Belichick won't 'second-guess Rhamondre' after costly fumble

Multiple running backs lost their starting roles under New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick due to ball security issues throughout the years, but Rhamondre Stevenson's job appears safe.

"I'm not going to second-guess Rhamondre on what he did," Belichick said Monday, according to ESPN's Mike Reiss. "Rhamondre's ball security has been pretty good all year. He had two hands on the ball, they were running him back, and they knocked it out at the end."

Stevenson suffered a fourth-quarter fumble in the red zone that cost the Pats a chance to score a go-ahead touchdown during Saturday's 22-18 defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Cincy opened a 22-0 lead in the first half, but New England scored 18 unanswered in the final two quarters and was yards away from completing a comeback.

With 1:05 left and the team down by four, the Patriots handed the ball to Stevenson on a first-and-goal at the Bengals' 5-yard line. Cincy's linemen stopped the second-year running back at the line of scrimmage before safety Vonn Bell forced a fumble that Josh Tupou recovered to essentially seal the game.

"Rhamondre is a really good competitor. He's one of our best players. I'm sure he'll be ready to go," Belichick said when asked how the costly mistake will affect Stevenson in the final two weeks.

The 24-year-old Stevenson leads New England with 944 rushing yards and five touchdowns through 15 games. Damien Harris, the team's leading rusher in 2020 and 2021, has missed six games this year due to injury, including the last four due to a thigh ailment.

The 7-8 Patriots, who face the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills in their final two games of the season, only have a 20% chance of making the playoffs, according to FiveThirtyEight.

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