FOXBOROUGH – Former Lakers head coach Pat Riley had a saying in the glory days of the 1980s and the Magic versus Larry era.
His message to his players was simple: No rebounds, no rings.
Mike Vrabel needs to adapt this saying, extrapolated for his situation.
Something like this: No security, no Super Bowls.
“We don’t need to lose a football game to know that turnovers are hard to overcome,” said Vrabel in his postgame press conference. “They erase all the good things that you do.”
That was pretty much a good summation of the Patriots’ 21-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium. The fact that it was only a seven-point loss despite committing five turnovers speaks well for the Patriots; Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers was complaining after the game that his team should have done more with the five turnovers.
But it was still a loss for the Patriots, one that they will regret until they win their next game. Which should happen eventually, as long as they figure out how to secure the football.
Especially Rhamondre Stevenson. He led the NFL in fumbles last year with seven. He had two of the four lost fumbles by the Patriots in this game. The most damaging was his second fumble, which came after the only Steeler turnover, a third quarter interception of Rodgers by Robert Spillane. Stevenson looked like he would slip into the end zone from the two-yard line, but was hit by Cameron Heyward just before he crossed the goal line and the ball was knocked loose. Payton Wilson covered the ball in the end zone.
Stevenson was benched for the rest of the game. His great game last week in Miami is now overshadowed by his ongoing penchant for fumbling. It harkens back to the days of former Patriot running back Kevin Faulk, although he eventually kicked his habit and went on to become the prototypical third down back, a feature of the offenses run by Charlie Weis and Josh McDaniels.
Antonio Gibson went in, and killed off the next drive with a lost fumble. Drake Maye later suffered a strip sack. Vrabel was running out of men he could count on. At least rookie TreVeyon Henderson had no fumbles.
After Pittsburgh finally took the lead in the fourth quarter with 2:16 to play, Maye took over the Patriots at the 26-yard line. He took the Patriots 45 yards in eight plays. But on fourth down and two at the Steeler 27, Maye hit Pop Douglas in the left flat just short of the line to gain. He retreated and tried to circle back to get the all-important first down, but Brandin Echols made the tackle for a one-yard loss and put the game in the fridge for the Steelers.
If you can draw any positives from this game, it is from the defense and Maye.
Rodgers was complaining about the lack of points off turnovers for a reason. After giving up touchdowns on the first two drives in the first quarter, the defense shut down Pittsburgh until the final two minutes of the game. Not counting kneeldowns, following these two touchdowns, the next five Steeler offensive possessions went punt-interception-punt-punt-punt. The front seven pressured Rodgers well despite no sacks. The Steeler running game was held to under three yards a carry.
Maye did a great job of leading the offense. Take away the pick and the fumble and he gave everyone another glimpse into the future for the Patriots. Most of his throws were good looking throws, with several seeing-eye, thread the needle type throws. On his interception at the end of the first half, his pass was tipped by Heyward at the line of scrimmage despite Kayshon Boutte wide open in the end zone, and Echols was able to make the pick.
Maye finished 28 of 37 passing for 268 yards, two touchdowns, one pick and a rating of 102.1. Maye was also the Patriots’ leading rusher with 45 yards on 7 carries and a 6.4 yards per carry average. Maye connected with nine different receivers, with Hunter Henry hauling in 8 catches for 90 yards and scored both Patriot touchdowns.
Rodgers was 16 of 23 passing for 139 yards, two touchdowns, one pick and a rating of 96.1. Jaylen Warren was both the leading rusher and receiver for Pittsburgh with 47 yards rushing and 34 yards receiving.
It was the first Pittsburgh win in Gillette since 2008. That same game was also the last time the Patriots suffered five turnovers. Rodgers won for the first time in this stadium. There are going to be days like this along the way as the Patriots rebuild their great team.
The Patriots get the Carolina Panthers at home next week, where they should be solid favorites to win. Maye should be up for this battle as he takes on the team from the same state as his college Alma Mater. Vrabel said that the Patriots need to “get him back” when asked about Stevenson.
Sooner or later, games like this will once again be easy wins for the Patriots. Just got to get through some more bad times along the way before the good times return.
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Covering Boston Sports since 1997. Native of Worcester, Mass. Attended UMass and Univ of Michigan. Lives in California. Just recently retired after 40 years of public school teaching. Podcasts on YouTube at @thepic4139
Turn overs, pre snap penalties and moronic situational play. Been seeing this for a while and it’s still boring and un fun to watch. Was hoping for better from Vrabel but he seems to be struggling to get over a very low bar