New England Patriots' Rhamondre Stevenson out with toe injury - ESPN

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots will be without starting running back Rhamondre Stevenson for Sunday's home game against the Atlanta Falcons, coach Mike Vrabel announced.

Stevenson, who leads the team with 83 rushes for 279 yards and 3 touchdowns, has missed the week of practice with a toe injury. The only other running backs on the roster are second-round draft pick TreVeyon Henderson (5-10, 202) and former practice squad player Terrell Jennings (6-0, 217).

«Mondre has been such a great vet, just leading by example. He's done a good job helping me and Terrell learn and grow as players,» said Henderson, who has carried 53 times for 228 yards with 1 touchdown. «We're definitely going to give it everything we got in honor of Mondre. We know he'd love to be out on the field.»

Henderson had a productive preseason, which included a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, but hasn't had many highlight-reel plays in the regular season. He's coming off a season-high 77 rushing yards on 10 carries in last week's win over the Cleveland Browns.

«As the season continues to go on, you get to play against the best players in the country, and I think things start to slow down a little bit and you start to see different things,» he said. «I've been growing a lot. The biggest thing is trying to stay consistent each and every day and just work.»

The Patriots signed running backs D'Ernest Johnson (seventh year), Jonathan Ward (sixth year) and Rushawn Baker (rookie) to their practice squad earlier this week, and one of them could be elevated for the game to add depth, according to Vrabel.

Vrabel has noted that Stevenson's pass protection is highly valued — it is an area the Patriots and quarterback Drake Maye will miss against