The New England Patriots beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a battle of two surprise NFL elites on Sunday thanks to youth.
Second-year QB Drake Maye was at the helm of the Pats, of course, but he got a big help from two rookies.
First, it was Kyle Williams. The third-round rookie stepped into a bigger role with Kayshon Boutte out, and Maye hit him for a 72-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
On the play, Williams reached 21.78 miles per hour, the fastest a rookie has run this year, according to ESPN and Next Gen Stats.
That mark only stood until the second half of the same game. That's when TreVeyon Henderson, the second-rounder from Ohio State, reached 22.01 miles per hour on his 55-yard TD run.
"Henderson hit 21.38 mph on his 69-yard rush TD in the fourth quarter as well, per NFL Next Gen Stats," wrote ESPN's Mike Reiss after the game. "That marks the three fastest max speeds by any rookie this season, and the three fastest by any Patriots player on an offensive touchdown over the past four seasons."
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Wide receiver Stefon Diggs took some credit for the Henderson day when he spoke to reporters afterward.
"I'm definitely hard on TreVeyon because I see so much potential," Diggs said, via Reiss. "I've been around some great backs in my career and I was telling him, 'Those great backs don't get tackled and I want to see you score.' So him coming out there and busting two of them, it's good to be hard on people, I guess."
It's definitely exciting for the Patriots.
They're 8-2, and their youngsters are only getting better.
The Bills also lost on Sunday, so New England is two games up in the AFC East.
The guard wasn't expected to change this fast, but sometimes, speed can come at you quickly, as the Pats' rookies showed Sunday.
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