Damien Harris has cleared the concussion protocol, the Patriots say. He’ll be available for their Thursday night game in Atlanta, likely setting up a one-two punch backfield.
Harris missed Sunday’s game and was a limited participant at practice on Tuesday, but he’s full-go now and isn’t even on the team’s injury report anymore. He’s playing.
How they use him in combination with Rhamondre Stevenson remains to be seen. Stevenson was inactive for most of their early-season games, but he’s come on recently. He ran for 62 yards off the bench at Carolina, and in a fill-in start last week ran for 100 yards and 2 TDs against a Cleveland defense that came in ranking 3rd in run defense. The Patriots reasonably could use both of those backs (and they’ve also got Brandon Bolden, who plays in obvious passing situations). I would think Harris will start, with Stevenson also getting double-digit carries in the game.
Harris doesn’t catch as effectively as either Stevenson or Bolden, but he runs hard, and they’ve got that offensive line dialed in right now. Harris has gone over 100 yards in three of his nine starts, and he’s run for a touchdown in five straight games. He’ll have a good chance of keeping that streak going against a suspect Atlanta defense.
As a team, the Patriots have run for over 140 yards in four straight games, with 8 TDs. This might seem surprising in that New England back in Weeks 3 and 4 ran for only 49 and minus-1 yards in losses against the Saints and Bucs, but those teams have the league’s top 2 run defenses. Particularly in the Tampa Bay game, the Patriots came in looking to rely on the pass.
They’ve definitely got the ground game going now. They’ve averaged 145 rushing yards in their last six games, and with 11 rushing touchdowns. Looking at just the last six games for each team, the Patriots have posted the 2nd-best rushing numbers in the league, behind only the Eagles.
| RUSHING PRODUCTION / LAST SIX GAMES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Yds/G | TDR | Pts/G |
| Philadelphia | 159 | 11 | 26.9 |
| New England | 145 | 11 | 25.5 |
| Indianapolis | 153 | 10 | 25.3 |
| Chicago | 154 | 7 | 22.4 |
| Tennessee | 110 | 11 | 22.0 |
| Cleveland | 139 | 7 | 20.9 |
| Arizona | 119 | 9 | 20.9 |
| Jacksonville | 127 | 8 | 20.7 |
| Buffalo | 119 | 8 | 19.9 |
| Baltimore | 139 | 6 | 19.9 |
| Dallas | 140 | 5 | 19.0 |
| San Francisco | 124 | 6 | 18.4 |
| New Orleans | 118 | 6 | 17.8 |
| LA Chargers | 107 | 7 | 17.7 |
| Washington | 125 | 5 | 17.5 |
| Pittsburgh | 116 | 5 | 16.6 |
| Cincinnati | 93 | 7 | 16.3 |
| Carolina | 122 | 4 | 16.2 |
| Green Bay | 121 | 4 | 16.1 |
| Detroit | 110 | 5 | 16.0 |
| Tampa Bay | 108 | 5 | 15.8 |
| LA Rams | 101 | 5 | 15.1 |
| Minnesota | 120 | 3 | 15.0 |
| Denver | 105 | 4 | 14.5 |
| Seattle | 96 | 4 | 13.6 |
| NY Jets | 75 | 6 | 13.5 |
| Las Vegas | 82 | 5 | 13.2 |
| NY Giants | 90 | 4 | 13.0 |
| Kansas City | 97 | 3 | 12.7 |
| Atlanta | 83 | 3 | 11.3 |
| Miami | 71 | 3 | 10.1 |
| Houston | 66 | 1 | 7.6 |
—Ian Allan