{"id":116064,"date":"2025-11-03T08:52:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T08:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=116064"},"modified":"2025-11-03T08:52:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T08:52:46","slug":"mike-vrabel-didnt-just-smile-at-the-ground-game-he-treated-it-like-a-blueprint-a-bruising-statement-that-the-patriots-can-still-impose-their-will-when-the-trenches-turn-into-war-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=116064","title":{"rendered":"Mike Vrabel didn\u2019t just smile at the ground game \u2014 he treated it like a blueprint, a bruising statement that the Patriots can still impose their will when the trenches turn into war. Against the Falcons, every cut, burst, and finish looked like a message to the league that New England\u2019s identity isn\u2019t fading \u2014 it\u2019s sharpening under Vrabel\u2019s fingerprints. If this rushing attack becomes the heartbeat of the new Patriots era, defenses may be forced to relearn what it means to stand in front of a team built to break you piece by piece..ll"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Patriots<\/p>\n

The Patriots\u2019 rushing attack held up fine Sunday without Rhamondre Stevenson.<\/p>\n

New England\u2019s top back missed the 24-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons with a toe injury. He was ruled out days before the weekend, so it long was expected that TreVeyon Henderson and Terrell Jennings would see increased roles.<\/p>\n

Both made good use of the uptick in responsibilities. The rookie Henderson paced the team with 55 yards rushing across 14 carries, adding 32 yards receivinging on four receptions.<\/p>\n

Jennings recorded the lone touchdown on the ground, finishing with 35 yards on 11 carries. He had one catch for nine yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, they ran hard,\u201d Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said after the game, via a team-provided transcript. \u201cWe had some openings I wish we would have been able to pop a few more. But we moved them and we get on the second level and felt like it was okay. Could have been better. Really just \u2014 we get disjointed a few times. Too many seconds and longs, too many times we put ourselves in long yardage, but we converted. We were good on 3rd down, even with that.<\/p>\n

\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cSo again, the run game, and those guys will complement each other. Backs ran hard and took care of the ball, and then we had a few perimeter plays. We\u2019ll just try to figure out what gives us the best chance each and every week to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

That the Patriots gave Jennings the ball 11 times and targeted him in the air is a sign that he\u2019s earned considerable trust out of Vrabel. That\u2019s no small feat for a second-year pro who went undrafted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, he\u2019s run hard. He\u2019s run hard in five-minute. He\u2019s a physical back,\u201d Vrabel said of the Florida A&M product. \u201cThose guys rotated most of the game. And TreVeyon helped us win, and so did Terrell, trying to get the ball to everybody in the rotation. Just in that situation, I think, where Josh was going to go with some inside runs there at the end, just get a little bigger back in there.<\/p>\n

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Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cExcited to keep moving forward with these guys and get Rhamondre back as soon as he can get back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Patriots were without Rhamondre Stevenson against the Falcons, but Mike Vrabel liked what TreVeyon Henderson and Terrell Jennings offered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":116073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nMike Vrabel didn\u2019t just smile at the ground game \u2014 he treated it like a blueprint, a bruising statement that the Patriots can still impose their will when the trenches turn into war. Against the Falcons, every cut, burst, and finish looked like a message to the league that New England\u2019s identity isn\u2019t fading \u2014 it\u2019s sharpening under Vrabel\u2019s fingerprints. If this rushing attack becomes the heartbeat of the new Patriots era, defenses may be forced to relearn what it means to stand in front of a team built to break you piece by piece..ll - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=116064\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mike Vrabel didn\u2019t just smile at the ground game \u2014 he treated it like a blueprint, a bruising statement that the Patriots can still impose their will when the trenches turn into war. Against the Falcons, every cut, burst, and finish looked like a message to the league that New England\u2019s identity isn\u2019t fading \u2014 it\u2019s sharpening under Vrabel\u2019s fingerprints. 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