Five Thoughts Following Sunday’s Loss: Patriots’ Backfield Now Facing Big Questions
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Some thoughts on this Monday:
1) Sunday’s game was definitely disappointing, especially considering the Patriots will walk away from this one knowing that the game was there for the taking.
In a game full of mistakes, they essentially sabotaged themselves during a 21-14 loss in front of the home crowd at Gillette Stadium. Obviously, the majority of the frustration was with running back Rhamondre Stevenson. The veteran back lost the football twice in this one, including one that came on a run down at the goal line, ruining a potential moment of redemption and instead igniting discussion about his future.
But he wasn’t alone. Antonio Gibson would cough up the ball himself on the next series following Stevenson’s second turnover, while Drake Maye tossed an interception and also lost the football on a fumble. All in all, they lost the ball five times, including two down in scoring territory in what turned out to be a day full of sloppy football in a performance many certainly weren’t expecting.
The only positive is that it’s likely a humbling experience for everyone on the offensive side of the football who might have been feeling a little overconfident coming off last week’s win in Miami. However, head coach Mike Vrabel feels that’s a lesson they didn’t need to learn.
“No, we’ve known we don’t need to learn a lesson. We don’t need to learn a football game to know that turnovers are very hard to overcome,” said Vrabel. “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.”
2) Fumbling wasn’t the only problem. The Patriots committed multiple drive-extending penalties, with defensive back Alex Austin twice being flagged for pass interference and defensive holding penalties on 3rd-down after the defense had done enough to get off the field and force a field goal.
Instead, Pittsburgh was able to keep those drives going and finished in the end zone, which contributed to an early 14-0 deficit. Austin would end up being taken off the field in favor of Charles Woods, snapping what had been a streak where Austin had been out there on 100% of the 3rd down snaps heading into Sunday’s contest.
Granted, it felt like the officials were calling things tight and were certainly inconsistent with several of those. There was one in particular that Vrabel talked about after the game, which was a flag against Carlton Davis on a 3rd-and-8 in the fourth quarter, which he definitely didn’t agree with.
“You’d have to tell me that that penalty on Carlton Davis is actually defensive pass interference,” said Vrabel. “That’s new for me.”
Still, it was the turnovers that left him the most frustrated following the loss.
“I think that the turnovers are much more critical than the penalties,” said Vrabel. “Much more critical.”
3) Drake Maye is taking some heat after this loss, which is unfortunate given that his turnovers overshadowed a pretty good performance. Maye missed just one pass in the second half, completing 15-of-16 (93.8%) for 138 yards and a touchdown, but the fumble in the second half was brutal. That play happened on first down at the Pittsburgh 33-yard line. With pressure closing in, rather than wrap the ball up and go down, it looked like Maye again tried to make a play, but he lost the ball, with Pittsburgh recovering the football.
“Yeah, I just saw TreVeyon [Henderson] late and tried to do something, you know, stupid,” said Maye on the turnover. “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 cost them the chance to take the lead as the score was 14-14, and it also ruined a shot at a field goal attempt as well as a chance at punching one in and taking control of the game.
Instead, Pittsburgh took the football back 62 yards the other way, with Aaron Rodgers hitting Calvin Austin for the go-ahead touchdown to put them up 21-14 with just over two minutes remaining.
That set up another scenario Maye has struggled to come through on. The miracle last year in Tennessee aside, Maye’s yet to become someone who can bring his team back in critical situations. He did manage to march the team down the field yesterday to the Steelers’ 28, but he wasn’t able to finish after Demario Douglas got tripped up on a short pass on a 4th-and-1 from the Steelers’ 28, which turned the ball over on downs and killed their comeback hopes. He also dodged a couple of bullets early in the game after two bad throws were nearly picked off.
So far this season, Maye’s been great in the second half, completing 38-of-51 (74.5%) for 376 yards. But the fact he’s only got one touchdown and an interception over that span is a hurdle he’ll need to overcome, especially if we continue to see some of the issues we’ve seen during the early part of this season.
The one positive is the fact that the New England Patriots have scored 60 points through three games, which is the highest total they’ve had over the last four years over this stretch, and the most since the 2021 season when they scored 54. They’re currently tied for 21st in the league with Kansas City with their current total, with the Chiefs also sitting at 1-2 after finally getting a win against the Giants Sunday night.
Maye’s interception at the end of the first half was also disappointing. Maye had Kayshon Boutte open in the end zone, but he didn’t get enough air on it and it got tipped as he let it go, which led to the turnover.
“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. “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 all halftime. You just gotta move on.”
He also took a shot a couple of plays earlier where he was slammed to the ground on a throwaway, with Maye’s head bouncing on the turf after the play.
The second-year QB stayed down for a moment, clutching his helmet, but stayed in the game.
“I felt good,” said Maye when asked about it after the game. “You know, I learned from last year, if you get, you know, banged up, you got to get back up quick or they’ll spot you. So, no, I felt fine and, you know, feel good now. So just, two good players trying to get after quarterback. It happens.”
Unfortunately, the end result didn’t reward those efforts.
4) The one bright spot in this game is after some early struggles, the Patriots defense settled down and shut Pittsburgh out for most of the second half, keeping things from getting out of hand as the offense continued to struggle.
Linebacker Robert Spillane did his part, picking off Aaron Rodgers on just the third play of the second half deep in their own end, with Spillane running it back to the 11-yard line to potentially give the offense a chance to tie things up.
But that was the series where Stevenson fumbled as he crossed the goal line, with Pittsburgh recovering the football in the end zone for a touchback.
Still, the coaching staff did a good job adjusting and the defense appeared to be in the right place at the right time for the majority of the contest, save for the touchdown play late where Marcus Jones simply got beat on the play. However, what still needs to be noted is the fact that they’re continuing to play without key starter Christian Gonzalez, who remained out of the line-up on Sunday despite having returned to practice last week.
5) As for what to do with Stevenson, the Patriots likely do have a decision they need to make. There’s no question that he’s a talented player and last week was a prime example of what he’s able to be when he’s at his best after he finished with 88 yards through the air and 54 on the ground. However, using him as their full-time back may not be their best option.
Using him as a pass-catching back and limiting his carries may be the better way to go, which is what they did briefly after his first fumble. If they decide to stay that course, that may potentially put a higher workload on rookie TreVeyon Henderson. The rookie has had a tough time in the early going, with teams keying in on him and giving him little space to work with. That was evident again on Sunday, as the Steelers were all over him whenever he touched the football.
Henderson saw his workload increase after Stevenson and Gibson’s second-half turnovers, but he carried 9 times for just 23 yards, averaging a paltry 2.6 yards per carry.
Still, the rookie didn’t turn it over, which at least helped keep them in it with a shot to force overtime at the end of the game. He finished the afternoon with 11 carries for 28 yards, along with three receptions for 19 yards.
Antonio Gibson does currently lead the team in yards per carry, averaging 4.5 after having carried 13 times for 58 yards through three games. He carried the football seven times for 28 yards on Sunday, but his turnover also saw him join Stevenson as neither player touched the football in the running game in the fourth quarter.
They don’t exactly have a lot of options. They still have Terrell Jennings, who had some good moments in the preseason, on the practice squad. However, the three players they have were supposed to be their strength and unfortunately on Sunday, two of those three ended up being a weakness that ultimately cost them the game.
At this point last season Stevenson had two rushing touchdowns, while this season he’s yet to crack the end zone. That opportunity was certainly there for the taking on Sunday, it’s just unfortunate that he fumbled it away.
Vrabel, who has been a supporter of Stevenson since becoming the head coach, did say that while he’s not pleased with the turnovers, he’s still the player who helped them win last week and he needs to see that player moving forward.
“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 Vrabel. “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.”
“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. 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.”
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