Mike Vrabel’s Patriots are inexcusably sloppy, and their self-inflicted mistakes cost them the Steelers game many times over.
New England looked like they played with a Vaseline-coated football when they took the field against Pittsburgh Sunday. They tallied four lost fumbles, and had two turnovers in the endzone, to lose 21-14.
Rhamondre Stevenson had two fumbles on his own – an unfortunate day after two clean weeks of football for the turnover-prone big back.
“I’ve got to hold onto the ball to have value, to put value on this team. If I can’t hold the ball, they don’t need me,” Stevenson said postgame.
When the coaches tried to cycle Antonio Gibson in his place, he immediately fumbled as well.
“They was punching out the ball from the first play,” Gibson said after the game, and was contrite about the play that led to his own fumble. “You can’t get relaxed right there, even when you’re trying to break a tackle or lower your shoulder. That’s what happened. Helmet to football, that’s a tough one to hold onto, my fault, so I’ve just got to do better there.”
The Patriots appeared the better team for long stretches, and long drives – especially in the second half. But it’s nearly impossible to win a game when you shoot your own toes off in front of the endzone militia, more than once.
And they failed to practice what the preached all week for the second time in this short start to the season.
In Week 1, it was all about focusing on the second half and finishing strong, and then they were a no-show after halftime. This week, coaches and players preached “consistency.”
“Sunday is critical, and building consistency is critical in the preparation and how you want to play, but also the response that you have when you play, and if it's not perfect or it's not going great or they come back, you've got to be able to take a few punches and be able to come back,” Vrabel said Friday afternoon. “So, hopefully, we're building that and we're building that identity. That's critical.”
The only constant Sunday was the total lapse in ball security. The Patriots also collected seven penalties, but that wasn’t the biggest issue, according to Vrabel.
“The turnovers are much more critical than the penalties. Ball security comes down to technique, comes down to other people protecting the guy with the ball, second guy in,” he said after the game.
On the bright side, the Patriots did manage to come back from starting down two scores. But this loss was even more frustrating than Week 1 against the Raiders because it was such a winnable game for New England. Aaron Rodgers looked like he wanted to be anywhere but on the field. The Patriots defense had their best outing of the season and yielded just one yard the entire third quarter.
There are two “consistent” players on this offense, and that’s it. One is Hunter Henry, the tight end who’s long acted as a binky for the Patriots’ many quarterback projects. He had the Patriots’ two touchdown receptions.
The other player is Stefon Diggs. His stat line won’t blow you away, but his situational impact has been key to keeping drives alive. He converted two third downs and had a key legal pick for Rhamondre Stevenson to convert another in the second quarter.
Quarterback Drake Maye started very erratically and finished with an up-and-down day. He posted 268 passing yards, two touchdowns, an interception, a fumble, and 45 rushing yards. Vrabel had an interesting message for him after the loss:
“You don’t have to win it all on one play.”
Patience is a virtue every young player has to learn in this league. Composure is clearly a quality this team still needs to develop.
Every win is built brick-by-brick. But there’s no denying that this loss was the Patriots taking a wrecking ball to themselves.