Patriots’ Rhamondre Stevenson Gives Simple Answer To Troubling Trend

It's been a rough first three weeks of the season for New England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who again, during Thursday night's 24-3 blowout loss to the New York Jets has not understood the assignment: hold the ball. Plain and simple.

Stevenson fumbled for the third consecutive game in as many weeks, paying the price after receiving two leeway passes from Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo. In Week 1, Stevenson's fumble got overshadowed by New England's surprise victory over Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. In Week 2, overtime officiating controversy with the Seattle Seahawks overruled Stevenson in the storylines category. However, a third strike put Stevenson in the spotlight at MetLife Stadium, even though he had few words in response.

"I gotta hold the ball," Stevenson told reporters after New England's Week 3 loss, per team-provided video. "I just gotta hold it."

When Stevenson fumbled against Cincinnati and Seattle, New England's offense managed to recover and clean up after the 26-year-old. Stevenson's bail-out card expired in New York once Jets safety Chuck Clark ripped the ball right from Stevenson's hands, quickly turning the third Patriots drive of the fourth quarter into a jaw-dropping turnover. The score was left 21-3 with 14:02 remaining to play, but fumble No. 3 from Stevenson delivered the strongest gut punch, thus far, to backfire on New England this season.

From that point forward, Stevenson was done. He rushed for a season-low 23 yards on six carries, which will take a toll on the 100.5 rushing yards per game average Stevenson entered Week 3 with, and didn't take the field for another snap as the Patriots continue to weather the hard-to-watch storm in New York and drop to 1-2 on the season.

"We just gotta look at the film, just go back to the drawing board and figure it out," Stevenson added, per team-provided video. "Figure out how to win."