The New England Patriots’ rushing performance in Sunday night’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was one of the worst in NFL history.
The Patriots ran the ball eight times in their 19-17 defeat at Gillette Stadium and gained positive yardage on just two of those attempts. Their longest run of the night — a 4-yarder by wide receiver Nelson Agholor — was actually a backward pass. New England finished the game with a total of -1 rushing yards.
How rare is it for a team to record negative rushing yards in a game? Incredibly.
According to Stathead, the Patriots were just the fourth team to do so since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. The other three were different iterations of the Detroit Lions (2007, 2006 and 1994).
The worst post-merger mark for the Patriots before was 2 rushing yards (on 18 attempts) in a 1986 loss to the New Orleans Saints. The worst of the Bill Belichick era was 5 (on six carries) in the 2004 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers that broke New England’s 21-game winning streak.
“We’ve got to do better,” Belichick said in a Monday morning video conference. “That’s obvious.”
Lead back Damien Harris carried four times for -4 yards against Tampa Bay after managing just 14 yards on six attempts in last week’s loss to the New Orleans Saints. He briefly left with an injury late in the first half but returned after halftime.
Harris’ yards-per-carry average has dropped each week this season, from 4.4 during his 100-yard effort in Week 1, to 3.9 in Week 2, 2.3 in Week 3 and -1.0 in Week 4. His number of carries has steadily decreased, as well.
His young understudies have been similarly ineffective. Second-year pro J.J. Taylor has four carries for 5 yards in three games. Rookie Rhamondre Stevenson has one rush for 2 yards and has sat out the last three games as a healthy scratch. Both were standout rushers during the preseason.
Veteran Brandon Bolden, who’s taken over for the James White as the Patriots’ top passing-down back, has four carries for -1 yards since White’s season-ending injury in Week 3.
The Patriots also were flagged for holding on two other running plays, both by left guard Mike Onwenu, who was benched in the second half. Their inability to gain yards on the ground stuck them in numerous third-and-long situations, contributing to their 2-for-9 showing on third down.
Much of the blame for this poor rushing output can be placed on the Patriots’ blocking. The Bucs boast one of the NFL’s best run defenses, but the Patriots were expected to field an elite offensive line this season. So far, with right tackle Trent Brown missing the last three games and other linemen struggling, that has not been the case.
“We need to execute the run game a lot better,” tight end Hunter Henry said Sunday night. “We need to run the ball, and we are just not executing or communicating enough.”
The Patriots’ offense relied almost exclusively on quarterback Mac Jones’ arm in the loss. Jones played well, completing 31 of 40 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns with an interception and garnering praise for his poise. Wide receiver Jakobi Meyers also completed passes of 15 and 30 yards on trick plays.
New England fully abandoned the run late in the game, calling only pass plays on their final four possessions. Their final true carry came with 12:06 remaining in the third quarter.
