FOXBORO — The Patriots’ offense has taken a major leap this season due to the contributions of quarterback Drake Maye and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, however their operating recreation remained inconsistent all through a lot of the 12 months.
In latest weeks, that’s modified.
Since Week 13, the Patriots rank third in EPA per rush and fifth in dashing success fee. That’s been a serious shift, since they ranked thirtieth in rush EPA and thirtieth in dashing success fee by way of the primary 12 weeks of the season.
“I believe we’re all the time making an attempt to enhance it, and we’ve made progress, positively,” McDaniels stated Thursday. “And I believe that there’s no shortcuts to doing that, however I positively assume we’re in a greater place now than what we’ve been at. And that’s all 11 guys on the sector doing their job the correct means.
We’ve stayed at it, the blokes up entrance, the coaches … they’ve achieved a very good job of emphasizing the issues we have to do to get higher in that space. We need to be balanced. We need to keep balanced. We all know the place we play. And when the climate will get a little bit loopy, each now and again, you’re going to wish to have the ability to flip handy the ball to the again and block individuals and run the ball once they know you bought to run it and that you just need to run it. And so I’m excited for the progress that we’ve made, and look ahead to us making an attempt to proceed to enhance that space of our recreation.”
Operating again Rhamondre Stevenson is averaging 6.7 yards per carry over his final three video games, whereas rookie TreVeyon Henderson is averaging 6.1 yards per clip since Week 13. Henderson’s common is helped by two 50+ yard carries within the Patriots’ Week 15 loss to the Payments.
“I believe me, TreVeyon and simply the backs and the O-line are simply merging collectively and on the correct tracks proper now, and we’re operating onerous,” Stevenson stated. “We’re operating behind our line. Jack (Westover) is doing an excellent job blocking for us. It’s simply going our means proper now.”
Westover delivered a key block on a landing run by Stevenson earlier than struggling an ankle harm late in Sunday’s win over the Jets. The Patriots additionally might be getting extra assistance on their offensive line this week with the potential return of rookie left sort out Will Campbell.
