FOXBOROUGH — On Sunday, turnovers were the key reason the New England Patriots didn’t score more than 14 points in a touchdown loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Patriots now fall to 0-2 at home this season and will face the Carolina Panthers in Week 4, a week from today.
Patriots running backs were the story when it came to turnovers. Rhamondre Stevenson had two fumbles on the day, and his second one was costly early in the 3rd quarter, fumbling right before the goal line when the game was about to be tied at 14 a piece. Antonio Gibson also had a fumble in the game. After his fumble, a majoirty of the carries went to former Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson.
It was a tough day for the running back room outside of Henderson, with three fumbles caused by Stevenson and Gibson. After having a great week last week in Miami for both Gibson and Stevenson, the script was flipped this week in their performances.
Q: How do you handle Rhamondre Stevenson with two fumbles?
MV: Yeah, it’s like you sit there, and we were so excited about him and everybody is excited about him, the fans are, and we know what his capabilities are, and we’ve 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 and 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.
Mike Vrabel-Via Patriots.com
Patriots QB Drake Maye had a good passing day, going 28/37 for 268 yards, adding 2 touchdowns, 1 INT, and having 7 carries for 45 yards rushing. The two things that stood out to me today in his performance were the interception and the fumble lost. Again, turnovers were the key difference in the Patriots being 2-1 but now falling to 1-2.
Between the quarterback and the two running backs, a total of 5 turnovers were caused. I understand this is Year 2 for Maye, and he is in a new offensive scheme with Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels, and it’s still early in the season, but sooner or later it has to be figured out. Protection around Maye has been better than a season ago, but better decisions have to be made in protecting the football.
Q: Just kind of a quick postgame feeling about Drake and what you saw today —
MV: A lot of good. A lot of good. And unfortunately some decisions that have to be better. I’m sure we’ll have to protect him better. And just understanding that you don’t have to win it all on one play. There’s opportunities to move on and save the day the next play. You can’t put the ball in harm’s way at that position. But certainly Drake wasn’t alone. But there’s a lot of really good things in there, his ability to extend plays, scramble, pick up 1st downs for us, run multiple plays inside the pocket, outside the pocket. There’s a lot of good things in there, just some decision making that we need to have be better for him and for himself.
-Mike Vrabel-Via Patriots.com
One last key takeaway happened on the final drive. WR DeMario Douglas caught a pass on 4th and 1 and tried to juke defenders to get the first down and keep the team’s hope alive for a tie, but unfortunately, he was tackled short of the first down. After Douglas caught the ball, he should have gone for the first down to keep the drive alive instead of moving backward. With the game on the line, that was a must for the team to stay alive, but that play ultimately sealed it.
Douglas on being short of the first down:
“Yeah, I knew I was somewhere by it because we only had two yards.” Via Patriots.com
What’s next for this team, starting at 1-2 and winless at home? The Patriots need to commit fewer errors and turnovers, score more than 14 points at home, and have a repeat of their Week 2 win down in Miami.
In order for this team to reach .500 next weekend, CB Christian Gonzalez needs to be fully healthy and play, finally, four weeks into the season. Running backs need to focus on ball security all week in practice and do drills that can help address the turnover issues.
The New England Patriots (1-2) turns their attention to the Carolina Panthers (1-2) and host them next week at 1:00PM.
My name is Kenneth Matias and I am an aspiring sports journalist that has great sports knowledge and follow the New England Patriots and the NFL landscape very closely.
