Stevenson has eight fumbles over his last 18 games, but the Patriots seem to be sticking with him.
Commentary
FOXBOROUGH — Mike Vrabel’s patience with Rhamondre Stevenson doesn’t appear to have worn out yet.
Stevenson made it through the first two games of the season without fumbling before coughing it up twice on Sunday in key situations.
Vrabel’s stance on the issue has been clear in both of his press conferences. Stevenson’s ball security has been an issue, but the Patriots still need him. It hasn’t entirely been Stevenson’s fault, but it is on him to correct it.
“We’re going to need him. We’re going to need everybody,” Vrabel told reporters on Monday. “He’s got talent, skill-set, he’s a good protector, we trust him in protection, and we’ll get through this. I think a lot of it is just consistency and continuing to build confidence, but you have to go out there and do it.”
Since 2005, there have only been three Patriots running backs other than Stevenson (Laurence Maroney in 2009, LeGarrette Blount in 2013, and Stevan Ridley in 2012 and 2013) who fumbled three times in a season. The most a Patriots running back had in a season during that span was four. Stevenson is one fumble away from back-to-back three-fumble seasons.
Both Vrabel and his predecessor, Jerod Mayo, have demonstrated more patience with Stevenson than there has been for running backs in Foxborough in a long time.
Several potential factors could be at play here. As former players, Vrabel and Mayo can empathize with current players in a way that’s different from Bill Belichick, who never played pro football.
Vrabel has shown that he can live with fumbles if there’s enough production. Obviously, his situation was different in Tennessee with Derrick Henry routinely putting up 1,000 yard seasons, including a 2,027 yard season in 2020.
Still, Henry had three or more fumbles in his six seasons under Vrabel. It will be interesting to see where his line is with Stevenson, who has just one career 1,000 yard season.
The Patriots are also working with a significantly less talented roster than they had during the dynasty days, making it more difficult to keep talented players off the field while staying competitive.
Quarterback Drake Maye called Stevenson “one of our best players” after Sunday’s loss.
New England’s offensive line, in particular, was a major issue last year, and it’s an almost entirely new group this year. Blocking is a key part of any run game.
Despite finishing 11th in the league in run block win rate (73 percent) in Week 2, New England’s offensive line needs to perform better.
“We’ve got to continue to practice the crap out of it,” Vrabel said. “We also have to do a better job of protecting said person with the ball, whether that’s the quarterback, whether that’s the running back, or the receiver. We’re all responsible for the security of the football. It starts with the person who has it, and then it falls on the people who are blocking.”
Then, there’s the fact that this is a relatively new issue for Stevenson that the coaching staff still believes that he can fix.
Until last season, Stevenson had never fumbled more than twice in a season during his pro career with the Patriots or his time playing Power-5 college football at Oklahoma.
Eight of his 12 career fumbles in the NFL have come within his last 18 games. He had just four fumbles over his previous three years of work with the Patriots.
So, clearly, something has happened within the past year that is affecting Stevenson’s performance. It was a problem right out of the gate last year, with fumbles in the first four games of the season. He finished with six fumbles last season, which was the most among running backs.
After a fumble-free start in his first two games this season, Stevenson is back near the top of the NFL fumble leaderboard with two, tied for second in the league.
The veteran running back was asked in the locker room after Sunday’s game whether it was more of a mental block or something physical.
“I don’t know,” Stevenson said. “But I’m going to do both, though. I’m going to go practice physically and try to get it out of my head mentally.”
The coaching staff is also aware that Stevenson has experienced the deaths of two people who were particularly close to him over the past two years.
His childhood friend Branden Harley, whom he told The Boston Globe‘s Chris Price was one of his best friends since he was 10 years old, died last October. His father, Robert Stevenson, died last March. Stevenson has been on record talking about how heavily both deaths weighed on him.
Ultimately, football is a results-driven business and Stevenson admitted that the Patriots probably won’t have much use for him if he continues to fumble the football.
However, he still seems to be receiving a level of patience from the coaching staff and support in the locker room.
“Rhamondre is a tremendous player who has made a lot of plays for us,” tight-end Hunter Henry said. “I’m sure that he would be the first one to tell you that we all have to hold onto the ball. It starts with all of us. We’ve got to block better so that maybe guys aren’t getting in there and causing those things.”
“I just think it’s being super self concious of the ball and being extra cautious because we can’t put it in harms way.”