Patriots play too much bad football to overcome in Steelers loss

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said in his introductory press conference that he wanted a key tenet to be to "take advantage of bad football." But there's an important first step: don't play bad football yourselves.

The Pats have skipped that first step far too often over their first three games of the 2025 season, and played entirely too much bad football to deserve to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Gillette Stadium. Turnovers and penalties dotted the play sheet throughout the game. They mixed in some generally bad decision-making, right down to the very end, blending a potent cocktail of chaos.

Without question, the turnovers killed the Patriots more than anything. They put the ball in harm's way early and often, starting with Rhamondre Stevenson's fumble on the opening drive of the game. Stevenson later topped himself with a third-quarter fumble at the goal line, leaving the Pats empty-handed on the scoreboard.

Vrabel did his best to give Stevenson a vote of confidence, repeating that they need him in order to have the kind of success they want. But Stevenson had a blunt self-assessment when Vrabel's comment was relayed back to him in the locker room.

"I mean, I appreciate it, but I got to hold onto the ball to have value and put value on this team," Stevenson said. "If I can't hold the ball, they don't need me."

Then there's Maye and his two turnovers. The first was a back-breaker, an interception in the end zone with just 12 seconds to go in the first half and the Steelers clinging to a 14-7 lead. Maye had the right read with wide receiver Kayshon Boutte open, but the Steelers' Cameron Heyward tipped it at the line. The pass may have been off the mark even without the deflection, but Maye admitted he could've had a better "ball flight" on the play.

Maye's second and final turnover came at a critical point in the game. The Patriots were driving with the game tied midway through the fourth quarter, when Maye tried to escape pressure by scrambling up the middle and coughed up the ball for his first lost fumble of the season. Aaron Rodgers promptly answered with a go-ahead touchdown drive to put the Steelers up for good.

"I thought those guys up front blocked their butts off, but just be decisive, and if I have to take a sack, just take care of the football. That's the No. 1 thing," Maye said, in reaction to his late fumble.

The Patriots actually committed fewer penalties than the Steelers (8-7) on the day, but the Pats had a knack for undoing their own positive plays. Alex Austin's early pass interference in the end zone on third-and-goal gifted the Steelers fresh downs at the 1-yard line. His holding flag on the following Steelers drive negated a Milton Williams strip-sack. Instead of being stopped at their own 10, the Steelers drove 90 yards for their second touchdown.

On offense, right guard Mike Onwenu slipped past the line of scrimmage for an ineligible man downfield penalty, which wiped out what would've been a 17-yard completion from Maye to DeMario Douglas. The coaches weren't exactly immune to the ineptitude, either, as Josh McDaniels called three straight passing plays from the 2-yard line later in that same drive, the one that ended with the Maye interception. The first play-call resulted in Maye running for his life and desperately chucking the ball away through the end zone.

It was Douglas that saved the "best" bad football for last. His miscue was technically a turnover, but this was more of the bad decision-making variety. Douglas caught a last-chance fourth-down pass from Maye right before the line to gain, but instead of ducking and trying to burrow ahead for that last yard, he darted backward and ultimately got brought down by his cleats.

“It hurts, you know," Douglas said after the game. "Nobody likes losing, especially the way we lost.”

The Patriots played turnover-free football in Week 2 against the Dolphins, but it wasn't mistake-free. They're 3-for-3 having to clean up the penalties, and their in-game decision-making -- from the coaches on down to the players -- hasn't been as sharp as expected. So, they're 1-2, and face a virtual must-win situation against the not-particularly-good Carolina Panthers on their home field in Week 4.

And the shame in this one, is that the Patriots did do some good things, and for a time it felt like they were playing well enough to win. Maye threw two touchdown passes. The defense forced Rodgers into a rare boneheaded interception and limited the Steelers to only 203 net yards of offense. But the numerous blunders, and the untimely nature of them, proved overwhelming.

"There's a lot to clean up," Vrabel said after the game. "A lot of good in there, but unfortunately just not enough to get us to win, to get us to really have any sort of advantage in a football game. Every time I felt like we were going to take the momentum and be able to score and move forward in the game, and the defense did a great job there. Unfortunately it got to be one too many opportunities on their part."

Next week against the Panthers is not a time for the Patriots to overthink things. It's a time for them to go back to basics and a renewed focus on not playing a perfect game, but at least playing a clean game. Then, they'll have a chance to get back to winning.