Patriots rookies break out with blazing-fast touchdowns vs. Bucs

November 10, 2025Uncategorized

TAMPA, Fla. — With Kayshon Boutte sidelined with a hamstring injury and Rhamondre Stevenson nursing an injured toe, Sunday’s game represented the clearest opportunity yet for a pair of speedy Patriots rookies.

Kyle Williams and TreVeyon Henderson both capitalized, ripping off three big-play touchdowns to help New England defeat the Buccaneers 28-23.

Williams, pushed up the depth chart in starter Boutte’s absence, took his first target late in the first quarter 72 yards to paydirt.

The seldom-used third-round draft pick gained separation from Buccaneers cornerback Benjamin Morrison on an over route, caught a pass from Drake Maye at New England’s 41-yard line and sprinted untouched down the sideline, leaving safety Tykee Smith in his wake. It was his first NFL touchdown.

“Kyle’s play early, we really needed that one,” head coach Mike Vrabel said. “That was the one we were talking about, just needing one play. He hit it, and it was great to see him have that success.”

Williams, who ran a 4.4-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, hit a top speed of 21.78 mph on the play, according to Next Gen Stats, the fastest recorded by any rookie ball-carrier this season.

That record stood for less than an hour.

Two plays into the second half, with the Patriots holding a 14-10 lead, Henderson shot through the line of scrimmage, ran through a Smith arm tackle and galloped through the Tampa Bay secondary. When he hit the 45-yard line, teammate Mack Hollins stuck his hand up and began high-stepping, knowing the second-round rookie was gone.

Henderson’s top speed on the 55-yard touchdown run: 22.01 mph.

“(Williams and) TreVeyon, if they get going, you’re not catching them,” Maye said.

Henderson later added another 69-yard touchdown dash to all but ice the game with 1:31 remaining. He became the first Patriots player ever to rush for two 50-plus-yard touchdowns in the same game.

The two rookies were relatively quiet for the rest of the game — Williams’ only other target fell incomplete, and Henderson’s 13 non-touchdown touches gained a total of 26 yards — but the Patriots had been waiting for both to flash this type of score-from-anywhere explosiveness.

Williams entered Sunday with just two career receptions for 20 yards, both of which came in the first three weeks of the season. He’d been on the field for 70 passing plays, per Pro Football Focus, and was targeted on just six of them.

But with Boutte, the Patriots’ second-leading receiver this season behind Stefon Diggs, unavailable against the Buccaneers, Williams became a more prominent part of New England’s game plan.

“I’m just proud of him for stepping up,” Maye said. “He only got maybe one target and made it count. So I’m just proud of him for getting in there. He got a lot of reps this week, and I think there were some times on the tape where he was probably more open. I’ve just got to look his way.”

Maye had two options on his scoring play, Williams explained, and chose to target the young Washington State product. As he crossed the goal line, a handful of teammates — including wideouts Diggs, DeMario Douglas and Efton Chism III — ran off the sideline to celebrate with him.

“It was sensational,” Williams said. “I don’t think words can really put an explanation on that feeling. We got the look that we want. Shoutout to Drake for making an alert. At that play, he gets to pick one or two, and he picked me. And then once the ball was in my hand, I saw green grass, and it was bon voyage after that.”

Henderson has seen more playing time than Williams this season, but living up to his preseason hype has been a struggle for the second-round draft pick. Viewed as a pro-ready prospect, the former Ohio State star had major issues in pass protection early in the season that limited his role. He’s also had difficulty breaking off big gains, registering just one run longer than 20 yards over the first nine weeks of his career.

After Henderson was tripped up by a safety on his first carry against the Bucs, he heard about it at halftime from Diggs.

“I’m definitely hard on TreVeyon, just because I see so much potential in him,” the veteran wideout said. “When one guy tackles him and stuff like that — I’ve been around some great backs in my career, and I was telling him, ‘Those great backs don’t get tackled. I want to see you score.’ I was talking mad junk to him at halftime. I was just being hard on him.”

Diggs was happy to see his motivational techniques pay off in the second half.

“I’m proud of him,” he said. “… He’s finally scoring touchdowns, finally running away from guys. … Him coming out there and busting two of them, it’s like, it’s good to be hard on people, I guess.”

Henderson admitted Sunday’s game was “a lot” for him. Stevenson was inactive for the second straight game, and fellow RB Terrell Jennings exited with a knee injury in the first half, leaving Henderson and practice squad call-up D’Ernest Johnson as New England’s only backfield options for most of the game.

“It was hard, but something that I pray on is just embracing hardships, embracing challenges,” said Henderson, who finished with a career-high 147 yards on 14 carries. “To accept that it’s going to be hard. It’s not going to be easy. Once seeing Terrell go down, I knew I was going to have to carry a much bigger workload, so I thank God because I feel this week I’ve been pushing myself to just prepare for when those moments come.”

The Patriots also got key contributions from a few other rookies in Sunday’s victory, which pushed their record to 8-2. Will Campbell played every snap at left tackle, Elijah Ponder sacked Baker Mayfield once and Craig Woodson had a key pass breakup on a late-game third down.

“I think we (rookies) are legit as a whole group,” Williams said.

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