After committing his third fumble in as many games, most figured Rhamondre Stevenson would not play another snap in the primetime showdown with the Buffalo Bills.
Between Mike Vrabel continuing to believe in his fumble-plagued running back, and Antonio Gibson suffering a knee injury that ended his night, Stevenson found himself taking meaningful snaps with the game on the line.
He shook off the first-quarter fumble, and produced two red zone touchdowns in the second half as the Patriots shocked the Bills, 23-20.
Following the game, Stevenson said Vrabel’s faith has helped him through his struggles holding onto the football.
“I think it’s huge. I think that gives me a ton of confidence, to just keep my head a little level,” Stevenson said of Vrabel sticking with him. “It could have been frustrating. I’ve had three fumbles in a couple of games.
“But I’m going to tighten it up, and go to work every week, just trying to get better, just trying to clean it up. My teammates and Coach Vrabes and coach McDaniels, all of them behind me means the world. So I have to follow up and do my part.”
Stevenson was happy he was able to bounce back and help the team land such a meaningful win.
He also mentioned wide receiver Stefon Diggs making sure he kept his head in the game.
“He’s a great leader. He was one of the leaders in my ear after I fumbled and stuff like that,” Stevenson said. “So he kept me in the game, and told me I was going to make a play to help us win.”
Stevenson ran for touchdowns from four and five yards out in the third and fourth quarters.
With a league-leading seven fumbles last year, and three more after five games this season, one might not expect Stevenson to ever touch the ball again.
Vrabel, however, remains in his corner.
“We’ve gotta get this corrected. We’ve gotta get it corrected,” Vrabel said, repeating his words from two weeks ago regarding Stevenson, “but we also need everybody’s skillset. We want to be aggressive but we don’t want to be reckless. You can’t relax. You can’t be two, three, four inches from the ground and let them go in there. We’ll just keep practicing it. We’ll keep repping it. But to his credit, he was able to help us in the end like a lot of other guys.”
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