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TAMPA, Fla. — When Patriots rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson had just 22 yards on six carries at halftime of Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers, veteran receiver Stefon Diggs made the conscious decision to poke the bear.
“I was talking mad junk to him at halftime, just being hard on him,” Diggs said. “I’m definitely hard on TreVeyon, just because I see so much potential. One guy tackling you, I’ve been around some great backs in my career, and I told him: Those great backs don’t get tackled. I want to see you score.”
The rookie got the message, and the Patriots were able to pull away from the Buccaneers in a 28-23 win, largely because Henderson led the way in doing so. In the opening minute of the second half, Henderson broke through the middle of the line untouched and went 55 yards for a touchdown. In the final two minutes, as the Bucs tried to make a final comeback, Henderson went around the left end for a 69-yard touchdown and the winning margin in the Patriots’ seventh straight win.
“He keeps me motivated. He really does,” Henderson said after he finished with 147 yards. “He’s such a great leader on the field. He gets all the guys going. He is always in my ear, but he keeps me motivated.”
That big-play potential is why the Patriots drafted him in the second round out of Ohio State, but it had been a quiet first two months to his NFL career. In limited usage in his first seven games, he had totaled 153 rushing yards and one touchdown, but injuries to Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson pressed him into a larger role. He rushed for 75 yards in a win against the Browns in Week 8 before posting 87 total yards in a close win over the Falcons in Week 9, but none of that was close to Sunday’s breakout game.
“This season, it comes with a lot of ups and downs here in the NFL, and I’m learning that,” Henderson said. “I thank God for the way that he has allowed it to go, because he has matured me a lot in my faith … I’ve been just trying to trust the process, being present in the moment and trying to put in the days, each and every practice, just trying to come to work.”
To get two rushing touchdowns of 55 yards or longer in the same season — let alone one game — is extremely rare. The Patriots had just four such runs in the previous 40 years before Henderson broke loose Sunday. Another rookie, wide receiver Kyle Williams, had a 72-yard touchdown catch that was the Patriots’ longest play from scrimmage in four years, an exciting preview of what’s to come from two young playmakers.
Henderson’s second touchdown saw him racing downfield and sneak a look at the Patriots’ sideline, trying to figure out on the run whether head coach Mike Vrabel wanted him to go down in the field to allow New England to run some clock. The full-speed decision was to go ahead and score. The Bucs still had two timeouts with 1:31 left, so they would have gotten the ball back if the Patriots hadn’t gained a first down, and the end result held up either way.
“He was thinking the right thing,” Vrabel said. “Today, in the game the way it was, they needed two touchdowns, so I think it was OK. We made it a little closer, but we knew it would be difficult coming down here … Two explosive plays, and Kyle’s play early, we really needed that one. That was the one that we were talking about, just needing one play and he hit it.”
Stevenson has been sidelined with injury, and when backup Terrell Jennings left Sunday’s game with an injury, Henderson knew it was his time. Over the last three weeks, the rookie ranks fourth in the NFL with 277 rushing yards, behind only the Colts‘ Jonathan Taylor, the Bills‘ James Cook and the Dolphins’ De’Von Achane. This is nothing new for Henderson, who led the Big Ten with 7.1 yards per carry last season on the way to his second 1,000-yard season.
The Patriots started rookies at left tackle and left guard Sunday, and safety Craig Woodson started and had eight tackles, so New England is leaning heavily on their rookies as it continues a seven-game win streak that has it tied for the best record in the league. Henderson said their goal as rookies is to show coaches that the confidence they have in them is deserved.
“The organization does a good job of trying to put us in positions that will help us really grow into the players they see us becoming,” Henderson said. “I see this rookie class that we have, these guys come to work each and every practice and give it their best. Whenever they get their opportunities, the same thing, they try to take advantage of it. I’m proud of all those guys.”
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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