Heading into Thursday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 14 at Acrisure Stadium, the New England Patriots will be without one of their top offensive weapons in running back Rhamondre Stevenson.
According to a report Tuesday morning from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, tests showed a high ankle sprain for Stevenson, which will cause him to miss a few weeks.
Stevenson was injured Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Patriots were awaiting word on the severity of the ankle injury that the standout running back suffered. With the tight turnaround for Thursday Night Football, it was unlikely Stevenson was going to be able to go anyway, even before Schefter’s report.
With Stevenson on the shelf for Thursday night’s matchup against the Steelers, New England will turn to veteran running back Ezekiel Elliott, who took over the bulk of the duties on Sunday in the 6-0 loss to the Chargers. Against Los Angeles, Elliott rushed for 52 yards on 17 carries and added four catches for 40 yards.
Behind Elliott, the Patriots have veteran Ty Montgomery II and the recently added JaMycal Hasty. New England also has second-year pro Kevin Harris on the practice squad, so there could be an elevation there Thursday morning as well.
This season, Elliott has 112 carries for 489 yards and two touchdowns.
Losing Stevenson is a big blow for an offense that is one of the worst in football. The Patriots have had major issues at quarterback with Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. Zappe started against the Chargers and is likely to start again on Thursday night, too. Without Stevenson, the Patriots will have to lean heavily on Elliott to be a spark in the run game and in the passing game to try and help out an offense that is stuck in the mud.
