FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — An interception in the end zone.
A fumble at the goal line.
And three more turnovers — including Drake Maye’s fumble late in the fourth quarter with the Patriots in position for the go-ahead score — doomed New England to a 21-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
“It stings just knowing we hurt ourselves,” Maye said, “and that’s what cost us.”
The Patriots (1-2) rallied from a 14-0 deficit to tie the game on a pair of touchdown passes from Maye to Hunter Henry. But their turnovers gave away two potential touchdowns and handed the Steelers (2-1) a short field on another.
Asked if the team learned a lesson about ball security, coach Mike Vrabel said: “We don’t need to lose a football game to know that turnovers are very hard to overcome.”
“They erase all the good things that you do. They take away momentum. They take away points, give them field position,” said Vrabel, whose team didn’t lose a fumble in either of its first two games this season. “We didn’t need to turn it over as many times as we did to learn a lesson. I think we knew that before. It was very unfortunate.”
Among the turnovers were two fumbles by Rhamondre Stevenson, who was benched last season after fumbling in each of the first four games. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he coached his team to look for chances to strip the ball, and Stevenson was a prime target.
“We preached all week that we’re going to have opportunities to punch at that ball,” defensive lineman Cam Heyward said. “We were very steadfast about creating turnovers. We were very locked in on that, and it paid dividends.”
Stevenson fumbled on New England’s first possession, giving the Steelers the ball near midfield; they drove 54 yards in eight plays to take a 7-0 lead. Trailing 14-7, the Patriots were driving for the potential tying touchdown at the end of the first half when Maye was intercepted in the end zone by Brandin Echols.
Tomlin said the team was hoping to just limit New England to a field goal.
“When you take the ball away, you get all seven points,” he said. “Usually you’re fighting for four, but man, those takeaways, particularly down there, were big.”
On the Patriots’ first possession of the second half — two plays after intercepting Aaron Rodgers to take over at the Pittsburgh 11 — Hayward stripped Stevenson at the goal line. Three plays after a Steelers punt, Antonio Gibson was stripped of the ball by T.J. Watt and ex-Patriot Jabrill Peppers.
“When you’re playing your former team, that’s what you want: to make a big play, and make them think about what they lost,” said Rodgers, who relished beating the New York Jets in the season opener. “He was definitely happy in the locker room.”
Stevenson, who ran for 1,000 yards in his second season and is supposed to be New England’s most dependable running back, settled down after the benching last year and only lost one fumble in the remaining 11 games. He had 142 combined rushing and receiving yards in last week’s victory over Miami.
“We know what his capabilities are, and we’ve got to get him back. We need him. We absolutely need him,” Vrabel said. “We need his ability, but we also need to take care of the football. … I’m not really sure 20 minutes after the game what we’re going to do, but we need him because he helped us win the game last week, and it was a different story today.”
