Mike Vrabel Gives Candid Rhamondre Stevenson Take After Fumble-Filled Loss

Rhamondre Stevenson’s ability as a rusher has never been in question with the New England Patriots. He’s powerful, but agile enough to bounce outside the tackles when necessary. He has the explosiveness to run up the gut and still break loose.

That is, when the ball isn’t getting jarred free.

Indeed, the debate around Stevenson has long been whether he’s able to cut back on the turnovers enough to be a true No. 1 running back. In Week 2, it appeared that it was on the table. In Week 3, it was right back where it started.

Stevenson had a pair of fumbles in Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of five Patriots turnovers. One fumble was particularly backbreaking since it happened on the goal line.

It was a concerning display, especially on the heels of a masterful performance against the Miami Dolphins last week. Mike Vrabel spoke with candor about the Stevenson situation following the loss to Pittsburgh.

“Yeah, it’s like you sit there, and we were so excited about him, and everybody is excited about him, the fans are, and we know what his capabilities are, and we’ve got to get him back. We need him. We absolutely need him,” Vrabel said, via a team-provided transcript. “You see what he was able to do for us last week, his ability to make some plays. Again, we’ll just have to look at the technique, and we’ll have to look at the ball security, but we’re going to need him.

“We need his ability, but we also need to take care of the football. It’s a long answer to tell you that I’m not really sure 20 minutes after the game what we’re going to do, but we need him because he helped us win the game last week, and it was a different story today.”

Stevenson’s performance ultimately was a microcosm of the mistake-filled showing that doomed the Patriots. And with that, so goes the point that’s surrounded him and the Patriots for years: If he can cut down on the mistakes and have just a bit more consistency, there’s a lot to like. Until then, you’re left hoping more.