Pats Pulpit
Turnovers were the story of the day for the New England Patriots against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. The team of head coach Mike Vrabel gave the ball away on five separate occasions during its 21-14 loss, including twice inside the Pittsburgh 5-yard line.
It is no secret that that is not a winning formula in the NFL, and something the Patriots need to do better. How are they going to improve, though? For Vrabel, it all starts with practice and an understanding that ball security is not just a one-person job.
“We’ve got to continue to practice the crap out of it,” he said during a press conference at Gillette Stadium on Monday. “We also have to do a better job of protecting said person with the ball, whether that’s the quarterback, whether that’s the running back or the receiver. We’re all responsible for the security of the football. It starts with the person who has it, and then it falls upon the people that are blocking.”
The Patriots looked solid in the turnover department the first two weeks of the season. Outside of a Drake Maye interception in Week 1 — a play that did prove to be a turning point in New England’s loss to the Raiders that day — the team did not give up the ball.
However, Sunday’s outing quickly catapulted the team up the NFL leaderboard. The Patriots are now tied for second in the league in giveaways, a ranking they share with their upcoming Week 4 opponent, the Carolina Panthers.
For New England to return to its winning ways against Carolina, a repeat of the Steelers game cannot happen. After previously emphasizing “X-plays” and tackling in practice, the focus will therefore now shift to ball security.
“We’ll continue to rep it,” Vrabel said. “If we have to put two hands on the football, when we’re going through there, that’s what we’ll have to do. The only thing I know how to do is to continue to practice it and work it. But then also, maybe it’s not so much the person that you see, it’s the one you don’t see. There were a few opportunities that we can show them here in a little bit of that. Yes, the person is responsible for taking care of the football, but the other people also have a critical job in ball security.”
