In Week One the Patriots looked like a team playing recess football, but in Week Two they absolutely humiliated Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers. New England’s 20-3 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers wasn’t necessarily beautiful football. It was actually something better.
It was flipping fumblingly hilarious.
There was no better example than one glorious second-quarter disaster that began with Pittsburgh facing third-and-7 at the Patriots’ 22-yard line and ended just about three zip codes away. Aaron Rodgers dropped back to pass. Christian Elliss came flying off his blind side. Robert Spillane arrived from the other direction. Rodgers got sandwiched (very hard, actually), the football escaped, and 22 professional athletes were participating in something resembling hot potato.
Nobody could pick up the football.
Nobody could fall on the football.
The football just kept rolling. And rolling. And rolling…
There was a $150 football rolling around the field surrounded by millions of dollars in professional athletes, and somehow the football won. FOURTH DOWN AND FORTY-THREE.
Somewhere a Madden player threw his controller.
After falling 13-10 to Seattle in Week One, this is exactly what New England needed to ensure that the start of the season wasn’t a harbinger to the remainder of it. The Patriots didn’t have the sunny optimism of coming onto the field today fully intact and ready to prove they can be a Super Bowl team of yesteryear. They had just lost A.J. Brown, Henderson was questionable with his multiple week ankle injury, and Drake Maye, a quarterback who never threw multiple interceptions…all last year…until the Super Bowl against Seattle, threw three interceptions in the Week One rematch against the Seahawks.
New England came into Week Two doing exactly what Mike Vrabel wanted. They ate their Wheaties, prayed to baby Jesus, rubbed some rabbit feet, and performed like a well-oiled machine. They were unstoppable.
TreVeyon Henderson ripped off a 39-yard touchdown run. Drake Maye connected with Romeo Doubs for 63 yards. And the Patriots defense made Pittsburgh’s offense miserable enough that Rodgers and company finished with just three points. The 36-yard fumble circus wasn’t even New England’s final gift to Aaron Rodgers.
Christian Barmore strip-sacked him again in the fourth quarter, and Elijah Ponder scooped it up and ran 19 yards for a touchdown.
That’s more awkward than Aaron Rodgers getting added back into the family group chat.
One win doesn’t erase the Week One horrors that New England faced, but they look like they have something to build on. Drake Maye is still developing and the offense is still trying to find its footing. But Week Two gave the Patriots evidence of a winnable game. It gave proof of life. The defense can absolutely wreck a game instead of merely surviving it.
The season is still young (unlike Rodgers), and there isn’t any Super Bowl talk surrounding the Patriots just yet. But there is hope; and that’s something the New England fans needed to see. They need to stay consistent. Maye needs to stay upright, and their defense needs to keep making quarterbacks miserable…and not just in regards to family drama.
Perhaps the most encouraging part of Sunday’s win was that Drake Maye didn’t have to put on a cape. New England has spent enough time asking young quarterbacks to compensate for the performance around them. Maye could finally just play quarterback for his team instead of auditioning for the superhero the team wished he would be.
That’s exactly what Drake Maye needed if he’s going to be the franchise quarterback everyone hopes he can become. A quarterback may be the backbone of an NFL team, but it sure helps the outcome of the game when the other 52 players step in and do their job.
Did New England dominate, or were Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers just that bad? It would be easy to look at a 20-3 final score and decide that Pittsburgh had an awful day; they did. Pittsburgh’s offense scored exactly three points and produced a longest play of only 26 yards. But giving Pittsburgh all the blame lets New England off the hook for playing legitimately good football.
The Patriots outrushed the Steelers 137-91 and outgained them 327-235. Their defense constantly put Rodgers under pressure, Christian Barmore’s strip-sack turned into an Elijah Ponder touchdown, and rookie Gabe Jacas added an interception late in the game. This isn’t just Pittsburgh forgetting how to throw and catch a football. This is athleticism.
That’s the difference between New England Week One and New England Week Two. Last week the Patriots looked like a team just waiting for something to go their way. This week they made it happen.
Sure, the Steelers dug their own grave. But New England still dug the hole, lowered the casket, and handed Rodgers the shovel.
The Patriots buried Pittsburgh so deeply that Aaron Rodgers may need a darkness retreat just to process it.
On to Week Three.
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