In case you live under a rock or don’t follow every single Patriots beat reporter on Twitter like I do:
The Patriots (4-2) are currently in first place in the AFC East.
After leaving Buffalo in Week 5 with a 23-20 upset win of the Bills (4-2), New England held the early-season tiebreaker over their division rivals if the two were to be tied within the standings.
And just one week later, with the Patriots taking care of business down in New Orleans and the Bills being upset on Monday Night Football down in Atlanta, that tiebreaker came in handy.
With the Bills heading into a bye week and the Patriots with the Titans (1-5) on tap, New England will look to extend its division lead in Week 7 as they take on one of the worst teams in the NFL (they fired their Mike Vrabel-replacement on Monday just six games into his second season).
Patriots fans are riding high right now. And rightfully so - it’s mostly been a dumpster fire on the football field since Tom Brady left for Tampa Bay in March of 2020.
Instead of worrying about bad Bill Belichick drafts or Jerod Mayo’s ineptitude on the sidelines, Patriots fans are looking ahead at the league’s easiest schedule since 1978, wondering if their MVP-candidate quarterback can bring their beloved franchise back to the promised land in a wide-open AFC.
They’ve got the guy in Drake Maye. They’ve got the leader in Vrabel. It’s time for football at 1 Patriot Place to be fun again.
…and then there’s the run game.
Despite the Patriots sporting the league’s sixth-best passing offense after Sunday’s 25-19 win at the Superdome, their total offense only ranks 16th league-wide. That’s because at only 91.5 rushing yards per game, New England’s rushing offense ranks 26th in the NFL. And if you take away Maye’s 138 rushing yards on 36 attempts, that number drops even further.
The running backs haven’t been able to get anything going:
- Rhamondre Stevenson’s 4 lost fumbles this season has the veteran ball carrier in his own head
- Rookie TreVeyon Henderson has been unable to find his footing at the pro level after bursting on the scene in the preseason
- Antonio Gibson was averaging over 4 yards a carry before tearing his ACL against Buffalo
Even with how good Maye has been this season (currently holding the fifth-best odds to win MVP, per OddsTrader), the Patriots’ ceiling for success in 2025 will remain limited if they can’t get that run game going. For the first time in years, the offensive line doesn’t appear to be the issue. The holes are there, they just need to get on their horse and go.
The oft-forgotten NFL trade deadline is on November 4, and New England is in a prime position to add a piece midseason that could help bolster this part of their game, a la Christian McCaffery’s trade from the Panthers to the 49ers in 2023 that helped carry San Francisco to a deep playoff run.
NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran was asked about the running back trade market for New England when he joined Jones and Keefe for his weekly visit with the program on Tuesday afternoon.
“Is this a spot where you think they can make a move in the next few weeks and try to acquire a running back?” asked WEEI’s Rich Keefe.
“Undeniably, it has to be,” said Curran. “Tight end depth, I think, is the other sneaky thing that I would look at. Offensive line has got some stable backups, it seems like, right now.
“But I would definitely say running back, tight end - not because those guys aren't performing, but because they're so indispensable, Hooper and Henry. And then I think I would like to see a little bit more defensive end depth and edge depth. So those are three big places.”
“How big-game-hunting do you think they'd be doing at running back?” asked WEEI’s Adam Jones. “Your colleagues at NBC Sports Boston put together a trade targets list. It had the Jerome Fords of the world down at the bottom of it, and then the top were Breece Hall, Alvin Kamara.
“Do you think they're looking that big? Are they just trying to get another body in here?”
“I think they’d be open to anything, which is kind of a cop out on my part,” said Curran. “But what will it cost for Alvin Kamara? What will it cost for Breece Hall? Would Breece Hall even be entertained by the Jets within the division?
“Look - any point in the storm, you cannot walk around with a running back and a half, which is basically what they are doing right now. Because relative to what Stevenson should be able to do, he's about 50, 60, 65% of himself. Because his forte, I always thought, was getting to contact and fighting through it. Now he's afraid to do it, understandably so. But they need another running back, more running backs. Maybe Terrell Jennings can do it. I mean, they don't even have a third down back again. And I thought that Henderson was going to fit into that spot, which would have been nice, but they don't have a third down back again. It's just two guys.”
Help at running back or not, the Patriots are currently a 7-point road favorite this week at FanDuel. You can get them on the moneyline at -355, and the total is sitting at 41.5 as of publishing.
(don’t lose to the Titans, guys)
Tune in each and every Monday throughout the football season to Patriots Monday on WEEI. Head coach Mike Vrabel joins The Greg Hill Show at 6:30 a.m. ET, and quarterback Drake Maye joins WEEI Afternoons.