When you're a team in the midst of a rebuild and hoping to assemble a roster that can compete in the near future, it's never good when you continue to commit the same mistakes that have gotten you to the bottom of the league. That's the reality the Patriots keep putting themselves in this season, with their latest performance against the Steelers being a prominent example.
Besides their problem with properly tackling, which has been on full display, specifically by linebackers Christian Elliss and Robert Spillane, they have also been getting penalized at an insane rate, neither of which is helping their goal of winning games.
But perhaps the worst problem of all through three games is their lack of ball security, which has been a problem since their Week 1 loss to the Raiders. It only got even worse in their matchup with the Steelers, as they recorded five total turnovers in the game.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the timing of the turnovers makes the entire situation difficult to overcome, and the Patriots are not a good enough team to come back from costly mistakes by their own hand.
Costly turnovers will continue to plague the Patriots in their efforts to be a competitive team again
Turnovers are bad enough as it is, but when your starting running back reverts to his rookie form and loses multiple fumbles in the red zone, it's difficult for any team to bounce back from that.
That's unfortunately what Drake Maye and the offense were dealt from Rhamondre Stevenson's costly mistakes, with the first lost fumble coming on their opening drive, which inevitably led to the Steelers scoring their first touchdown.
He committed another ill-timed turnover after Robert Spillane made an impressive interception to put the Patriots' offense on Pittsburgh's 11-yard line, with a fumble in the end zone to give the Steelers a touchback. It led to a punt, which was certainly a big win, but it was still a costly turnover nonetheless.
Antonio Gibson joined the turnover party, too, right after a drive that ended in a fumble.
Maye was a turnover machine, as well, with an early game interception followed by a fumble in Steeler territory in the fourth quarter. The Steelers were able to then move down the field with ease and take the lead once again, giving the Patriots a tough task to come back late in the game to tie things up.
The #Patriots turn the ball over five times, including two turnovers in the end zone, and fall to the Steelers by a final score of 21-14.
— Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) September 21, 2025
Not much else to say about this one besides the turnovers. Pats dominated long stretches of this game, but shot themselves in the foot.
That became the final nail in the coffin, unfortunately, and the Patriots fell to another team they had every opportunity to beat. They could easily have been a 3-0 team if it weren't for self-sabotage, and that's exactly what led to another loss this week.
Mike Vrabel is going to need to set the tone moving forward, and the team needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror before facing off against the Panthers next week, who are coming off a big-time win over the Falcons.