FOXBORO — Patriots rookie TreVeyon Henderson has lived up to the hype.
The rookie second-round pick was known for his game-breaking speed, coming out of Ohio State, and now he’s tied the NFL record for most 50+ yard rushing touchdowns by a rookie with Saquon Barkley and Pro Football Hall of Famer Lenny Moore.
Henderson had two such runs in Sunday’s loss to the Bills. He also had two 50+ yard touchdown runs in the Patriots’ Week 10 win over the Buccaneers.
“There’s a lot of things that go into X (explosive) plays,” head coach Mike Vrabel said. “Probably having done some research, I would say about 30% of them are scheme where you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a good scheme.’ And then the other 70 are guys making plays, guys blocking, guys breaking tackles, somebody getting a huge block. Any time that there’s those X play runs, guys are going to block at the second and third level to spring them. So, I would say it’s a combination of all those.
“Certainly a credit to TreVeyon and everybody else that’s blocked for him. Whether that’s just him last week taking advantage of an open edge and bouncing it back, we didn’t really do much on the front side, so he went out the back door and Drake [Maye] was the guy that ultimately helped him to score. So, there’s a lot of factors in that, but mostly it just comes down to the players making a play.”
Henderson said this week that he’s been more decisive as he’s gotten more comfortable in the NFL.
The 23-year-old rookie now has 143 carries for 773 yards with seven touchdowns, plus 34 catches for 212 yards with a touchdown this season, as the favorite for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The Patriots could use some more big plays this week against the Ravens as they look to clinch their spot in the playoffs.
