TreVeyon Henderson — Week 2: Thirty-Nine Yards, Then Thirty-Seven
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
In his first game of the season Henderson carried 16 times for 76 yards and the game's first touchdown, a 39-yard run with 8:29 left in the first quarter; his other 15 carries gained 37. He had 16 of New England's 24 designed runs to Rhamondre Stevenson's six and was not targeted, in a 20–3 win over the Steelers.
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Nothing to nothing, eight 29 left in the first quarter, first and 10 at the Pittsburgh 39. TreVeyon Henderson went left guard and ran 39 yards for the touchdown. +3.3 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and +7.6 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. It was the longest run by either team. The snap before it he had converted third and one by exactly a yard. And it was the third carry of his season: he was inactive in Week 1 with an ankle injury, per the Patriots' website, and the June preview had passed along outlooks that put him on the smaller end of the split with Rhamondre Stevenson. Sunday he had 16 carries to Stevenson's six.
The line: 16 carries, 76 yards, one touchdown, three first downs, six of the 16 successful, and −1.6 expected points on the carries even with the touchdown in there. No targets. The carries went five, one, 39, five, six, −3, two, 10, −2, three, nothing, seven, −2, one, −1, five. Take out the 39 and it is 15 carries for 37 yards. Eight before halftime for 65, eight after for 11. Five of the 16 lost yardage or gained nothing. He had three third-down carries: the conversion on third and one; 10 yards on third and 20 from the New England 10 late in the half; and five on third and 10 with three 39 left in the game, the last two short of the line to gain and followed by punts. On second and one at the Pittsburgh 27 in the third quarter he was stopped for no gain; the next play lost two and New England missed a 47-yard field goal.
New England's 24 designed runs went 16 to Henderson, six to Stevenson and two to Corey Kiner on the final series. Henderson's carries split eight and eight by half; Stevenson's went two and four. Stevenson's six gained 43 yards and +1.8 expected points, and Stevenson had the two running back targets.
Back in June the preview called Henderson one of the 10 most efficient runners in football as a rookie, with the role trending toward Stevenson and the carry split called the entire bet. Week 1 could not test it because he did not play, and Stevenson carried 18 times. The first game with both active went 16 to six the other way, which is the opposite of what the late-season usage last year pointed to. The efficiency half is murkier: one run was more than half his yards, and the other 15 averaged about two and a half. One game, and the first one back from an ankle. New England is at the Jaguars on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
When TreVeyon Henderson's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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