FOXBORO, Mass. -- The New England Patriots have struggled to stop the run this season.
On Sunday, they'll face one of the NFL's best and most versatile rushers.
New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara ranked third in the NFL in yards from scrimmage last season, trailing only Derrick Henry and Dalvin Cook. He led the league with 21 total touchdowns, making him just the second player since Randy Moss in 2007 to score more than 20 in a single season. Six of those came in one game.
Simply put, he's a problem.
"I feel like if you were to maybe try to build a perfect back, he essentially has everything you need," Patriots linebacker Dont'a Hightower said Wednesday. "Vision, balance. He's strong. He's tough. However you want to give him the ball, you can give it to him, whether it's screens, you want to throw it to him, you want to hand it off. He's just a really good player. Explosive.
"You can hand off a ball to him and expect maybe a 3- or 4-yard run, and he'll turn it into a 75-yard touchdown. He's just that type of player."
Defensive tackle Lawrence Guy used the same word -- "explosive" -- to describe the Saints star.
"(He's) really good," Guy said. "One of the top in the league."
Kamara isn't a traditional running back. He hasn't topped 1,000 rushing yards in any of his four pro seasons, and he's never logged more than 194 carries. But Saints coach Sean Payton has found ways to involve him in every facet of New Orleans' offense.
Since he entered the NFL in 2017, Kamara leads all NFL running backs in receiving yards and trails only Carolina Panthers standout Christian McCaffrey in receptions. McCaffrey has 334. Kamara has 333. New England's James White is a distant third with 276.
Kamara's 60 total touchdowns (43 rushing, 16 receiving, one kick return) also rank second among all players since 2017. Only Todd Gurley (63) has more.
"I mean, the Titans aren't really throwing screens and jet sweeps to Derrick Henry," Hightower said when asked what differentiates Kamara from most NFL backs. "You don't really need to or want to. But Kamara and CMC, guys like that, they're elusive. You want to get them in the open field. You want to put (defenders) in situations where they don't feel comfortable, and Sean Payton is a really good offensive coordinator and a really good head coach and a strong football mind, so he does the best putting guys in those situations.
"And it just so happens that Kamara is really good at whatever you want him to do."
With longtime quarterback Drew Brees retired and star wide receiver Michael Thomas on the physically unable to perform list, Kamara now is the clear headliner in New Orleans' Jameis Winston-led offense. He had 83 rushing yards and a receiving touchdown in the Saints' 38-3 trouncing of the Green Bay Packers in Week 1 but was silenced in Week 2, managing just 5 yards on eight carries and 25 yards on four catches in a 26-7 loss to Carolina.
New England will be gunning for a similar performance this Sunday.
The Patriots have allowed just 22 points through two games and boast the NFL's third-ranked defense by Football Outsiders' DVOA, but their run defense (23rd in DVOA) has lacked the necessary stoutness at times. They surrendered 152 rushing yards -- including carries of 10, 11, 13, 14, 17 and 17 -- in their 25-6 win over the New York Jets on Sunday, though they did deliver on a key goal-line stand.
The Jets' running backs are Michael Carter, Ty Johnson and Tevin Coleman. All are a far cry from the talent the Patriots, who made a number of offseason additions aimed at improving their run D, will see in Kamara.
"Obviously, each week, there's room for improvement," Hightower said. "You can't say that enough. ... But it's football. Those things are going to happen. They're going to have good calls, they're going to have good schemes and stuff, so just trying to limit those and make sure that they're not 20- and 30-yard runs. Just trying to limit those situations, because the guys on the back end, they have a tough job, and whenever we can make (offenses) one-dimensional, it makes things a lot easier for everybody."
Outside of Kamara, the Saints lack top-end offensive weapons, with a receiving corps of Marquez Callaway, Deonte Harris, Lil'Jordan Humphrey, Ty Montgomery and Chris Hogan and a tight end duo of Adam Trautman and Juwan Johnson.
Winston, who replaced Brees behind center, is talented but mistake-prone, throwing a league-high 90 interceptions since entering the league in 2015. He also has the highest interception rate (3.46) of any quarterback with at least 25 starts during that span and has lost 19 fumbles (third-most).
