Patriots rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson celebrates one of his two touchdowns in Sunday's win over Tampa. (AP photo)

The New England Patriots did something they hadn’t been able to do in a while this past weekend.

They had rookies win them a game.

That’s the final piece to the first-year progress evaluation of the Mike Vrabel Administration, right? Kyle Williams, drafted for speed. Blazes by the Tampa defense for a touchdown.

TreVeyon Henderson blazed into the secondary for TD runs of 55 and 69 yards. When he was drafted, the word was he gave the Patriots the home run hitter they’ve lacked, the ability to score from anywhere on the field as soon as he touched the ball. That was evident with his preseason kickoff return for a TD, the first time he ever touched the ball as a Patriot. But we hadn’t seen that all season up to this point, because he had been behind Rhamondre Stevenson but also hadn’t gotten the ball much in space. But against the blitz happy Buccaneers under coach Todd Bowles, often Henderson had all the space he needed once he got past the line of scrimmage. But how he got there is also part of the deal.

“We got into the second level, Mack (receiver Hollins) blocked the safety and we ran away from the post safety,” Vrabel said. “And then I thought we were able to get him to the edge. I think that hoop (tight and Austin Hooper) and Will (Campbell) did a good job of getting the edge.

“And then (Khyiris) Tonga was able to get out on the safety and the TreVeyon did everything else. So it was a tough sledding on a lot of those runs. But again, if you’re able to stick with it and you’re able to break a couple, that helps.”

In his last three games, Henderson has 277 rushing yards, 35 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

And how about Williams? He simply had to wait his turn and Keyshon Boutte’s hamstring injury. The Patriots have taken their time with him, for certain.

“I think that Kyle’s a good mixture of getting some reps with our offense, and also working on the show team to be able to improve that way, work and develop,” Vrabel said. “So anything that he can do, or we can do to help him get ready for the game, gain confidence and those types of things, then I’m all for.”

So what are we looking at? We’re looking at a team in which the pieces fit. Veteran receiver Mack Hollins, for example. You don’t hear much about him , part of the free agent spending spree the Patriots did in the off-season. All he did was spring Henderson for one of the TDs and caught six balls for 106 yards. He is good, a receiver who does all the little things.

So we’re starting to understand why the Patriots weren’t going to cry over spilled trade deadline deal milk. They have the leadership and a coach who right now has been fantastic, showing motivation, strategy – milking the clock by sacrificing a red zone play with Drake Maye in the Tampa win – and an ability to be decisive. Vrabel wants his teams to fight, battle, etc. and says that’s why he loves coaching. But how do you think the players feel when their head coach comes out to see how they are when they go down on the field with an injury?

That matters.

The Patriots will most likely be 11-2 when it’s time to go into the bye week. We didn’t count on the wins over Buffalo and Tampa, and thought Cincinnati would be better than it is.

The rest is the AFC is weak. All you needed to see was Sunday night’s Chargers 25-10 ugly win over the Steelers. Awful.

The Patriots game with the Jets Thursday night won’t be pretty; Thursday night games very rarely are. But one thing is certain: A young player will do something good.

This week’s rankings:

AFC

1. New England (8-2). 2.Denver (8-2). 3. Buffalo (6-3). 4. Indianapolis (8-2). 5. L.A. Chargers (7-3).

NFC

1.Philadelphia (6-2). 2. Detroit (6-3). 3. L.A. Rams (7-2). 4.Seattle (7-2). 5.Tampa Bay (6-3).