Patriots stock watch: Here’s who stood out and struggled in loss to Steelers
Rhamondre Stevenson had a rough day. Robert Spillane bounced back. The Patriots dropped another one at home.
FOXBOROUGH – The Patriots frittered away a winnable game against the Steelers at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, falling 21-14 despite having almost twice as many yards, nine more first downs, and fewer penalties.
Four fumbles, including two from Rhamondre Stevenson, sealed the Patriots’ fate. A stunning goal line interception from Drake Maye just before halftime also was a factor.
The Patriots did a fair of good things in this game, but not enough to overcome five turnovers.
Here’s a closer look at who stood out and who struggled during the loss.
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Robert Spillane
By halftime, Spillane had racked up 10 tackles, and he eventually brought the number up to 15, including 10 solo tackles.
No. 14 was all over the field, and Aaron Rodgers threw an interception right to him.
It was a nice bounce back game for Spillane, who struggled against Miami. Missed tackles were a major issue for him in that game, and they continue to be a significant issue for the team.
Spillane brought down ballcarriers consistently on Sunday, something they’ll need from him going forward.
Milton Williams
Williams was the only Patriots player with more than one tackle for loss.
He also had a sack that was wiped out by a defensive holding penalty from Alex Austin. Because that sack was taken off the board, New England would up with zero sacks in the game.
Rodgers gave the Patriots’ fits with his ability to get the ball out quickly, and Pittsburgh’s offensive line gave him plenty of time to execute. New England only hit Rodgers three times, with two of those coming from K’Lavon Chaisson.
Despite this, Williams had a better game than on Sunday than the stat sheet will show.
Hunter Henry
Henry opened the fourth quarter with a game-tying touchdown grab, and remained a reliable target for Drake May throughout the day.
He snagged both of the Patriots’ touchdown catches, and he caught eight of his 11 targets for 90 yards. He had more than twice as many receiving yards as any other Patriots pass catcher.
Henry came into the game with 11 targets, which was second behind Stefon Diggs. Maye kept looking for him on Sunday and found success.
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Drake Maye
Maye’s performance, as usual this season, has been a mixed bag.
He’s in a category of his own this week. On the surface, his stat line was pretty good. In general, 28-for-37 for 268 yards and a pair of touchdowns against one interception, is typically indicative of a respectable performance.
But there were some head-scratching moments as well from the second-year quarterback. He almost wasted a 4th down conversion by overthrowing DeMario Douglas on the next play. It appeared that the ball was intercepted, but the call was overturned.
He danced around too long in the pocket and tried to step up when a host of Pittsburgh defenders brought him down and forced the ball out with 7:43 to go in the fourth. The fumble was lost.
His interception, which was intended for Kayshon Boutte, was tipped by Pittsburgh’s Cam Heyward who deserves credit for getting his hands up there and making a play. Boutte appeared to be open, but the slightest touch of a fingertip altered the throw and canceled the Patriots’ chances of sneaking a touchdown in right before halftime.
The bigger question on that series is why the Patriots went with three straight passing plays on 1st-and-goal.
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Rhamondre Stevenson
Stevenson’s frustration was visible after he fumbled in the endzone on what should have been a 1-yard touchdown run.
Instead, he got tripped up as the ball got knocked out of his hands, killing a drive where the Patriots finished oh-so-close to getting a key score.
After a pair of fumble-free games, including a strong performance against the Dolphins last week, Stevenson coughed up two fumbles against the Steelers. It appears a continuation of last year’s problems. He fumbled seven times in 2024, and now he has two in three games.
He didn’t produce much carrying the ball on Sunday, anyway, notching four carries for 18 yards. He was New England’s second-most productive pass catcher with 38 yards on three catches, but the turnovers really stung.
Morgan Moses
Pittsburgh generated pressure from all different directions and had Maye looking somewhat jumpy from the start of the game.
They hit him eight times, including five sacks.
Two of them came from TJ Watt, who ran right past Hunter Henry and Morgan Moses on one, and got underneath Moses with a rip move and chased Maye down on another.
The Patriots’ offensive line struggled as a whole, and Moses had a tough draw dealing with Watt, but the results did not go well.
Christian Barmore
Zero sacks, zero tackles for loss, zero quarterback hits, and one tackle for Barmore on a day where the Patriots’ pass-rush clearly struggled.
The Patriots were good against the run again, as they usually are, and Barmore played a role in that.
But a bigger impact is expected of a player of Barmore’s caliber in this kind of a game. His name was barely called at all.
Alex Austin
Austin struggled for the second week in a row.
The Patriots had the Steelers pinned deep in their own territory when a defensive holding call on Austin erased Wiliams’s sack.
He also was whistled for a defensive pass interference call in the endzone that set up Pittsburgh’s first score by giving the Steelers 1st-and-goal on the one.
To his credit, none of Pittsburgh’s receivers put up huge numbers. Calvin Austin and Jaylen Watson tied for the team lead with 34 receiving yards apiece.
Austin’s two penalties came in big moments and set the Patriots back.
Antonio Gibson
The Patriots’ running backs, collectively, were not much of a factor in this game.
Maye led the team in rushing yards with 45. Gibson was slightly more efficient than TreVeyon Henderson. Both had 28 yards, but Gibson got there with seven carries instead of 11.
Jabrill Peppers, whom the Patriots cut last month, forced Gibson onto the “down” section of the list, jarring the ball free and falling on it with the Steelers clinging to a 7-point lead early in the third quarter.
Gibson saved the day against Miami with a 90-yard kick return touchdown, but was unable to have the same impact against Pittsburgh.
DeMario Douglas
Douglas had one foot awfully close to the first down line on 4th-and-1 with 1:05 to go on the Patriots’ final drive, but tried to juke past his defender and wound up going backwards. A big mistake in a big situation.
Beyond that, his production was lacking. His five targets were second most on the team behind Henry. They yielded two catches for seven yards.
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