The Patriots' ground game notably struggled for much of training camp and the regular season while operating under a new zone-blocking scheme.

However, New England running back Rhamondre Stevenson isn't hitting the panic button with the regular season just days away. He recognized the team's struggles on the ground over the summer, but holds confidence heading into the real season.

“The beginning of camp, we were working a lot on the run game and seeing what we needed to fix, things like that. But now a week away, I feel like we got – we’re pretty confident in our run game,” Stevenson said while smiling on Wednesday. “That’s all I’ll say. We’re pretty confident in it.”

The zone-blocking scheme was implemented over the summer following the departure of longtime offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who left to become the Raiders' head coach. In practice, many of the stretch runs as part of the scheme would've likely resulted in stuffs had tackling been allowed.

In the preseason games, the Patriots' ground game on stretch runs looked even worse. New England ran three stretch runs with its starters, with two of them resulting in a stuff or a loss and the third was a holding penalty.

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There was some success though for the Patriots when they ran up the middle. For instance, Stevenson had 11 yards on two rushes between the guards against the Raiders and added another 13 yards on a toss. Damien Harris, who was the Patriots' leading rusher for the last two seasons, didn't play against the Raiders but had 18 yards on three inside carries in the preseason game against the Panthers.

Whether something clicked for the Patriots since the Aug. 26 game remains to be seen. After holding three practices last week, New England hit the road early ahead of Sunday's regular-season opener against Miami, traveling to South Florida on Tuesday so it could hold three practices to get acclimated to the heat.

Even though the Patriots lost both of their matchups against the Dolphins last season, that isn't deterring Stevenson from exuding faith that things will ultimately work out for New England's running backs.

“We’re very confident going into Week 1,” Stevenson said. “This week I think will bring a lot more confidence. Just practicing well and doing the things we need to do this week before Sunday gets here. But as of now we’re very confident and I feel like we’re ready to go.”