The New England Patriots are looking to bounce back from a very frustrating opening loss with a better result in Week 2. That won’t be easy, though, as they’re getting ready to host a tough Pittsburgh Steelers team.
Ahead of the game, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was asked about the Steelers. Right away, he shared a warning about the Pittsburgh defense.
“Defensively, if you better don’t take care of the edges, it’s going to be an issue,” Vrabel said. “Strip sacks, interceptions, um, [Cameron] Heyward and [T.J.] Watt have probably 64 PBUs in the last five years, and that’s pass rush PBUs. Their ability to create ball disruption even if they don’t get there. Great length, sound. They tackled well. They caused some turnovers.”
Vrabel is referencing the pick-six that T.J. Watt managed to snag in their opener. He’s, of course, the headliner on the Steelers’ defense, but that’s a deep unit for the Patriots to contend with a week after they struggled to run the ball and threw three interceptions.
On the other side of the ball, the Steelers are rolling out Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. That’s the tip of the spear on an offense that creates its own challenges.
“Aaron [Rodgers] got the ball out of his hand, was able to really throw into some tight windows effectively. Felt comfortable extending plays and found [Pat] Freiermuth in there. So, it’s not like you can just go ahead and just disregard any sort of like pass rush. He’s still going to be able to extend plays, and the arm talent is there. They have two good backs that run hard. We’re starting our preparation today, so hopefully we can use that to our advantage,” Vrabel said.
Unlike the New England Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers Opened With a Win
The Patriots should have won in Week 1. That is, until Drake Maye threw three fourth quarter interceptions and helped the Seattle Seahawks come from down 10-0 in a Super Bowl rematch.
That was a major letdown for the Patriots. Now, they’re taking on a Steelers team that isn’t coming off the same kind of difficult opener.
The Steelers opened with a 20-13 win over the Atlanta Falcons. It was a game in which both offenses struggled to move the ball much at all. On defense, the Steelers forced Cooper Rush to throw two interceptions and the Falcons offense to just 238 total yards.
At the same time, the Steelers had major issues of their own on offense. Aaron Rodgers played poorly at quarterback, completing 24 of 40 passes for 221 yards and a touchdown. Worse, the Steelers rushed for just 58 yards. They also struggled to convert. Pittsburgh was 3 of 13 on third down and 0 for 2 on fourth down.
Simply put, both teams struggled at times, particularly on offense in Week 1. They just landed on different results at the end of the day.
CBS is Sending Its Top Broadcast for the Patriots and Steelers
The Patriots and Steelers are used to playing major games. This should be another one of those big games for the two storied franchises.
CBS certainly thinks this is going to be a major game. They announced on Monday that their top broadcast crew is going to be on the call here. Jim Nantz is going to be on the call for play-by-play, J.J. Watt is going to be the analyst, and Tracy Wolfson is going to be the sideline reporter.
Watt is in his first year on CBS’ “A” team. He was elevated to replace Tony Romo, who is currently on leave. Patriots fans will also note that he has a conflict of interest in this game, as his brother stars for Pittsburgh.
Patriots HC Mike Vrabel Shared Warning Ahead of Steelers Game