addition to 24 yards on six receptions. While it’s not bad, he clearly struggled to find room to navigate when he had the ball in his hands.
However, Vrabel had a unique outlook on Henderson’s debut. Rather than focusing on what he didn’t accomplish, Vrabel looked at the outlook of the whole offense, saying they have to work on helping create opportunities for Henderson to make big plays.
“We gotta give him some space,” Vrabel said on “The Greg Hill Show.” “(He) tried to play fast. We gotta open up some holes on the kickoff return too. We gotta use that as a weapon … (He’s) gonna keep working and he’ll be a big part of what we do.”
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Anytime you only put up 13 points like the Patriots just did, it’s safe to say that things did not go well on offense. There are a lot of new faces in town, so it’s going to take time to figure out how to best utilize everyone’s skillset, including Henderson’s.
Even though they lost, there are things the Patriots can build off of moving forward. They will look to pick up their first win of the season when they take on the Miami Dolphins in Week 2 next Sunday.
