Three Takeaways From Patriots’ Excruciating Loss To Steelers

The New England Patriots repeatedly shot themselves in the foot during Sunday’s atrocious loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium.

I’ll get into the minutia of it all soon, but there isn’t much you need to know other than the first of our four takeaways:

‘THE S— THAT GETS YOU BEAT’

Mike Vrabel told the world this preseason that he breaks things into three buckets: the good, the bad and the s— that gets you beat.

I didn’t say the bad word, he did.

The Patriots unfortunately seem to be majoring in that latter category this season, with five more examples telling the story of what should have been a blowout win but turned into an excruciating loss.

Drake Maye tossed a red-zone interception, which came on his third consecutive passing attempt from the two-yard line. Rhamondre Stevenson’s fumbling issues reared their ugly head, as the fifth-year running back put the ball on the ground twice in his first seven touches — including one that came just inches away from the end zone. Antonio Gibson, his initial replacement in the backfield, fumbled on his second touch after assuming the role of lead back. Maye fumbled while the offense was humming in the fourth quarter and in position to take the lead.

It’s about as ugly an offensive performance you can have…

New England is the first team with multiple turnovers inside their opponent’s five-yard line since the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8 of 2023, according to ESPN. It’s the first time they’ve turned it over five times since Week 13 of 2008… against Pittsburgh.

DID CHRISTMAS COME EARLY?

New England made things much more difficult than they needed to against Pittsburgh, with the defense being called for the following penalties:

• (8:32 – 1st) Alex Austin was flagged for defensive pass interference on third down in the end zone, leading to a touchdown on the very next play.
• (3:51 – 1st) Austin was then called for holding on third down, which was a play that resulted in a sack and would have forced a punt.
• (3:22 – 1st) Marcus Jones received an unnecessary roughness penalty for going low on a blocker.
• (13:30 – 4th) Carlton Davis was called for defensive pass interference on third down, though the ball was uncatchable.

The Steelers scored on both of their first-quarter drives, which would have been punts without those first two calls. It’s safe to say that’s the difference…

VRABEL’S MINDSET CHANGE

Vrabel has historically been pretty conservative throughout his coaching career, but not anymore!

The Patriots were successful on their first six fourth-down conversion attempts this season, including a four-for-four performance to begin on Sunday. It’s another example of making things harder than they need to be, though — and we all just saw why games like this rarely result in wins, because it reuires perfection.

New England tried to make it seven-for-seven, but came up short in what would prove to be the final...