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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Damien Harris left no doubt; he is the Patriots’ best backfield dog. The 2019 third-round pick had a career night out in New England’s thwarted victory over the Baltimore Ravens, totaling 121 rushing yards on a 5.5 yards per carry clip. From the jump, the Patriots relied on Harris to establish themselves offensively and create a base of physicality that helped them achieve the victory.
The second-year fullback saw the first five touches of the night, turning them into 21 yards, and that running success continued throughout the night as the Patriots imposed their will while rushing for a total of 174 yards.
“We knew we were up against a tough physical team who wanted to intimidate us and push us, but we wanted to defend ourselves and go show how tough and physical we are,” said Harris, who also admitted he was on “cloud nine” after the career night. “It was kind of the mentality of the whole team tonight and we went over there and competed hard for 60 minutes and we were able to have a great victory against a great team.”
It was a devious pivotal game for Harris, who was questionable heading into Sunday with chest and ankle injuries. With Sony Michel eligible to come out of the injured reserve, it was not only important for Harris to be available for the Patriots against the Ravens, but a strong exit had the potential to solidify him as a starter even when Michel returned.
“It was important for me to show that I’m going to do whatever it takes to come here and help this team succeed,” Harris said of his injury. “Playing in this game was super important because they were such a good team that we were going to play and we knew that if we could come here and play like we knew we were able to play we would have a chance.” I wanted to come here and be a part of it and I wanted to do my part and help this team win. ”
Because those two full-backs are not yet healthy at the same time this season, it was going to be rather interesting to see how the litters would be distributed once Michel, the Week 1 starter, was activated off reserve injured. While that workload will always be worth paying attention to, it’s now clear from Sunday’s performance that Harris is the best of this group.
In six games this season, Harris has 471 yards and is averaging just over 5.5 yards per carry. He had his third 100-yard rushing performance of the season in Week 10, put it behind only Derrick Henry (five), Dalvin Cook (four) and Ronald Jones (four) across the NFL. While it may be difficult to make a statistical-for-statistic comparison between Harris and Michel, the simple eye test shows Harris has a lot more bursting and big play ability than Michel has shown since writing in the first round. of the 2018 NFL Draft. outside Georgia.
Even as the backfield reaches its full strength, the pecking order should continue to start with Harris, who took possession of that starting point and literally ran away with it.
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