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The New England Patriots have high hopes that the Mike Vrabel era will see the team begin its climb back to glory in the AFC East. A division title over the Buffalo Bills does not appear to be in the cards for the current season, but an 8- or 9-win season would represent significant improvement and indicate that the team is regaining its footing.
The championships of the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era are in the long-ago past, soon to become the distant past. Now it's about building a dominating defense and a respectable offense.
One of the keys to the offense is quite obvious. The Patriots need second-year quarterback Drake Maye to take a couple of major steps up the ladder and become a competent and consistent leader. Nobody is asking him to compare with Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow, but he needs to show Vrabel, the coaching staff and his teammates that he can complete key third-down passes and show off his escapability when it comes to leaving the pocket and making plays with his feet.
Maye is not going to to have to do it alone. While the Patriots don't have dominating weapons on the offensive side of the ball, they added talented rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson in last spring's draft with their second-round pick. Henderson is a multi-talented athlete who played a key role for Ohio State during the Buckeyes' national championship run last season.
If Vrabel is sharp, he is going to give Henderson a number of opportunities to help the Patriots succeed this season.
Henderson is going to do a solid job running the ball
The Patriots have a solid professional in the backfield Rhamondre Stevenson. While they have been a losing team in each of the past three seasons, Stevenson has been a back the Pats can depend on and he rushed for 801 yards, averaged 3.9 yards per carry and scored 7 touchdowns last year.
However, he is not a superstar and the Patriots can use some help in the running game. Henderson can do a solid job running the ball and take some of the heat off of Stevenson.
If he can upgrade the running game, it will pay huge dividends for Maye. The pressure on the QB1 is always going to be significant, but if the Patriots have a successful two-headed running game, then Maye won't have to carry the offense on his shoulders.
It should be a move that makes quite a bit of sense because the New England defense should be the strength of the team. If the Patriots want to maintain possession of the ball and give the team its best chance to win, it should employ a strong running game that includes Henderson getting at least half the carries. He ran for 1,041 yards and 10 touchdowns with the Buckeyes a year ago.
Give Henderson a chance to play a role as a receiver and a return specialist
Henderson has the skills to play a key role in the passing game. In addition to being able to catch the ball and make plays when the Patriots employ screen passes, Henderson can beat linebackers when it comes to running circle routes. It will be hard for any linebacker to keep up with him when he gets a running start out of the backfield.
Once he catches the ball, Henderson is very tough to bring down. He has the speed to run away from tacklers and he also has the moves to make tacklers miss on a regular basis.
These are also factors that should make him an outstanding return man. He displayed that ability in New England's first preseason game with a 100-yard TD return against the Washington Commanders.
He can run away from tacklers and he can also use his balance and determination to break off big returns that improve field position. It appears that the NFL's dynamic kickoff is a difficult play for most returners to handle, but Henderson appears to be the right man for the job.
