Five Turnovers Sink the Patriots vs. Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers

Even on a day where the Patriots' defense was mostly solid and consistently was able to bail out a Patriots offense that committed five turnovers (four fumbles, one pick), the offense was the "bad football to take advantage of" talked about all offseason in its final form for at least one afternoon. In many ways, the Patriots both should've and should have come nowhere close to winning against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they managed to burn most of the goodwill they built up over the last weekend in Miami. More so than the Raiders' loss, this loss to the Steelers felt like a classic case of the Patriots beating the Patriots.

What Went Wrong in the Run Game (Besides the Obvious)?

Beyond the four (4) fumbles yesterday, the Patriots weren't able to create their own rushing lanes. Pittsburgh actually only ran seven stacked box looks yesterday, but the Patriots only got one "good" non-scramble run out of those plays: the Rhamondre Stevenson 4th&1 conversion from the New England 15-yard line. Outside of that, you more or less were seeing the backs getting non-existent rushing lanes as such for most of the day between the A gaps.

Yeah, not exactly what you're hoping for as you're getting handoffs. For as much grief as Rhamondre Stevenson (more so) and Antonio Gibson (less so) are getting today, know the offensive line deserves a share of the blame pie, as does Josh McDaniels for not attacking the right side of the Steelers DLine as much as he should've.

As for Stevenson, I find it hard to justify him being the lead guy in this trio next week. That fumble at the goalline after an absolute gift of an INT from Aaron Rodgers was nothing short of inexcuseable, and while it's clear (and fine, to be honest) that TreVeyon Henderson isn't going to be a true standout featured back as a rookie, what's the point of drafting him that high if you aren't willing to increase his workload in a situation exactly like this? That doesn't mean he's out there every snap and potentially getting himself in trouble as a pass protector, as he did in Miami. However, Stevenson being the cause of two egregious fumbles and not seeing his workload cut for at least the short term would be bad coaching by Mike Vrabel and his team.

Bounce Back for Bob Spillane and How the Patriots Boxed up Metcalf

In some good news for the Patriots yesterday, Robert Spillane had a gigantic bounce back outing that saw him rack up 15 tackles (one for a loss), a pressure on one of his five blitz snaps, an interception on one of the worst throws Aaron Rodgers has ever made, and best of all, zero missed tackles according to the folks over at PFF. Christian Elliss' lack of improvement led to him being benched for Jack Gibbens, but Spillane was legitimately good for the first time this year, watching this one back. Just a shame it didn't matter in the end.

A surprise in this game, to me anyway, is the lack of productivity out of DK Metcalf, who only had three grabs for 34 yards and a TD, with all but five of those yards coming on his lone screen reception and the touchdown, which I don't fault Carlton Davis for in the slightest. That was an absolute laser beam by Rodgers in a spot where Metcalf could only get it. Sometimes all you can do is tip your cap in a situation like that. I'd chalk up the Patriots' coverage of Metcalf (primarily Carlton Davis, but I did spot some cases of Marcus Jones on him as well, who was pretty good). However, there were times when he was open, and for whatever reason, Rodgers wasn't looking his way. In fact, we're three games into the season, and the only target Metcalf has gotten 10-plus yards downfield was his TD. I can't imagine that's the best usage for him, but that's their problem, not mine.

Meanwhile, much to my surprise, none of Pittsburgh's tight ends were super impactful yesterday either, save for a 21-yard grab by Jonnu Smith (I hate you, Josh McDaniels). That's another angle of why this loss was so frustrating. Yes, Pittsburgh had some timely good drives, but you can't gift them possessions and expect that everything will be fine. The defense, while not doing much in the pass rush department due to a mix of #unethical double teams on the big boys up the middle (some of the Milton Williams double teams were egregious) and the Steelers stressing the quick game, there was only so much they could do.

What's up with Stefon Diggs and the Patriots WRs?

I saw Mark Daniels bring up the fact that Stefon Diggs, nor any Patriots WR, cracked the 40-yard plateau over the last two games, so I wanted to go back and look up all of Diggs' routes from yesterday. My interpretation of what I saw is that he's not having a ton of issues getting open, but it felt like there were some opportunities to hit him for a chunk play that got unraveled because of the protection upfront, or there were safer options for Maye to hit. Take this nine-yard pickup by Hunter Henry, who was spectacular yesterday, as a good example.

That's an example of not being upset at Maye for not forcing things, but if he could've manipulated one of those two shell safeties, that's almost certainly a TD if he can get that ball in a spot where Diggs doesn't have to make a crazy adjustment mid-route. There was another play right before the final two-minute warning where, if Maye had an extra moment or so, he could've layered a ball over a wall of linebackers and hit Diggs around midfield on a deep in-cut, but once again, he played it safe with the walls collapsing inwards and went safe to Henry. The point here is that while getting Diggs more involved by design isn't a bad idea, this is not an issue of him not being able to get open or anything of the sort. Just some timely bad protection snaps, and there wasn't really any shot to get Diggs working downfield. Also worth noting is that this was his second game with over 20 routes run since he tore his ACL. I wouldn't be so quick to push the panic button.

Off Day for Maye

It speaks to the point that it was a down day for QBs leaguewide on Sunday, given Drake Maye's outing was, by most statistical categories, one of the better in Week 3. Minus Goff and Jackson, who we'll see later tonight, Maye was fifth in yards, ninth in passer rating, 10th in both EPA and EPA per dropback, and, comfortably, this was the worst of his three starts this year. Id split blame on his first half interception between him, and the fact that Cam Heyward just made a great play deflecting that pass just enough, but he threws a few more balls that probably should've been picked off, his fumble, which he atributed to seeing TreVeyon Henderson late and thinking he could make a play, was inexcuseable, and for all of the good he objectively did, you can't make that many mistakes as a QB and expect to win games. Very disappointing.

The Final Play

You can see it for yourselves here, but I absolutely hated this 4th-and-2 play call by Josh McDaniels, who had dialed up some good stuff on the prior fourth downs in this one. Keeping your dynamic athlete at quarterback stationary in the pocket when he had success getting outside the pocket and getting upfield as a runner. Instead, it's three receivers to Maye's left (good), and two of them working towards the boundary with not much space between them (bad). Yes, Pop Douglas shouldn't have tried to get cute after the catch, but it wasn't a guarantee he would make the line to gain anyway. Not that he's unworthy of criticism here, and I think Efton Chism being active from here on out as a slot option would be warranted to maybe find a spark, but I hated this call more than anything here.

Final Score: Pittsburgh Steelers 21, New England Patriots 14

Gaffney's Three Stars from Patriots-Dolphins:

1st Star: Hunter Henry (8 Receptions for 90 Yards and 2 TDs)

2nd Star: Robert Spillane (15 Tackles, 7 Stops, 1 TFL, 1 Pressure, 1 INT)

3rd Star: Craig Woodson (1 Reception Allowed for 6 Yards on 24 Pass Coverage Snaps)

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