Fumbles, Missed Chances Haunt Patriots in 21-14 Loss to Steelers
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Coming off of Sunday’s loss against the Steelers, it’s certainly hard to look at the stat sheet and make sense of New England ending up on the wrong side of the final 21-14 outcome at Gillette Stadium.
Drake Maye finished the afternoon 28-of-37 for 268 yards and 2 touchdowns, along with one interception, while Aaron Rodgers was just 16-of-23 for 139 yards, tossing 2 touchdowns and an interception of his own.
New England outgained Pittsburgh on the ground with 119-64 NET yards rushing, and the Patriots ended up with 369 of Total Net Yards on offense, compared to just 203 for the Steelers. They also won the penalty battle, committing just 7 penalties for 54 yards, compared to 8 penalties for 59 yards by Pittsburgh.
However, the killer on Sunday was ultimately the number of turnovers (5), which was highlighted by four fumbles. Two of those were committed by Rhamondre Stevenson, with Stevenson coughing up the football on the opening drive after the Patriots had gotten out near their own 40. The second occurred at the start of the second half, just two plays after Robert Spillane picked off Aaron Rodgers and set the Patriots up at the Steelers’ 11-yard line.
After Maye found Hunter Henry for a 9-yard pass that got them down to the 2-yard line, it looked like they were set to tie things up. But as Stevenson surged forward on 2nd-and-1 for what appeared to be a touchdown, he lost the handle on the football before crossing the goal line, with Pittsburgh recovering it in the end zone for a touchback.
And just like that, instead of redemption, it further added to what was a difficult afternoon for the veteran back.
“It’s like you sit there and we’re so excited about him, and everybody’s excited about him, the fans are, and we know what his capabilities are,” said head coach Mike Vrabel after the game. “We got to get him back. We need him. We absolutely need him. You see what he was able to do for us last week, his ability to make some plays.”
It didn’t help that after Stevenson’s second fumble, the club turned to Antonio Gibson, who took over for him on the ensuing drive. However, it took just three plays before Gibson also fumbled the football away, squandering yet another opportunity for the offense to try and get points. It also piled on even more frustration for a team that just couldn’t seem to get out of its own way all afternoon.
The situation left Vrabel frustrated, and given how things played out, it’s obvious that the problem extended beyond Stevenson. However, Vrabel also expressed that they’ll take a look at ball security collectively, with Stevenson likely being at the center of things given his history.
“Again, we’ll just have to look at the technique. We’ll have to look at the ball security, but we’re going to need him,” said Vrabel of Stevenson. “We need his ability, but we also need to take care of the football. It’s a long answer to tell you that I’m not really sure 20 minutes after the game what we’re going to do. But we need him because he helped us win the game last week, and it was a different story today.”
Meanwhile, Drake Maye also had his own moments that overshadowed an otherwise strong showing. A 17-play drive at the end of the first half ended up in disaster after Maye set up Kayshon Boutte for what appeared to be a wide-open touchdown in the back left corner of the end zone.
However, Maye didn’t quite get enough arc on it, and it was tipped at the line and picked off with just 0:07 left in the half.
Rodgers came out and kneeled on the ball, and just like that, rather than potentially being tied at 14-14 at half time, they instead trailed 14-7.
“Yeah, you know, I had [Kayshon] Boutte. You know, I fired it in there, and I think 97 got a hand on it and just kind of took it a different route,” said Maye after the game on the play. “You know, it was a good play by him, but, yeah, I think I could have gave him a different ball flight for, you know, I think in the back corner of the end zone for a touchdown.”
“So, yeah, just like I said, one of those things that stings. You know, I was thinking about it, you know, all halftime. You just gotta move on.”
Maye finally led the offense on a scoring drive following Stevenson and Gibson’s back-to-back fumbles, driving them 88 yards on 15 plays, while finishing it off with a nice throw to Hunter Henry to knot things up at 14-14 less than a minute into the fourth quarter.
But after the defense forced another punt, it felt like the Patriots might finally be able to overcome all their earlier miscues. They got the ball at their own 18, with TreVeyon Henderson kicking things off with a 5-yard carry before Maye then connected on passes of 12, 16, and 6 yards to get them to midfield.
After Maye converted a 4th-and-1 with a run with his legs, the Patriots offense found itself sitting at the Steelers’ 33 with a chance to take the lead with either a field goal or a touchdown.
Instead, they ended up with neither, as Pittsburgh got pressure on Maye and forced a fumble, with Maye losing the handle on the football as the Steelers recovered at their own 38.
That killed yet another promising drive for the fifth turnover of the afternoon.
“Yeah, I just saw TreVeyon late and tried to do something, you know, stupid,” said Maye. “So, yeah, really, I don’t think … it’s just continue playing. I think, my capability to feed outside the pocket makes it tough on them. You know, they’re good front thought those guys up front block their butts off. But yeah, just be more decisive and, if I take a sack to take care of the football, that’s the number one thing.”
That turnover ultimately cost them points and more importantly, it gave the Steelers the momentum as they ended up marching 62 yards on 9 plays the other way before Rodgers connected with Calvin Austin for a 17-yard touchdown against Marcus Jones to put them up 21-14 with 2:16 left to go in the game.
With a chance to tie, Maye drove them from their own 26-yard line down to the Steelers’ 28-yard line. But facing 4th-and-1, Maye hit Demario Douglas for a quick throw out to the left, but Douglas couldn’t make a move on Pittsburgh’s corners, who dropped him for a 1-yard loss, ending any hopes of a miracle.
“You’re expecting to get something out quick,” said Maye of the play. “You know, I think I wish I would have told those guys, you know, fourth and one, just try to, you know, catch it and get up field, you know, I wish I would have told them that in the huddle. Those little things go a long way, but yeah, nothing Pop did wrong, just he was trying to make a play.”
“I wish…Yeah, just, you know, expecting some type of blitz. Look, I think they played some blitz trap deal, but yeah, I think that’s this league. You got the ball, tied up, and you know, I costed us and then we got the ball, you know, going down to tie to send it to overtime. And you know, that’s the NFL. So it’s tough, but it’s a great experience.”
It ruined a pretty good performance for Maye, who connected on 15-of-16 in the second half for 138 yards and a touchdown.
While Maye talked about it being a good experience, that was an area where Vrabel disagreed, adding that this isn’t a lesson they should need to learn.
“No, we’ve known we don’t need to learn a lesson,” said Vrabel. “We don’t need to learn a football game to know that turnovers are very hard to overcome. They erase all the good things that you do. They take away momentum, they take away points, give them field position. We didn’t need to turn it over as many times as we did to learn a lesson. We knew that before, so it was very unfortunate.”
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